Could anyone give me a ballpark figure on how much it would cost to retrofit an autopilot to a non-certified (homebuild) aircraft?
I’ve become aware of an aircraft which might come up for sale soon. One, among a on a number of things, which it is missing is an autopilot. I’d like to get an idea of how much I should budget to get one fitted if I were to buy it.
Some further information. The avionics fit is fairly basic with a Dynon D100 EFIS.
I’d like, in time, to upgrade that to a Dynon Skyview, so the autopilot should be compatible with that.
I have no experience with avionics, so at minimum I’m going to need a lot of help with installing it. More realistically, I’d probably need to pay someone else to do it. (Unless they come with IKEA type instructions that I can follow! – I seriously doubt that they do).
I’m not looking for an exact quote! Just a very rough idea (or range) of how much I should budget for that post acquisition. (I’ve read €20K mentioned in a few places but that was in relation to certified aircraft. Is this also reasonable on homebuild aircraft?)
Well, I’m sure you’ll get more opinions on that question than there are posters here…
In a nutshell, if you really desire an AP, you need a control head (or control panel), 2 servos, and some eventual interfacing. ACS offers some choice, with the Trio and the Bendix XCruze, so you should able to get a non-installed system for under 5K$.
Welcome to the homebuilt/experimental world 👍🏻
Dynon offer several autopilots. One is a slide in replacement for STEC55
Then there is the addition to Skyview which IIUC adds €1000 to the cost of the Skyview itself.
Then they sell serves at $800 each.
They do a control panel which IIIC is compatible with other APs at around €800
Skyview autopilot and a D10/D100 series.
Some of them are even certified for approaches.
At present Dynon are offering building support to those building an RV. I would not be surprised if they offer support in adding Dynon to other kit builds. I do know some ULMs with Dynon kit.
It would probably be best to get in touch with them and put all your questions to them.
When I was looking at buying my current steed, it didn’t have an autopilot so my first thoughts were to have a G5 with Garmin Servos & Autopilot 507 controller fitted – was the cheapest option at around 8k IIRC; However it also had a fairly rudimentary EFIS which I was thinking about replacing later, however the math showed me it would be cheaper to replace it with an Dynon Skyview HDX and add their servos etc.
The total I paid for Skyview HDX 10", both autopilot panels, servos, ADSB out transponder, engine kit including fuel transducer etc cost IIRC around 15k. Well worth the money…..
dublinpilot wrote: 
I’d like, in time, to upgrade that to a Dynon Skyview, so the autopilot should be compatible with that.
if you would install the Skyview the only additional cost are the servos
RV14 wrote:
if you would install the Skyview the only additional cost are the servos
But it’s more comfortable to have the autopilot panels installed as auto trim is only available when you have the autopilot button panel installed….makes controlling the autopilot a lot easier too than touching the screen….
as you probably can see by now, they are loads of options and brands out there.
The cheapest would be any of the ones I linked above, all of them being Dynon (and other brands) compatible. Ok, the D100 is really antique by now, so I do get some company 😉
Talking brands is like talking about religion…
The best, and by far, is the Garmin stuff. If you want anything as close or even superior to what the big boys are flying, that will be Garmin. It is marginally more expensive than the Dynon kitchenware variety stuff, but is far superior in use and appearance. One look at the AP panel should suffice… another look searching for the slip ball on a Skyview will demonstrate some of the non-standard thinking behind the brand…
We have a TS AP on the RV-8, and though I just engaged it a couple of times (still don’t see the need for that stuff on a SEP…), it seems to perform really well with the GRT Sport screens we now installed. And that is probably the cheapest option.
Good luck in picking the best for your own needs 🤓
Dan wrote:
One look at the AP panel should suffice… another look searching for the slip ball on a Skyview will demonstrate some of the non-standard thinking behind the brand…
I’m trying to understand what the problem with the slip ball is on the Skyview HDX is? On my system it’s clearly visible above the HSI / Compass Arc – see below….
As for the AP panel, everything is pretty much self explanatory:
With the knob panel you have the basics – pushing the heading / track knob synchronises it to the current heading, turning it moves the heading bug. Pressing the Baro knob sets it to standard, otherwise turn it to set the current barometric pressure. Altitude – push it to synchronise the desired altitude with the current altitude, otherwise turn it to change the preset altitude to fly the aircraft at.
Concerning the AP button panel, it’s all pretty much self explanatory – you have the buttons to choose climbing at either a given VS or IAS; the buttons UP / DOWN move the nose in that direction so pressing DOWN would lower the climb rate / increase the descent rate by 100fpm for each press or increase the climb / descent airspeed by 1 Knot per push. Alt – hold this altitude. FD – activate / deactivate the Flight directors. AP – turn the AP on or off. Heading – fly using the current heading. Track – fly the set ground track, compensating for wind. Nav – follow the flight plan in the GPS. VNAV – fly a given descent profile (eg ILS from an external IFR Navigator). Source – select the input GPS source. Level – bring the wings level and fly straight.
For me, everything is simple to use and program and am happy with it – significantly easier to use than my STEC55x with it’s Altitude preselect unit….
See, told ya, this is religious stuff 🤣
Of course we can see the ball on the Dynon… the problem is (as with many other things in this display…) it ain’t standard. Would you know of any other display steam/glass just now off hand, where the stupid ball is on top of the horizon?
And of course it is a fantastic display. Once you’re used to it, as with all the others 🤓
The Dynon AP panel in itself is a shame, not talking about the functions which are standard for all brands, but the size, canted knobs, et all… not sure what the designers were smoking…
To the OP, whatever your budget, try to first fly behind one of those brands, and compare, before making any choice…
