All,

Anyone who has flown a Yankee on a long trip knows it can be tiring; I used to commute every weekend in mine, and until the left tank has burnt down some, it can be tiring. I heard about a Brittain wing leveler from another forum, and decided to check into it. It’s a simple unit that taps into your vacuum system, and uses a modified turn and bank indicator with an internal vacuum valve. When the unit senses a bank, it ports vacuum to two of four bellows-like “servos” which pull on the appropriate cables to engage the ailerons and rudder, making a coordinated turn back to level. It even includes an aileron trim function, which will certainly be welcome. It’s the same wing leveler that was standard on some early Mooney’s.

The good news is that the Brittain unit is relatively inexpensive, compared to others. The bad news is that it’s only STC’d for the AA-1 and AA-1A. I bought one from Brittain anyway (waited a year and a half on backorder) and the paperwork is currently at the FSDO for approval for installation into my AA-1B.

Once it’s approved, I’ll keep everyone posted on the installation and use…