Autopilot review video (for an A36) Avidyne Garmin STEC Honeywell Trutrak Trio

That is a very good review of the autopilot market – many thanks for posting it.

What staggers me is the quantity of restrictions on some of them, with Trutrak not even authorised for GPS approaches! Clearly there were some weird certification issues due to dodgy performance in parts of the envelope. The video also appears to miss the GFC500 ILS issue (cannot fly an ILS without GPS reception).

The KFC225 and others from the 1999 time frame is “digital” So “digital autopilot” is hype. But it is quite sad how little has changed over the past 20+ years.

Porting the ‘new2certifiedWorld’ digital autopilots from Experimental to Certified must have been a major struggle and I guess without agreement of EAA and FAA to grant grandfathering rights for certification they would never have touched that. I did find the discussion on flight safety gains due to cheap autopilots in the US very refreshing, btw.

In the end this must result in some shortcomings and frankly, I do welcome the affordable options for autopilots aiming VFR comfort. These options are definitely not for those flying IFR and I suspect their pockets are deeper anyways to buy decent full-IFR autopilots.

I believe the ‘drop in’ Aero Cruze 230 for the KFC200 hasn’t had much take up, or isn’t readily available.

Honeywell has managed to comprehensively trash its reputation. One would need to be living in a rabbit hole to be unaware of that. That reduces the customer base quite a lot. Most aircraft owners are strongly guided by their avionics shop’s advice and the shops are nearly always looking for paperwork-easy work and proven products.

Another interesting thing is that the KFC225 is still nominally on offer, for 60k, despite there being no record of the software being fixed to address the servo flammability issue

Peter wrote:

The video also appears to miss the GFC500 ILS issue (cannot fly an ILS without GPS reception).

This is mentioned at 17:36 – 18:04.

Peter wrote:

But it is quite sad how little has changed over the past 20+ years.

It is indeed. Looking back at some AP’s I’ve come across over the years, while there are more functions in some of them and so called “Protections” which often enough can turn to the opposite, I’d stay away from all the new AP’s for various reasons. GPS to fly an ILS is a no go for me so the GFC500 series are out for starters. Tru Track is off the radar for any serious application too. Remain the Genesis AP’s which also don’t have a stellar reputation but at least are capable of doing their job pretty much self contained. It is pretty much the only option for the retrofit market still.

Other than that, I still think the KFC150/200/225 APs were the industry standard and still are but they are not available for retrofit, it is not even possible by the look of it to upgrade a KAP150 to a KFC by what I understand.

Most people will not worry about GPS being necessary as they would be lost without it in a matter of minutes anyway, so I presume the GFC series will still gain a lot of customers. Features of it as well as the Avidyne DFC’s are attractive no question, in particular the IAS vertical mode, which I miss on my 55×. Other than that, I can well live with the S-Tec, which pretty much has the same features as the KFC150 but is simply not as stable.

This posting could not have been more timely.
I am in the process of upgrading my Century 21 autopilot which had finally – after many years of faithful service – quilted operating.
In the light of this video, and wider consultation, I am going for a Garmin GFC 500 and two Garmin GI 275’s.

Am hoping to become the custodian of a KFC200. Am not convinced the new APs are worth the panel surgery, but have not yet experienced the time and expense required to keep a forty year old legacy FD/AP, and the related vacuum gyros and avionics, in reliable, serviceable condition. Hopefully there are still shops in the USA which will provide overhauled components.