Debate: Are modern digital autopilots making us lazy troubleshooters?

I saw a huge difference between my old king air with a century autopilot that I could fix with a multimeter and my buddy's new Garmin GFC 600 where the manual just says 'replace the entire computer' - has anyone else noticed this shift making us lose basic troubleshooting skills over the last 5 years?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles7217d ago

Funny you mention that, I was just helping a friend of mine who flies a 182 and he couldn't figure out why his old KAP 140 wasn't holding altitude. I brought over my multimeter and a wiring diagram, traced it to a bad solder joint on the pitch servo connector inside two hours. Meanwhile the shop wanted to sell him a whole new servo assembly for three grand. That kind of hands on stuff is getting rare, most guys I know just send the whole box back to the manufacturer now.

wilson.sam17d ago

Jumped into a very similar problem last year on a Piper Archer, and @miles72 is spot on about that KAP 140 pitch servo connector. Bad solder joints are incredibly common on those old pins, and a simple reflow with a fine tip iron fixes it every time. More people need to learn that a multimeter and a steady hand beats a $3,000 replacement any day.