Dead DG

Well, it looks like my directional gyro just went belly up. When I went for
a ride today, the setting knob was very sticky, and then suddenly not sticky
at all as it now rotates freely and doesn't feel like it is engaging
anything. The gyro card does not rotate with the knob.

I have a Cherokee with a heading tracking Autocontrol III autopilot.

What are opinions regarding having it rebuilt as opposed to replaced?

Thanks

Mike

Lethal instruments, i.e. things that can kill me if they go toes up in
IMC are always replaced with new, not rebuilts... Non lethal
instruments can be rebuilts, used, whatever... The lethal instruments
on the panel to me are the AH, speedo, T&B, altimeter, whiskey
compass... Most everything else is in the nice but not lethal
catagory... Your DG is a grey area... If you feel you MUST have the
autopilot in IMC, then the DG becomes a lethal instrument... Your
call...

denny

That's a little extreme.
Either rebuilt or exchanged with one from a good shop will be fine.

Denny wrote:
Lethal instruments, i.e. things that can kill me if they go toes up in
IMC are always replaced with new, not rebuilts... Non lethal
instruments can be rebuilts, used, whatever... The lethal instruments
on the panel to me are the AH, speedo, T&B, altimeter, whiskey
compass... Most everything else is in the nice but not lethal
catagory... Your DG is a grey area... If you feel you MUST have the
autopilot in IMC, then the DG becomes a lethal instrument... Your
call...

denny

The DG is in the grey area but the whiskey compass is lethal? That's
hillarious.

Denny wrote:

Lethal instruments, i.e. things that can kill me if they go toes up in
IMC are always replaced with new, not rebuilts... Non lethal
instruments can be rebuilts, used, whatever... The lethal instruments
on the panel to me are the AH, speedo, T&B, altimeter, whiskey
compass... Most everything else is in the nice but not lethal
catagory... Your DG is a grey area... If you feel you MUST have the
autopilot in IMC, then the DG becomes a lethal instrument... Your
call...

denny

Well, let me take you into IMC and fail everything but your altimeter,
speedo, T&B and compass and I'll have you kissing that compass when you
are back down...
A DG is nice but it's nothing that will kill you if it goes bad in hard
IMC...




denny

Denny wrote:

Well, let me take you into IMC and fail everything but your altimeter,
speedo, T&B and compass and I'll have you kissing that compass when you
are back down...
A DG is nice but it's nothing that will kill you if it goes bad in hard
IMC...

Who will ever look at the compass? The GPS runs on batteries. Just fly
a ground track instead of a heading.

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 11:41:55 -0700, Newps wrote:

Denny wrote:

Well, let me take you into IMC and fail everything but your altimeter,
speedo, T&B and compass and I'll have you kissing that compass when you
are back down...
A DG is nice but it's nothing that will kill you if it goes bad in hard
IMC...

Who will ever look at the compass? The GPS runs on batteries. Just fly
a ground track instead of a heading.

and if you travel w/o a GPS or even better yet, your trusty 296 lithium
battery goes TU? I'd be wanting that DG real quick!

Allen

Denny,
You're fighting a losing battle my friend. I was also taught the
critical basic instruments as you've pointed out, however a great many
of today's pilots place tremendous faith in their electronics. Dead
reckoning seems to be a lot art, which may be a good thing considering
the airspace we live in today.

I'm with you on the criticality of the compass, and I also seem
to remember that it used to be part of the minimum equipment list but
the DG wasn't. That used to be a question asked on the CFII oral years
ago.

But times have changed so we have to understand the new
environments.

-----Original Message-----
From: Denny ]
Posted At: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 12:34 PM
Posted To: rec.aviation.owning
Conversation: Dead DG
Subject: Dead DG

Well, let me take you into IMC and fail everything but your altimeter,
speedo, T&B and compass and I'll have you kissing that compass when
you
are back down...
A DG is nice but it's nothing that will kill you if it goes bad in
hard
IMC...




denny

You're fighting a losing battle my friend.
************************************************

Yah, I'm a bit slow but I'm catching on....

denny

Well, it looks like my directional gyro just went belly up. When I went
for a ride today, the setting knob was very sticky, and then suddenly not
sticky at all as it now rotates freely and doesn't feel like it is
engaging anything. The gyro card does not rotate with the knob.

I have a Cherokee with a heading tracking Autocontrol III autopilot.

We have the same set up, and had ours rebuilt by the Gyro House.

It still processes more than I would like, but it hasn't changed since
installation, so I guess it's "normal". All things considered, it was
money well-spent. (But I fly VFR, so YMMV...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"