Artificial Horizon testing

[Rory O'Conor]

All

I have an RC Allen Attitude Indicator Model 26 (Artificial Horizon) fitted
in my glider for cloud flying.
It is powered by 14V from a stepped up 12V soaring battery. ie plenty of
power.
It has been levelled.

I am concerned about its current reliability when showing straight and level
flight.

Can anyone advise on any tests air or ground-based, with the instrument
installed / removed than I can carry out to determine whether this
instrument is functionning correctly or not?

Will I see anything if I take it apart?

Regards

Rory O'Conor

[Stefan]

Rory O'Conor wrote:
> Can anyone advise on any tests air or ground-based, with the instrument
> installed / removed than I can carry out to determine whether this
> instrument is functionning correctly or not?

I suspect any avionics repair shop will be able to reliably test it.
Personally, I just go thermalling in VMC and look what it shows after
half an hour or so. Be sure to thermal to both sides.

Stefan

[[email protected]]

I had the same AH in my motor glider (but running on 12 volts, not 14)
and removed it after a few years and one very expensive overhaul. It
was just too unreliable. Never subject to mishandling, just highly
unreliable in my experience. Other pilots I've talked with have had
similar experiences. And there don't seem to be any "low cost" (under
$5k) electric AH's that are much better.

I now use the simulated AH on my Garmin 196 and am considering the new,
solid state varieties. Hopefully Bumper (aka Johnny the Morgan) will
comment on this as he has one and I think likes it a lot. I don't fly
clouds and want an AH purely for safety in the unlikely event I get
trapped above clouds that close in under me. Hasn't happened yet (knock
on wood), but I think about it.

Martin

[bumper]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I had the same AH in my motor glider (but running on 12 volts, not 14)
> and removed it after a few years and one very expensive overhaul. It
> was just too unreliable.


I've also heard the electric artificial horizons (AH) or attitude indicators
(AI) have not been so reliable. Also, most are relatively expensive and
large 80mm (3.125") and so take up a lot of panel space. The smaller 2.25"
inch gyro instruments, as used in jet aircraft, have been very pricey.
Recently there have been some better options.

PC Flight Systems has PDA based AI and the smaller, stand alone E-gyro.
Though the E-gyro is sold as an AI, though functionally it is really more of
a needle and ball (without the ball), providing mostly roll info with a
relatively insensitive pitch display. Practically, this is just fine for
gliders, 'cause if you can keep the wings level, pitch is controlled by
airspeed, control-feel, sound . . . or whatever you have handy that isn't
iced up and still works!

The Garmin 196 that Marty and I both use, provides a GPS derived and very
usable panel display. When flown by an experienced instrument pilot, the 196
can get you safely out of the soup "partial panel". In the lower left corner
of the 196 display is a depiction of what looks like a turn coordinator.
However, if functions to display turn info only.

I'm currently using a TruTrack and am very happy with it. It reacts a bit
faster than the 196 panel (which has about a 1 second delay) and many pilots
will find the TruTrack display more intuitive and easier to fly as its blue
horizon remains pretty much in line with the real one. Again, no pitch info
on this instrument, but it seems ideally suited for gliders, being light, 57
mm, draws 150 ma (install a toggle switch), goes from power-off to usable
display in 3 seconds (even in a steep bank), and costs about $450 USD.

all the best,

bumper

[basils27]

What about
http://www.stratomaster.uk.com/php/shop.php?action=details&id=70

Full horizon functions, choice of display size and low power consumption.
Anyone tried one?

"bumper" > wrote in message
...
>
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>>I had the same AH in my motor glider (but running on 12 volts, not 14)
>> and removed it after a few years and one very expensive overhaul. It
>> was just too unreliable.
>
>
> I've also heard the electric artificial horizons (AH) or attitude
> indicators (AI) have not been so reliable. Also, most are relatively
> expensive and large 80mm (3.125") and so take up a lot of panel space. The
> smaller 2.25" inch gyro instruments, as used in jet aircraft, have been
> very pricey. Recently there have been some better options.
>
> PC Flight Systems has PDA based AI and the smaller, stand alone E-gyro.
> Though the E-gyro is sold as an AI, though functionally it is really more
> of a needle and ball (without the ball), providing mostly roll info with a
> relatively insensitive pitch display. Practically, this is just fine for
> gliders, 'cause if you can keep the wings level, pitch is controlled by
> airspeed, control-feel, sound . . . or whatever you have handy that isn't
> iced up and still works!
>
> The Garmin 196 that Marty and I both use, provides a GPS derived and very
> usable panel display. When flown by an experienced instrument pilot, the
> 196 can get you safely out of the soup "partial panel". In the lower left
> corner of the 196 display is a depiction of what looks like a turn
> coordinator. However, if functions to display turn info only.
>
> I'm currently using a TruTrack and am very happy with it. It reacts a bit
> faster than the 196 panel (which has about a 1 second delay) and many
> pilots will find the TruTrack display more intuitive and easier to fly as
> its blue horizon remains pretty much in line with the real one. Again, no
> pitch info on this instrument, but it seems ideally suited for gliders,
> being light, 57 mm, draws 150 ma (install a toggle switch), goes from
> power-off to usable display in 3 seconds (even in a steep bank), and costs
> about $450 USD.
>
> all the best,
>
> bumper
>

[Marc Arsenault]

Hello all,

I made a small research on the subject some time ago. My purpose was to
protect myself in wave flying. What I found was the installation of a
traditionnal turn and bank or an artificial horizon became to pricy and
could only be fitted with great difficulty on the panel of my PIK.

What I found were two alternatives: one good, one excellent. Both were Palm
PDA based. One was a E-Gyro which is nothing else than a certifiable "solid
state" gyro that can be easally installed in the back shelf of your glider
and have the display on your PDA. These instruments are the best. The E-gyro
requires about a minute to align before departure.

The other solution much more cost effective is as stated on this thread, is
an AI based on GPS info. I would not recommand it for thermalling in cloud
as the response rate is quite slow as in the first flight simulators for
PC's. What it is, however, is a good wing leveller that will get one back in
VMC when one has goofed up.

Do have your airspace cleared up first!

Fly safe

Marc
PIK-20B "74"

[[email protected]]

Just a correction to the name, it's TruTrak and the URL for the page
(if I have it right) is

http://www.trutrakflightsystems.com/ttfsinstruments.html

I found this out by googling on "TruTrack artifical horizon" and Google
was kind enough to ask me if I meant TruTrak. I also had trouble with
the URL on the next msg, involving stratomaster.uk. My browser came
back with "cannot find the site" type message.

Martin