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Old 15th January 2009 | 21:10
  #49 (permalink)  
Jetstream Rider
 
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 291
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From: Heathrow
I've seen a new aircraft with all EFIS instruments including the standby's - I have no idea how they were driven, but certainly all the instruments were all flat screen.

Interestingly I heard of an accident with a Diamond TwinStar (I'm pretty sure that's what it was - new light twin though.) It has FADEC to control the engines - the alternators on the engines are not quite powerful enough to run everything when the gear retracts (electrically), so it robs power from the battery for a bit while the gear comes up. The problem was the battery had gone flat in the accident aircraft and had not been charged in accordance with the POH. The upshot was that on gear retract, there was no power to rob from the battery, and not enough oomph to drive the other bits and bobs, including the FADEC, hence the double engine failure that ensued.

Some of these all singing all dancing systems sometimes leave me a bit concerned, things like the Airbus incidents linked above do show that sometimes we are not quite as forward thinking as we would like to be. (Without wanting to sound like a luddite, I love technology, but only when it helps).
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