Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 67; Flight Crew Total 4330; Flight Crew Type 115
Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft; Human Factors
Departed SID with special top limit of 2;000 feet. Went into clouds just prior to starting required turn at 710 feet. Had set flaps to up per SOP of aircraft at about 600 feet MSL (i.e.: greater than 400 feet AGL). Set auto-pilot to on to HDG function in ALT change mode. Turn initiated passing 710 feet per SID procedure.Flaps retraction stopped just short of up; auto-pilot disconnected. Horns go off. Communication Aircraft System (CAS) messages for auto-pilot off; flaps fail; stall protection fail.Aircraft in climbing left turn and continuing to bank (i.e.: autopilot disconnected as exactly the wrong moment).Recovered aircraft and went to straight and level flight. Reduced power as altitude was at 2;170 feet by time climb stopped. ATC contacted to ask about altitude. Told them I had a flap issue and would call back time permitting.Realizing that no automatic systems were working (i.e.: autopilot) - went to flying straight ahead and level at 2;000 feet. Then called ATC and asked for straight and level.ATC controller realized I was in trouble. And provided a straight and level; and then a slight climb to 3;000. He did not bother us while we sorted the problem out. This was valuable - as anything he could have asked us would have taken attention away from hand flying the aircraft in hard IFR with multiple failing systems.After reviewing the emergency manual; I reset the flap electronic circuit breakers and the flaps retracted to normal. CAS messages all went away. Auto-pilot came back on-line. Called ATC to let them know we had resolved our issues. And continued flight to better conditions. (Maintenance later determined that the flap potentiometer had a moisture seal issue that caused it to sense a flap misalignment and stop moving to prevent asymmetrical control surfaces).Issue that should be corrected: The blaring horn should be silencable by the pilot. It caused distraction (mental overload) when least needed; and it substantially interfered with communication both in the cockpit and with ATC.Great work by ATC: The controller did not cause further distraction; with questions or directions; right when I most needed time to work out the problem(s). This was perfect. I was already in mental overload and they would not have helped the situation. Their training / intuition to keep quiet to me was spot on.
EA50 pilot reported loss of multiple systems on departure; problem was later traced to flap potentiometer.