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Trio Autopilot

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Warriorgreg

Comanchedude
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Many of you will remember my efforts to design the installation kit of the Trio Autopilot from a few years back, and the subsequent STC. Well, since I’ve been restoring a ‘59 Comanche for the past 2 1/2 years, I had a desire to do the same for the model. Below is an invitation to join a Zoom meeting tonight (it is recorded for future viewing if you can’t make it). The design, manufacture, installation and flight tests have been completed, and the necessary paperwork has been submitted to the FAA.
Please join!

Trio ProPilot for Piper Comanche Project update: status, features, integration 0030Z / 7:30pm Eastern (doors open for Hangar flying at 0000z / 7:00pm eastern

All are invited to join, learn, ask questions about this full featured autopilot, from the experimental world, learn about its remarkably fast and low-cost installation in the Piper Comanche, and ask questions about integration with other avionics, both modern and legacy, as well as it’s use as a completely standalone autopilot without any nav radios at all (you can even drive it from a portable GPS).

An incredible team of Piper Comanche drivers come together from the Comanche community and pooled their expertise, along with the STC Group‘s team which owns the STC for the certificated version of the Trio ProPilot, to make this Piper Comanche project a reality.

Any autopilot installed in an airplane has two STCs required: one for the unit itself, one for the type (or in many cases, subtype). Without this second STC, which approves the installation design, procedure, and configuration values for the model, the autopilot is not legal for installation.

Tonight’s ComancheZOOM will focus on features, installation, and integration, however the remarkable Backstory of this project is a truly inspiring can-do moment, and may be the subject of a future installment. Many thanks to Hans Neubert, Gregory Piehl, Zach Grant, George Ahlsten, Marty Hersch, Mark Sullivan, and CJ Stumpf for essential contributions, both large and small, that made this project possible. Thanks also to STC Group for the creative flexibility to embark on a new process that ended up including the twins and the 400s in a unique universal install procedure only made possible by the engineering genius of FAA DER Hans Neubert, ME Gregory Piehl, A&P/ATP/CFII/MEII Zach Grant, and STC Group’s A&P/IA, AJ Abdulshafi.

To finance this project, for those curious: a unique group buy special, negotiated just for this project by Northeast Comanche, allowed the Comanche community to ensure this development with an incredible 85 $1000 deposits, and directly saved Comanche owner-operators $102,425 off the list price of the new autopilot (with new capstan servo design!) in the process. More important is the above mentioned universal install, as the estimated sub-30 hour procedure is fast even for a Trio install, and a marked contrast to the traditional job.

4 ways to join Any ComancheZOOM Meeting

1. Click this link from a browser:
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

2. Open any Zoom client and input this Meeting ID: 895 7516 6480

3. One tap mobile from any smartphone (either one)
+13126266799,,89575166480# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,89575166480# US (New York)
and just enter # for your personal code

4. Dial by your location from any phone at all, put in the meeting ID (Meeting ID: 895 7516 6480) and then press # for your ID
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
(To Find your local number: Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing )
Again, just enter # for your personal code.

For those attending: you will join muted and will be free to unmute.
 

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