Originally Posted by Oldog

Yep, almost all of them are working. It sometimes takes time to get parts for some of the older autpilots in the PA-31s, we occasionally have hard-to-troubleshoot problems with the S-Tec autopilots in the Metros, and sometimes autopilots do what autopilots sometimes do: Quit working. So, in a fleet of 170 airplanes, sometimes some are MEL'd. But -- if they're busted, they fix 'em.

Autopilots aren't in the airplanes because of legal requirements. They're there because the company's management wants autopilots in the airplanes. The last fleet to get them is the BE-99s, delayed only because there was no currently viable autopilot STC'd to use in that airplane --so the company had to pay for an STC. That was finally obtained and a Fleet Campaign Directive is currently in progress to equip all the 99s. They're getting GNS-430Ws at the same time.