ACU - Autopilot Control Unit
The Autopilot Control Unit is the interface between the Oblò/Eclipse instrument and Servos, it allows the fast and easy controls of the different flight functions with the Heading/Tracking, Navigation and Altitude pushbuttons and also by rotating the two knobs to select the target altitude or heading/tracking.
A green power-on LED clearly indicates when the unit is operating; if the autopilot is currently engaged the pushbuttons corresponding at the operation mode are illuminated.
The three operating modes are:
- HDG/TRK to hold magnetic heading or GPS tracking, depending on what you have currently selected in the instrument Oblò/Eclipse.
- NAV is used for horizontal navigation, tracking a host GPS flight plane or a GOTO.
- ALT to hold altitude.
There are also present safety features such as automatic course reversal, that performs a 180° rotation useful in both selectionable directions in case of unwanted entering in IMC conditions when an immediate reverse direction is needed.
For quick operations there are two separate knobs for target selection: one for heading/tracking and the other for the altitude.