On Dec 29, 4:34*pm, brian whatcott wrote:
bildan wrote:
A number of years ago an article in The Atlantic magazine by William
Langewieche (son of
S&R author and current Vanity Fair chief editor) described an old
story that an airline pilot
had used a pocket watch as a turn indicator when his gyros failed. *WL
tried it by flying out
over the open ocean, where the horizon disappears. *He hung a pocket
watch from the ceiling
of the cockpit and used it as a pendulum. /snip/
-- Matt

Nothing is quite as terrifying as pilots with zero "hood time"
discussing how to fly in clouds.

A weight on a string simply works as a poor ball bank by indicating
slips and skids but says NOTHING WHATSOEVER about bank, rate of turn
or pitch.

Ho hum: there is ONE thing more terrifying than pilots with zero hood
time giving advice - and that's pilots with or without hood time who
don't think twice before speaking once.

A pendulum is NOT a plumb bob.

Brian W

Such an energetic conversation! And the list had ben such a quiet
place... In this case I think you are both right. Yes a pendulum is
not a plumb bob. But it will also not tell you which was is up- which
is what Andy stated. I might be a viable rate and direction of turn
indicator in a pinch. I would imagine if you tried to start swinging
it once you had entered a turn, it would only go in circles or
ellipses, but...

I rather like the idea! I can imagine a little square of velcro on
the inside of the canopy where the yaw string is taped down, so it
didn't cut out visibility during normal flight. Then maybe a short (8
inch?) piano wire with a fishing weight at one end and a loop at the
other that goes through one of those cable tie pads with mating
velcro. All stashed in the side pocket.

Now the cloud layer closes below me and I must make an emergency
decent through an IFR layer. I velcro my pendulum to the canopy, head
into the wind, start it swinging fore and aft, and pull the spoilers.
Nothing to it.

Please someone try this right away (without the clouds!) and report
back to the list. I want one.

Matt