AP off annunciation for old Century/Edo-Aire Mitchell autopilots

[vcollazo]

Is anyone aware of a mod/STC/field approval to add an annunciation when one of these APs is turned off (or even on). All of the airliners and corporate jets I have flown annunciate this. My Navajo has an Altimatic IIIB that works perfectly: tracks VOR and GPS courses dead on, flies coupled approaches down to mins, captures altitudes, etc. Twice over the past ten yrs I have inadvertently touched/brushed the panel autopilot on/off rocker switch and turned off the autopilot, and 15-20 seconds later I have looked up from what I was doing only to discover that I was now in 20-30 degrees of bank in a slight descent. A month back I was checking out a new partner and as I rolled out on final the yoke was stiff as if there was binding on the ailerons so I selected to forget about the planned touch and go and full stopped to trouble shoot. As you probably guessed, I discovered that in reaching across the throttle quadrant from the right seat to either put the gear down or manually trim, had inadvertently turned the autopilot on.

 

[Dravnx]

 

[vcollazo]

 

[Dravnx]