An M20 pilot suffered altitude and track deviations when the altitude hold capability of the autopil...

Narrative:

Upon departure from ful; I received radar vectors for the ANAHEIM3 departure procedure (dp). I was having trouble locking the autopilot on assigned altitude resulting in altitude deviations and then could not retrieve the ANAHEIM3 dp from my electronic flight bag when it reset; unexpectedly. I was receiving VOR radial intercepts from ATC but struggling to keep in front of the aircraft due to the numerous required direction changes coupled with autopilot issues. ATC requested whether I 'knew where I was going?' and whether I had the 'anaheim 3 dp chart on board'; to which I responded that I was having trouble bringing it up on my electronic flight bag (efb) and requested vectors. After a controller handoff; I became situationally aware of the routing and proceeded without problem until I neared the lake hughes VOR and discovered my autopilot had kicked off causing another altitude deviation. I was asked by ATC why I was deviating from my assigned altitude; to which I advised I would re-establish my assigned altitude. I experienced no further problems for the remainder of the flight.I believe the chain of events initially began with the failure of the autopilot to lock onto my assigned altitude causing some momentary diversion of attention. The added problem of losing the efb and having to reboot while maneuvering through the bravo airspace in and out of IMC and struggling to identify radial fixes of a departure procedure which I was unfamiliar with caused me to 'get behind the airplane' and play 'catch up'. In the future I will thoroughly brief sids and stars as I do approach plates and have my autopilot repaired.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An M20 pilot suffered altitude and track deviations when the altitude hold capability of the autopilot repeatedly failed and the EFB reset itself unexpectedly; leaving him without access to the ANAHEIM 3 DP from FUL by which he was cleared.

Narrative: Upon departure from FUL; I received radar vectors for the ANAHEIM3 Departure Procedure (DP). I was having trouble locking the autopilot on assigned altitude resulting in altitude deviations and then could not retrieve the ANAHEIM3 DP from my electronic flight bag when it reset; unexpectedly. I was receiving VOR radial intercepts from ATC but struggling to keep in front of the aircraft due to the numerous required direction changes coupled with autopilot issues. ATC requested whether I 'knew where I was going?' and whether I had the 'ANAHEIM 3 DP chart on board'; to which I responded that I was having trouble bringing it up on my Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and requested vectors. After a controller handoff; I became situationally aware of the routing and proceeded without problem until I neared the Lake Hughes VOR and discovered my autopilot had kicked off causing another altitude deviation. I was asked by ATC why I was deviating from my assigned altitude; to which I advised I would re-establish my assigned altitude. I experienced no further problems for the remainder of the flight.I believe the chain of events initially began with the failure of the autopilot to lock onto my assigned altitude causing some momentary diversion of attention. The added problem of losing the EFB and having to reboot while maneuvering through the Bravo airspace in and out of IMC and struggling to identify radial fixes of a departure procedure which I was unfamiliar with caused me to 'get behind the airplane' and play 'catch up'. In the future I will thoroughly brief SIDs and STARs as I do approach plates and have my autopilot repaired.

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.

Attributes
ACN	935885
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	FUL.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	M-20 Series Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	Vectors SID ANAHEIM3
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Electronic Flt Bag (EFB)
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 1100 Flight Crew Type 800
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

An M20 pilot suffered altitude and track deviations when the altitude hold capability of the autopilot repeatedly failed and the efb reset itself unexpectedly; leaving him without access to the anaheim 3 dp from ful by which he was cleared.