Hello all,

I just got the e-mail about the STC approval for Cessna 180, 182,185 and PA-32. Now who is going to be first in the 180 world??

I'd seriously consider one for my 206. Mission is only heading and altitude, if any. Depends on weight and total cost, would be a replacement for my Kap150.
Let's see what happens now with BendixKing owning the company.

I have a 1956 182. Only difference is I have the much improved Land-O-Matic landing gear . Plane has never had an auto pilot. Wondering what the cost would be considering servos and installation.

I believe it is $5k for the kit and 40 hrs install time

Does trutrak use a push/pull tube or do they use bridal cables?

Just got off phone with them. 5,000 pluss 100 for STC. Includes all servos. Pluss install. Who has had in installed so far

qmdv wrote:Just got off phone with them. 5,000 pluss 100 for STC. Includes all servos. Pluss install. Who has had in installed so far

I've installed 2 Trio units in 182s. Very straight forward and easy install, wired up to Garmin handhelds. I would imagine trutrak should be very similar.

What does it require in terms of attitude/heading inputs? As far as I can tell, I can’t install a Tru Trak or Garmin without changing out the AI and DG, bringing the cost up pretty fast. And then I still wouldn’t have auto-trim, as no system has that for 185’s.

Hope I’m wrong.

StuBob wrote:What does it require in terms of attitude/heading inputs? As far as I can tell, I can’t install a Tru Trak or Garmin without changing out the AI and DG, bringing the cost up pretty fast. And then I still wouldn’t have auto-trim, as no system has that for 185’s.

Hope I’m wrong.

You dont need to change the AI or DG for the Trutrak or Trio, you can get a heading input from a handheld GPS (but not an ipad). Or it can just act as a wing leveller and you can just turn the knob to turn.

StuBob wrote: And then I still wouldn’t have auto-trim, as no system has that for 185’s.

Hope I’m wrong.

I had an stec 50 in a 182B. And yes it did not have auto trim. It had a light that would come on to tell you to turn the little wheel. Not to demanding as far as I was concerned

I have a Trio in my 185F and it works very well.
It did take a bit of tweaking however.
They both only have track or course, will not hold a heading because they use GPS.

Tru-Trak is certainly the better choice over the Trio. Once installed, it just works. The Trio is somewhat challenging for some installations and requires quite a lot of fine tuning to get it functioning well

Some of our customers chose the Trio over the Tru-Trak simply because it has more buttons and therefore must have more functionality. Personally I find the Tru-Trak much easier to use and far more consistent. With the recent release of baro sync and heading with the G5, the Tru-Trak is a good choice

The GFC500 is in another league though, and if your plane is on the AML, I recommend spending the additional $$. Garmin quality and warranty is hard to beat, plus the added assurance of fixed price repair for the usable life of the product

onefitty wrote:Tru-Trak is certainly the better choice over the Trio. Once installed, it just works. The Trio is somewhat challenging for some installations and requires quite a lot of fine tuning to get it functioning well

Some of our customers chose the Trio over the Tru-Trak simply because it has more buttons and therefore must have more functionality. Personally I find the Tru-Trak much easier to use and far more consistent. With the recent release of baro sync and heading with the G5, the Tru-Trak is a good choice

The GFC500 is in another league though, and if your plane is on the AML, I recommend spending the additional $$. Garmin quality and warranty is hard to beat, plus the added assurance of fixed price repair for the usable life of the product

Great info. I've not installed a tru trak yet but have done a couple trios. I haven't found that they've needed and fine tuning, they've been plug and play for us so far(knock on wood). I'd like to try a tru trak though.
The garmin is a nice unit, but I believe it needs to be installed by a garmin installer which adds a lot of cost. I'd like to fly one though!

Yes Garmin is very tempting, though the gfc500 is not approved for the 206 yet. For me installation costs are the main show stopper.

I tend to agree with onefifty. If I had to do it over again I would probably choose the Tru-Track.
What I liked about the Trio is its ability set the climb to an airspeed not just rate. On a an aircraft that does not have auto trim that is a big help as with a V/S climb will require manual elevator trimming as you climb.

I am very interested in a Trutrack for my 185F. The factory website says 40 hours or $2500-$3000 to install. Has anyone accomplished this for even double that amount? I have called four shops in the west and I’m getting quotes for about triple that amount.

If anyone knows of a shop that could do this for around $3000 (or close) I would definitely be interested.

50-55 hours is more realistic.

Just doing the math. 40 hours or $2500-$3000 is $62.50-$75.00 per hour. Few avionics shops will work at that shop rate.

Tim

A1Skinner wrote:I've installed 2 Trio units in 182s. Very straight forward and easy install, wired up to Garmin handhelds.......

Down here they're pretty touchy about anything which just taps into the pitot static system--
doesn't seem like they'd approve having something which takes over the flight controls running off a handheld.
Maybe TC is more reasonable about things like that.

hotrod180 wrote:

A1Skinner wrote:I've installed 2 Trio units in 182s. Very straight forward and easy install, wired up to Garmin handhelds.......

Down here they're pretty touchy about anything which just taps into the pitot static system--
doesn't seem like they'd approve having something which takes over the flight controls running off a handheld.
Maybe TC is more reasonable about things like that.

We are actually worse up here then down there. But it's all part of the STC which originates down there. So it's perfectly legal even in the US. Not allowed to fly an approach with the handheld though.