On Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 8:19:03 PM UTC-5, Andrzej Kobus wrote:

This is scary to say the least. Even if your unit works most of the time there is always a possibility of a software defect and ultimately freezing of the device. The more I am reading this thread the more I am scared to share airspace with some of you! Who knows what other ideas you might have...

Regards, AK

Andrzej, what specifically do you find scary? Having a backup attitude indicator available for the (hopefully rare) possibility that you find yourself IMC? That is already being incorporated in the new top-of-the line (read: expensive) varios, so why not have the same technology available at an affordable price for all the gliders that already have a big glass display in their cockpit?

As far as reliablity, I would trust any electronic solution more than a mechanical gyro! Especially in a glider, getting banged around while being trailered, etc.

As far as using any turn & bank type of indicator, really? Unless you are instrument rated and/or practice a lot (like the Brits, apparently), I doubt if the average US glider pilot could learn to maintain attitude in a cloud via needle, ball, and airspeed on his first attempt for real! With a big attitude display, I would expect the chances would be a lot higher.

Remember, I'm talking about an EMERGENCY setup here, since for most of us in the US cloud flying is not a practical thing to do. So I don't care if it's not TSO'd. But all the bits and pieces are already out there, it just would be nice if they were combined in a way that would be useful to us.

We wear parachutes that we hope never to use, install flarm to prevent the midair we hope to avoid. I'd like an emergency attitude source to avoid the spiral dive I never plan to get into!

Cheers,

Kirk

(And if you are wondering, yes I do have experience in hard IMC, know what vertigo feels like, and have flown needle-ball-airspeed and glass cockpits, to include HUDs.)