Author: Capt. 'Johnny' Sadiq (retd)
Date: 5/18/2011 3:59 am PDT
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Dear Hal,
The DC-3 DID have an autopilot. It was hydraulic and was controlled by a set up on the co-pilot's side of the instrument panel. First you had to align the indices by rotating small knobs next to the Artificial Horizon, then you had to pull a lever out of a detent and to forward position on the hydraulic panel behind the co-pilot and finally rotate a butterfly type valve on the side of the centre console next to the co-pilot's left leg, to the 'on' position. The auto pilot tended to 'hunt' in turbulence i.e. swing slightly from side to side as it strove to get the plane back on course after being disturbed by turbulence--which made it uncomfortable to use sometimes. Manual flying was much smoother! To disconnect the autopilot you had to rotate that yellow butterfly valve to 'off' ---with the engines not running the DC-3 would have tried to maintain a level attitude and stalled.
Johnny |
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