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, 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"

"mbremer216" wrote in message
...
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?

A bit off, but this is a good summary:

http://www.avionicswest.com/articles..._autopilot.htm

I had my DG rebuilt about a year ago and it has worked very well. It was
done by Ducasse Insrument Service.

--
Best Regards,
Mike
http://photoshow.comcast.net/mikenoel
"mbremer216" wrote in message
...
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

EdoAire Autopilot DG
Overhauled Aug. 2004
Tits up Dec. 2005 (out of warranty)
IRANed Dec. 2005
Operated properly for 7 hours then started spinning, wouldn't erect
IRANed Dec. 2005 2nd time
No problems found
Re installed, worked fine on the ground, failed during initial
takeoff
Replaced with overhauled unit after talking to Century Instruments

For the price of what we paid for removals, reinstalls, and IRAN's, THEN for
an overhauled unit, we could have bought a new unit and had it installed
then sold our core to a rebuilder.

Lesson learned.

Jim

"mbremer216" wrote in message
...
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

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.