C182 pilot flying reported a controlled flight into terrain incident during approach due to newly in...

Attributes
ACN	1702185
Time
Date	201911
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	LRO.Airport
State Reference	SC
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autopilot
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 3000 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

I am submitting this to help others not have the same situation. I recently had a trutrak autopilot installed in my aircraft. The ap (autopilot) had done fine through the instrument flight; climbing and descending to altitudes as assigned with minimal over or undershoot. However; once on the GPS approach and aligned with the runway and with the runway in sight in the dark; I dialed in the step-down approach altitude for the fix I had just passed. I went inside and started cleaning up the cockpit; doing before landing checks; and dimmed the cockpit lighting. I glanced up and the runway was gone. I went to full throttle and initiated an aggressive climb as I saw the trees passing by. I looked for GPS obstacles and climbed back to the proper altitude and completed the approach. I [have] over a thousand [helicopter] hours [flying] in the dark. Due to the new automation in the aircraft; I came within seconds of controlled flight into terrain.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot flying reported a controlled flight into terrain incident during approach due to newly installed autopilot malfunctioning.

Narrative: I am submitting this to help others not have the same situation. I recently had a TruTrak autopilot installed in my aircraft. The AP (Autopilot) had done fine through the instrument flight; climbing and descending to altitudes as assigned with minimal over or undershoot. However; once on the GPS approach and aligned with the runway and with the runway in sight in the dark; I dialed in the step-down approach altitude for the fix I had just passed. I went inside and started cleaning up the cockpit; doing before landing checks; and dimmed the cockpit lighting. I glanced up and the runway was gone. I went to full throttle and initiated an aggressive climb as I saw the trees passing by. I looked for GPS obstacles and climbed back to the proper altitude and completed the approach. I [have] over a thousand [helicopter] hours [flying] in the dark. Due to the new automation in the aircraft; I came within seconds of controlled flight into terrain.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.