Originally Posted by Centaurus
A private pilot owner was practicing full panel instrument flying in a flying school synthetic trainer in preparation for his command instrument rating. All his practice was on full panel. His instructor suggested he needed practice at limited panel as well. The student disagreed saying his own aircraft had a glass cockpit with reversion modes and limited panel would never happen.
During the conduct of a holding pattern prior to an ILS, the instructor failed the artificial horizon without first warning the student. In less than 45 seconds after the AH failure the student went into an ever steepening spiral dive and lost control. Worse still, the student accused the instructor of deliberately setting out to cause him to crash. The student had the wrong attitude in more ways than one.
I would suggest so did the Instructor. Rather than trying to convince the student that he needed partial panel on a traditional 6-pack, I suggest they should have worked with the student to identify possible failure modes for his EFIS and practiced them if possible. My own RV is similarly equipped to the student's, though I haven't installed a backup EFIS yet. Partial panel in something like that is like flying partial panel in an A320 with the electronic ISIS. Possible, but effectively pointless.
Dual ADAHRS, Dual screen, independent backup batteries and a G5 as a 3rd ADAHRS reference and display, how realistic is partial panel in something like that?
Originally Posted by Snake Charmer
My question is...these new electronic panels with everything on them, attitude indicator, compass rose, terrain display etc, are they outrageously expensive and difficult to fit? I am guessing there is an ongoing cost associated with keeping the machine in the IFR category (again I am clueless - yes yes on more than just this!) but even if not maintained in the IFR category could they be used in a pinch - I assume that they don't use a vacuum source but a cheap AHRS type setup.
Are these type devices better insurance than trying to keep current on limited panel and trying to fly on a turn coordinator (which again is something I have long forgotten).
Honest question and no criticism, suggestion or anything else implied
Dirt cheap, for the small ones, and absolutely brilliant as a backup - to the point where I would suggest anyone flying single-pilot IFR that
doesn't have one is a fool.
Dynon's D10A is now STC'd for a bunch of different aircraft, Garmin has their new G5 in the same size that looks very nice (And you don't even need to interface this one with the Pitot/Static system if all you want is Attitude, turn rate and heading), and Aspen Avionics has a TSO'd EFIS that can replace the whole 6 pack while not taking up more room than an AH & TC!
The Dynon and Garmin G5 can be had for less than $1,500 AUD, plus installation costs, which shouldn't be
that much...
ISTR CAsA published a notice a while back that said you could have a full Dynon/Garmin experimental EFIS in your certified aircraft, so long as it didn't replace any equipment required by CAO20.18.
I have the Dynon Skyview system in my RV and even though I only have 15 hours behind it so far, would have no hesitation in flying IMC with it, provided I had a G5 or dissimilar EFIS as a backup should the screen go dark.