Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 3000; Flight Crew Type 200
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Aircraft; Equipment / Tooling
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.
C182 pilot flying reported a controlled flight into terrain incident during approach due to newly installed autopilot malfunctioning.