Trio Avionics Pro Pilot - Manual (Page 28)

Trio Pro Pilot Manual 3.8
28
Chapter 7
Horizontal Flight Examples
Flying to a Courseline (DTK) or GOTO Waypoint
After takeoff, and at a safe altitude, select the flight plan on your GPS and press the H NAV pushbutton
momentarily. Note that the “H” LED is now on and the autopilot has control of the aircraft.
One of the design features of the Pro Pilot is its ability to identify the desired track line (DTK) and fly to it
regardless of the direction the airplane is heading when the autopilot is engaged. In an extreme
example, the plane might be flying 180 degrees away from the GPS routing and the Pro Pilot will bring
the aircraft around smoothly to the proper ground track and pick up the programmed DTK (zeroing the
cross track error). In the example shown above, the pilot engages the servo after takeoff and climb to
safe altitude. The Pro Pilot then intercepts and flies the course line (DTK) to the first waypoint.
Note: It must be remembered that the flight plan establishes a courseline between two points - in this
case the departure WPT and the first destination WPT. Since the location of the plane is not on
the courseline, when the TRK mode is selected and the servo activated the autopilot will first fly
to the previously selected courseline and then turn toward the WPT.
As an alternate, to proceed directly to the WPT from your present position, the pilot would utilize
the “Direct To” feature of the GPS receiver. The Pro Pilot would then track directly to the desired
WPT and then begin following the courseline.
During the flight on this leg some other navigation parameters are available
for review, such as estimated
time to the waypoint (ETE or ETe). Turning the knob of the ROTARY ENCODER presents this data.
Rotating the encoder knob again will show RNG (distance) to this waypoint. The knob is rotated until GS
or WPT is back on the display, since this field is probably referred to most often in flight, or the pilot may
engage the scan mode to see all parameters (see page 20). Additionally, the upper right display field
can be programmed to display any of the GPS derived data as described on page 20.
Loss of GPS
With the GPS antenna placed where it can “view” all of the
satellites available, it is unlikely that a loss of reliable GPS
signal will occur. However, if the GPS receiver is a handheld
device without an external antenna (especially if it is being used in the cockpit of a metal airplane) it is
possible to experience a temporary loss of GPS signals.
Note: As a safety feature, during the
takeoff roll, the Pro Pilot checks the
status of the servos. At 25 knots GPS
groundspeed, or 40 knots indicated
airspeed (if GPS is not available) it will
automatically disconnect the servos,
allowing free movement of the control
surfaces. This is a backup feature only
and should not be relied upon to replace
a necessary preflight checklist item.