Word: autopilot
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Seagull Hash. Most of the troubles have been minor-but bothersome. A major cause of delayed flights for both American Airlines and Pan American Airways is the autopilot system, which temperamentally gets out of kilter with the least flaw in a soldered wire, a spring or a clip. The airlines have had to delay flights because of trouble with the water-injection system used to boost takeoffs, bugs in the air-conditioning and pressurization system, even burnt-out lights over the passenger seats. On one occasion an American jet sat on the ground for several hours waiting for a replacement...
Looking for More. Lear also would like to crack the market for instruments used on the big airliners. His autopilot, other instruments and fuel pumps are used on the Air Force's KC-135 tanker-transport (the military version of the Boeing 707); Lear instruments are also used on the French Sud Aviation Caravelle jet airliners, but so far major U.S. commercial lines have hesitated to buy. Their reasons are that Lear's record for quality control, service and stocking spare parts has fallen short of the ingenuity of his inventions. Said one major airline executive last week...
...until the drift angle falls to zero. Then he knows that he is flying in the center of the jet stream. If the stream curves, as it often does, the airplane can follow it by keep ing the drift angle at zero. When the "66" is hooked to the autopilot, the airplane will follow the stream automatically, getting maximum benefit...
...automatic pilot for helicopters, which are so difficult to fly that pilots sometimes pray for an extra hand. U.S. Time Corp., which makes 400, liny gyroscopes a month for guided missiles, is working on a plan to combine them with servomotors to control the bucking whirlybirds with a miniature autopilot...
...pilot needs to maneuver violently, he merely "overrides" the autopilot. When the crisis is past, the autopilot takes charge again. It will also "couple" to radio signals and bring the jet down safely to a fog-covered field...