Heard a pilot on the ramp say his autopilot was 'acting funny'

I was doing a walk around on a King Air in Phoenix yesterday and the pilot mentioned the autopilot kept trying to bank right during his climb out. He just shrugged and said he'd fly it manual. I spent the next four hours pulling the flight control computer and found a cracked solder joint on the roll servo amp board. It's wild how a casual comment can point you straight to a gremlin. How often do you guys find that pilot reports are actually pretty spot on?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_thomas24d ago

Man, I used to brush off those vague pilot reports as just complaining. But after a few years in the shop, I learned to listen close. They might not know the exact circuit board, but they always know when something feels off. That gut feeling is usually pointing right at the problem. It saves so much time to just trust their experience from the start.

casey_barnes24d ago

My buddy Dave at the regional airline had a pilot report a "weird hum" on climb out. The mechanics checked the usual stuff for a week, found nothing. They finally listened and found a cracked spar in the tail section, which was a huge deal. That hum was all they had to go on.

james53311d ago

My old shop in Dallas fixed a weird trim issue last month just from a pilot saying it felt heavy.