Originally Posted by
Jack Carson
I received a SPIFR qualifications in the B-230UT, A-109E and the EC-135P2/T2. All aircraft were equipped with 3 axis autopilots. Coupled ILS approaches were straight forward. As the glide slope was captured collective/power was set to achieve the desired approach speed. The specific autopilot installed by A109E (Duke Lifeflight) autopilot was an adaptation of a fixed wing unit. The A109E autopilot had a placarded limitation on the use of the take off/go around mode. Specifically, a placard limited the use to airspeeds greater than 120 KIAS. Attempted use at 70KIAS resulted in some very extreme attitude excursions. Has anyone one else experienced this?
As per the 109E RFM, they recommend you don't engage GA mode at less than 100 knots.
There are two different wiring versions and they do different things when GA is pushed. Only the later version has the above note. Not sure about the 109S but the E and S are nearly identical electrically.