Word: autopilot
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...flawless. Streaking through space at 17,157 m.p.h.. Air Force Major Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr. ate, slept, exchanged banter with ground-bound fellow astronauts, coolly conducted scientific experiments. But now there was trouble. Just as Cooper prepared for the searing plunge through the earth's atmosphere, his autopilot system went...
...Cooper's capsule had built up to five one-hundredths of ground-level gravity force. The light should have blinked on only after Cooper's three retrorockets had been fired, nudging the capsule out of orbit. If working properly, the light would also mean that the autopilot system was set to start the capsule rolling slowly. The roll, imparting a corkscrew motion as the capsule bores into the atmosphere, would produce a smoother reentry...
...Cooper somehow slipped out of orbit? No. The Hawaii tracking station assured him that his position was proper. Was the light then merely faulty? Or had the autopilot re-entry circuit been triggered out of its normal sequence? On his 20th orbit, he was advised to switch to autopilot-and the capsule began to roll. He then knew that once he reached the .05G level on reentry, his autopilot would take over...
...autopilot on Electras must not be used until modified. FAA found that it did not work properly, made the plane "porpoise," i.e., jump sharply up and down and veer from side to side. ¶ Ground crews were ordered to be more careful in refueling the plane, since there has been "at least one incident in which serious damage to the wing structure resulted from malfunctioning of fuel-system components, and failure of servicing personnel" to do their job properly...
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...