Solid state horizons

Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with the various solid state
horizons on the market. Are they stable, is the response quick enough, are
they reliable.

(Probably only likely to get answers from UK pilots as the rest don't cloud
fly)

Hey, hey...

In Sweden we do cloud flying a lot!! But we very seldom use
horizons. A real glider pilot fly clouds on a T&B and an
uncompensated vario. That is how we teach people the art of
cloud flying.

/Robert

basils27 skrev:
Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with the various solid state
horizons on the market. Are they stable, is the response quick enough, are
they reliable.

(Probably only likely to get answers from UK pilots as the rest don't cloud
fly)

What is cloud flying?
"Robert Danewid" wrote in message
news
Hey, hey...

In Sweden we do cloud flying a lot!! But we very seldom use
horizons. A real glider pilot fly clouds on a T&B and an
uncompensated vario. That is how we teach people the art of
cloud flying.

/Robert

basils27 skrev:
Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with the various solid
state
horizons on the market. Are they stable, is the response quick enough,
are
they reliable.

(Probably only likely to get answers from UK pilots as the rest don't
cloud
fly)






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I have used PPCEFIS and found it responds sufficiently quickly and as
accurate as it needs to be for gliding purposes in IMC. It has a
display on a PDA (an iPAQ in my case). The main disadvantage if you
have other gliding software which also runs on the PDA (I didn't at the
time), I think it has to be shut down before you can get the EFIS
running. EFIS does, however, show GPS data as well as the horizon, if
fed with the GPS lead, so you don't lose GPS navigation while using it.
It has a HITS (Highway In The Sky) function too, which I found amusing
to some extent, but not very useful.

The only reliability problem I had was due to my poor installation -
the iPAQ lead was in a place where I could accidentally kick it, which
damaged the connection and lost the attitude data.

This year I plan to be using eGYRO which I have not yet tried. It is a
separate instrument with its own display, horizon/attitude only, has
nothing to do with GPS, and leaves the PDA (if you have one) to display
whatever you want on it at the same time.

Both EFIS and eGYRO come with strong warnings not to use them as the
sole or main instrument for flying in IMC. I have a conventional turn
and slip too.

The reason I wanted either of these was for low current draw combined
with always-on capability. I was able to run a Garmin 89 GPS, PPCEFIS
and the iPAQ all from one battery with about 480 ma total current, so
could use them all the time from a 7AH battery, and the EFIS was always
ready for use. I have no experience of suddenly going into cloud with
an electromechanical artificial horizon and having to wait for it to
get erected - which I have heard requires flying straight and level for
a while - and did not wish to have to try that!

I would be interested in hearing the experience of anyone else.

Chris N.

"Slick" wrote in message ...
What is cloud flying?

flying clouds take a little more skill than that required for flying
gliders, balloons or parachutes (squares)... although all require changes in
air temperature to create or maintain lifting characteristics.. flying a
cloud also requires some knowledge of atmospherics for cloud formation.. it
is hard to keep flying a cloud when it looses formation because you as the
pilot took in into an airmass that was not conducive to cloud maintenance.
Landing a cloud reduces the visibility at the runway or local airfield to
zero or near zero conditions... a cloud landing is normally referred to as
fog.


ok... enough of the fun stuff...

Cloud flying is flying an aircraft within a cloud.. in the US, termed IFR,
or IMC (Instrument Flying Rules required, or Instrument Meteorological
Conditions). Not done in US with Gliders..
BT

BTIZ wrote:

Cloud flying is flying an aircraft within a cloud.. in the US, termed IFR,
or IMC (Instrument Flying Rules required, or Instrument Meteorological
Conditions). Not done in US with Gliders..

From what I've learnt in this group, cloud flying in gliders can
legally be done in the USA. It's just not popular, probably partly
because it requires a current motor IFR rating.

Stefan

Slick wrote:

What is cloud flying?

Flying within a cloud. Very useful in a country where the cloud base is
usually at 300 ft AGL. Not really necessairy in other countries, but
still fun.

Stefan

Robert Danewid wrote:

Hey, hey...

In Sweden we do cloud flying a lot!! But we very seldom use
horizons. A real glider pilot fly clouds on a T&B and an
uncompensated vario. That is how we teach people the art of
cloud flying.

/Robert

basils27 skrev:
Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with the various solid state
horizons on the market. Are they stable, is the response quick enough, are
they reliable.

(Probably only likely to get answers from UK pilots as the rest don't cloud
fly)




As far as I know cloud flying is allowed in England, Sweden, Switzerland and
Poland. Not in France. IIRC in Poland it is something you have to learn for just
getting your licence. As I am in France, I have no answer to the original question.

Robert Ehrlich wrote:

As far as I know cloud flying is allowed in England, Sweden, Switzerland and
Poland.

Add Danmark and Germany. There may be still others.

Stefan

I agree with the comments from Chris below, and I am
also intending to upgrade from an eGYRO-PCEFIS to an
eGYRO-3 for the same reasons. If anyone is interested
in making me a sensible offer for the eGYRO-PCEFIS
plus send an e:mail. It includes the original leads
to contect to and power an Ipaq 5XXX and a Garmen Pilot
III (but it only requires the GPS if you want to use
it for navigation as well).

Further information on:

http://www.pcflightsystems.com/image...ODUCTS2003.pdf

Mike Clarke


At 01:30 20 February 2005, wrote:
I have used PPCEFIS and found it responds sufficiently
quickly and as
accurate as it needs to be for gliding purposes in
IMC. It has a
display on a PDA (an iPAQ in my case). The main disadvantage
if you
have other gliding software which also runs on the
PDA (I didn't at the
time), I think it has to be shut down before you can
get the EFIS
running. EFIS does, however, show GPS data as well
as the horizon, if
fed with the GPS lead, so you don't lose GPS navigation
while using it.
It has a HITS (Highway In The Sky) function too, which
I found amusing
to some extent, but not very useful.

The only reliability problem I had was due to my poor
installation -
the iPAQ lead was in a place where I could accidentally
kick it, which
damaged the connection and lost the attitude data.

This year I plan to be using eGYRO which I have not
yet tried. It is a
separate instrument with its own display, horizon/attitude
only, has
nothing to do with GPS, and leaves the PDA (if you
have one) to display
whatever you want on it at the same time.

Both EFIS and eGYRO come with strong warnings not to
use them as the
sole or main instrument for flying in IMC. I have
a conventional turn
and slip too.

The reason I wanted either of these was for low current
draw combined
with always-on capability. I was able to run a Garmin
89 GPS, PPCEFIS
and the iPAQ all from one battery with about 480 ma
total current, so
could use them all the time from a 7AH battery, and
the EFIS was always
ready for use. I have no experience of suddenly going
into cloud with
an electromechanical artificial horizon and having
to wait for it to
get erected - which I have heard requires flying straight
and level for
a while - and did not wish to have to try that!

I would be interested in hearing the experience of
anyone else.

Chris N.