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SYSTEM FIFTY FIVE X

Flying a Fifty Five X with MAGIC

Mike Keirnan
Manager, Installations & Certification


I recently made a flight from Mineral Wells to Wichita in S-TEC's recently acquired Cessna 182S. We have replaced the original Allied Signal KAP-140 autopilot with one of the first System Fifty Five X systems. A couple of other goodies were added while we had the airplane in pieces. A Meggitt Avionics MAGIC EFIS was installed on the pilots side and a full set of mechanical instruments added on the right side. The MAGIC system includes two 5 inch color displays; a Primary Flight Display (attitude horizon) and Navigation Display supported by an Air Data and Attitude Heading Reference System (ADAHRS) mounted in the aft fuselage of the aircraft. An Altitude Selector Alerter, Remote Annunciator and autotrim were also installed with the Fifty Five X. A Garmin GNS-430, audio panel, and S-TEC's new digital ADF-650D were added as well.

Because I was traveling with S-TEC's President, I was anxious for this new autopilot installation to work as advertised. We launched in the late afternoon with the majority of the flight made in the dark. The plan was fly direct to Wichita Mid-Continent VFR with flight following. As I was sitting in the plane after start–up, waiting for the ADAHRS to initialize, I entered direct to KICT in the GNS 430. I also selected the ILS Runway 01 Left Approach via vectors. I programmed the Selector/Alerter by setting local barometric pressure and inputting my desired vertical speed and cruise altitude. With my flightplan loaded and the EFIS up and functioning we took off. NAV GPSS and ALT/VS were engaged at 400 feet. The aircraft turned on course and began climbing for my selected cruising altitude of 6500ft. All I really had to do at this point was set power, close cowl flaps and watch for traffic in the clear afternoon sky.

Climb and leveloff were uneventful with the Selector/Alerter providing a smooth transition to cruise altitude. With the HSI representation selected on the MAGIC Navigation Display and GPS 1 from the GNS-430 selected as the NAV source, the course pointer automatically slewed to my desired course – it did this back when I entered the flightplan on the ground in Mineral Wells. I didn't have to set or adjust anything.

With the 182 plodding through a moderate headwind, I had some time on my hands to play with the various modes and display presentations of the MAGIC NAV display. An HSI is the primary representation, but Arc and Map modes can also be displayed. I chose the Arc mode with map information, desired and actual course displayed. In the HSI representation I had previously used the RMI function to overlay pointers on the HSI compass card to keep track of my position. I was able to set one needle to the ADF and another to VORs along the route.

Along the way I set the Selector/Alerter for my initial approach altitude well before reaching the airspace for Wichita Approach. When given the descent by ATC, I pressed ALT and VS simultaneously and down we went for our pre-planned altitude. Approaching Wichita, I asked Wichita Approach for an ILS Runway 01 Left and was given vectors – remember this was the approach I selected in the navigator back in Mineral Wells. To fly vectors until the final approach course, I pressed HDG and NAV simultaneously and the autopilot was set for a dual mode transition to the planned GPSS transition to the ILS. The autopilot followed the heading bug on the NAV display until we reached the localizer inbound course. As the NAV needle centered the HDG annunciation extinguished and the autopilot is again using roll steering commands. The 182 neatly turns to the inbound course with the course pointer automatically slewed to the desired course. Again my only mission in life is set power and watch for traffic.

Once the 182 settled on the localizer overlay via GPSS with an indicated crosstrack error hovering around 0.02nm (120'), I initiated the transition to the ILS. I switched from GPS 1 to LOC 1 on the NAV display menu to switch my indicated navigation source on the HSI. I also pressed the APR button on the Fifty Five X to disable roll steering and began tracking the localizer directly. Since GPSS has already put me on course with the CDI centered, the autopilot makes no discernible correction during the NAV switch. With the autopilot in approach mode and valid LOC/GS flag, the glideslope arms automatically. I was cleared for the approach so I set approach flaps, pushed the prop and mixture forward and waited for the outer marker to come to life. At the outer marker, ALT extinguished on the autopilot display. GS is now the pitch mode and the aircraft nosed down to follow the glideslope. At decision height, I pressed the autopilot disconnect and manually flew the aircraft for the first time since 30 seconds after lift-off in Mineral Wells.

While this was not the most challenging flight, the capability of the Fifty Five X integrated with EFIS and the GPS navigator was well demonstrated. I can easily imagine myself in more challenging conditions knowing that the Fifty Five X with GPSS will make a difficult situation easy and a bad situation manageable. During the flight the other improvements made to the Fifty Five X did their job inconspicuously but effectively. The end result is an autopilot that effectively reduces cockpit workload while giving you "the smoothest flight you've ever experienced."