Originally Posted by
lelebebbel
"Only" below 18 inches yes. Like a fuel gauge that is "only" inaccurate below half tank, would you consider that an "accurate" fuel gauge? That's some great engineering. Just pull full heat, you may or may not foul the plugs, and you can always readjust the heater just as you pull into a hover, since you barely got anything else to do at that point, right? Oh, it's ...manageable?
yeah maybe, with sufficient training.... but is that really where the bar should be here? For a machine predominantly flown by new pilots nonetheless? A little thought experiment, what if you had to press a button every 60 seconds or the engine stops, is that acceptable? If someone failed to press it and had an accident, is that pilot error? Or should someone then step in and say you can't have a helicopter that relies on a system like that. If so, where's the line?
In my opinion, the carb heat system, the little gauge with the sticker that says to ignore it, the lack of a warning light, and the entire fact that carburetor icing is still a thing at all in 2023, is utterly ridiculous beyond all description, and nothing can excuse it in this day and age.
My 30 year old motorcycle is equipped with a fool proof automatic carb heating system, and the worst that ever happened to those (before the heaters were offered for free) if they got carb icing is that you had to pull over for 5 minutes to let the ice melt. Not autorotate into a bay.
The fuel guage on my old Saturn got me four hours on the first half, then two hours on the second, so, its not just Robinson who doesn't make perfect guages.
,...and you must be super light, or something, 'cause I've never spent so much time under 18" that I've had to worry about fouling the plugs,... unless maybe you're still pulling heat even though you're not in carb icing conditions?
Anyway, seems like these days Robinson makes all their decisions based off not wanting to get sued,..and since they haven't fixed the 22 (like they did the Raven) I'm guessing they aren't getting sued over accidents caused by this issue. So, it seems most new pilots aren't struggling with pushing that button "every sixty seconds", lmfao!
Originally Posted by
hargreaves99
Carb heat assist is crap as when you raise the lever it takes carb hear off. so you constantly have to check it.
But yes, the R22 carb heat system is is massive "gotcha" and it really should have been changed by now.
Sounds like you're not setting it in a hover. When I do that, it keeps the guage out of the yellow just fine.
,...but yes, I agree, it is crap, and I wish they'd just get rid of it.