View Single Post
  #6  
Old September 26th 08, 02:28 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
TXBill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default need for dial altimeter?

"Brad" wrote

yes, this will be an Experimental/Amateur built CofA.

I think I remember Danny Howell saying that the instrumentation in the
Lighthawk was going to be just a Flytec hang gliding MFD.

It would be nice not to use up panel space for a dial altimeter, but
on the other hand, my eyes aren't as good as they used to be either,
and the 3.125" altimeter is very easy to read.

ahhhh................descisions!

Brad


Wouldn't a glass-cockpit soaring instrument, say something like the new
ClearNav from NK, provide even better situational awareness if it had an
airspeed strip down the right edge and an altitude strip down the left edge?
How about adding "altitude required for next waypoint" and "speed to fly"
indicators to those strips?

I'd sure like to have them....but, then, I'd like to have a horizon, too.
And a G-meter strip next to the airspeed strip. Oh, and how about a vario
strip next to the altitude strip? With real-time and average indicators?
Maybe a voltmeter? A compass? Synthetic 3D terrain view? Thermal markers?
What else do y'all think might be useful?

Sounds like a whole new class of instrument, an "ESIS" or "Electronic
Soaring Information System". Put all that on a 12inch-diagonal daylight
visible screen and the only "steam guages" I'd have in the cockpit would be
a compass and 57mm airspeed indicator. Just in case.

Hmm, sounds like an idea for a future "Soaring Tech" article.....

See you on the porch,

- Bill




--
Posted via NewsDemon.com - Premium Uncensored Newsgroup Service
-------http://www.NewsDemon.com------
Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access