![]() ![]() ![]() In fact, the wing leveler was always on unless you held a button on the yoke to disconnect it. ![]() Older M20 Mooneys came with a wing leveler (roll-axis autopilot) made by Brittain as standard equipment. As you’d expect, an autopilot that only controls the roll axis can keep the wings level at the simplest, or can possibly be coupled to keep you headed where you want, but it can do so only by working the ailerons. Remember the three axis of control from ground school? Autopilots can control any of those axes. The things we call autopilots range from devices that will simply keep the wings level all the way to something that’ll follow your navigator for the entire flight, even to the point of keeping you away from the edges of the aeronautical envelope-or, if you get too close to those edges, return you to a safe attitude at the press of a button. But, just like our magic wonder boxes, proper autopilot use requires some understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes. Thus, we’re seeing autopilots in more and more of our aircraft, allowing us to focus our attention at higher levels of thinking. Now, while not (yet?) ubiquitous, autopilots are a near necessity for serious instrument flight. Finding an autopilot in a piston GA airplane 50 years ago was rare. ![]()
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