Backup Flight Data Recorder?

Orion Kingman wrote:
Papa3 wrote:
Fox Two wrote:
Hello All,

I'm new to racing, and I have a new D-2b on order from Germany. I'm
considering installing a backup Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to my
Cambridge 302, and I'm curious to see how many other competition pilots
choose to have a backup FDR as well. What kind of backup FDRs do you
use?

Thanks in advance for any advice you have!

Chris Fleming, 'F2'
El Paso, Texas

Chris,

snip. The only problem would be for
a badge flight, where the FAI has not approved it for documentation.

Since you are "new to racing", you might want to consider this simple
approach until you get all of the other stuff (like flying) worked out.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)

Two words of caution with Garmin units: 1.) they are not IGC approved,
you cannot use them for badges or records. 2.) Some of the newer
Garmin units (the 396 in particular) have XM sattelite weather
capability. This is illegal to use in US contest and can result in a
DQ for that contest and a five year ban from competitive soaring in the
US.

DV8

Chris,

As I mentioned in my original post and as Orion points out, the Garmin
units are not approved as standalone FRs by the IGC. So, they're not
acceptable for badges and records. From your first sentence, I
gathered that you are primarily interested in racing. If so, then I
think the Garmin is a very smart choice for several reasons:

- Reliability. These things are built in large volumes for use in a
lot of demanding environments. My experience is that they are
extremely unlikely to fail, especially since they don't have a lot of
the bells and whistles that some of our FRs have. On the other hand,
I can count over a dozen failures of purpose-built gliding FRs at
contests I've attended in the last 3 years.

- Availability. If worst comes to worst and your Garmin quits on you
(or you run over it with your tow vehicle - don't ask me how I know),
there's almost no place in the US where you can't find a K-Mart or a
Walmart nearby that has a similar unit for sale. You can have your
replacement the same day.

- Self-contained. As long as you are willing to live with an 8 hour
battery life and are careful about rotating batteries before each
flight, the Garmin unit is completely self contained. No extra
displays required. You can still use it as output to a PDA, but it
will get you around the course and home if all else craps out.

- Usability. Because these units are designed for the general public,
their interface is quite simple to learn. In addition, they are well
suited to using for other more mundane pursuits (like finding your
buddy when he lands out), so I tend to use it more frequently than I
thought I would. As a result, I find that I stay current on this unit
even though it's primarily a backup in flight.

- Cost. This one is in the eye of the beholder. When I was young
and single, I wouldn't think twice at having two complete FR and
Navigation systems costing over $1,000 each. Now, with two kids and a
family budget that treasures every penny it can find, saving $800 or
more dollars is a big deal.

Anyway, there are a lot of folks using Garmins as FRs, so you should be
able to find plenty of ideas on how to use them. There are also
newsgroups dedicated to Garmin GPSMAP and ETrex units which have a
wealth of information.

Regards,

P3