T&T: Autopilot error

[LRZeitlin at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/4/07 12:00:40 AM, Gil writes:


> While cruising up the Potomac River with the AP
> engaged our boat makes a hard turn to starboard, the
> AP goes into alarm and disengages.
> 
I've had a similar thing happen when cruising on the Hudson River near the 
Indian Point atomic energy plant. My autopilot, a Navico 5000, is controlled by 
a fluxgate compass, not a GPS. One of my friends, an IBM engineer, suggested 
that the compass was being confused by the high energy passing through the 
overhead powerlines. He said he noted the same thing on his boat when crossing 
buried electrical cables running across the river. Or it could have been just a 
lethal dose of radiation from the plant.

Lest anyone chastize me for using an autopilot in a channel, the Hudson is 
three miles wide at that point.

Larry Z



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