An EA50 pilot reported deviating from the charted departure and triggering a terrain alert when he r...

Attributes
ACN	914988
Time
Date	201010
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Eclipse 500
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autopilot
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6 Flight Crew Total 2500 Flight Crew Type 250
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

Performing the departure procedure I failed to promptly make the [charted] turn; resulting in a terrain alert from the controller. This was due to the fact that I attempted to use my autopilot to climb to the initial 1;700 ft altitude restriction. The autopilot was only recently upgraded on the airplane and I became confused as to the mode it was in. On the takeoff with this autopilot on this departure you have to first go into toga mode then transition to altitude chng mode to 1;700; then at the DME point reset the climb altitude to 4;000 and reinstate altitude chng; all while doing the takeoff cleanup and switching to [departure]. Not really too difficult; except that I have not flown much recently and this was my first real IMC departure with the new autopilot. In the past; with this departure; I have hand flown the airplane at least until past the 1;700 ft restriction. The autopilot actually increased my workload due to my lack of familiarity. Corrective action is to fly more frequently; including going out with an instructor and practicing more.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EA50 Pilot reported deviating from the charted departure and triggering a terrain alert when he relied on a new autopilot that he was not familiar with.

Narrative: Performing the departure procedure I failed to promptly make the [charted] turn; resulting in a terrain alert from the Controller. This was due to the fact that I attempted to use my autopilot to climb to the initial 1;700 FT altitude restriction. The autopilot was only recently upgraded on the airplane and I became confused as to the mode it was in. On the takeoff with this autopilot on this departure you have to first go into TOGA mode then transition to ALT CHNG mode to 1;700; then at the DME point reset the climb altitude to 4;000 and reinstate ALT CHNG; all while doing the takeoff cleanup and switching to [Departure]. Not really too difficult; except that I have not flown much recently and this was my first real IMC departure with the new autopilot. In the past; with this departure; I have hand flown the airplane at least until past the 1;700 FT restriction. The autopilot actually increased my workload due to my lack of familiarity. Corrective action is to fly more frequently; including going out with an instructor and practicing more.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

An EA50 pilot reported deviating from the charted departure and triggering a terrain alert when he relied on a new autopilot that he was not familiar with.