PNE's elevation is less that 120, so if it reached 1600 ASL then they ought to have engaged the autopilot.
- oldman
Just a couple of points to that Oldman.
First, The airplane was airborn for roughly 40 seconds. As a relatively high time pilot, that suggests to me that it was never under even a modicum of control.
Second, autopilots will not engage in certain circumstances such as extreme force being applied to pitch or roll, pilots making trim inputs while trying to engage, the airplane being in an extreme or unusual attitiude. There are more but I think these might clarify why the autopilot was not destined to be their saviour.
