"Frank" wrote in message
...
Yesterday on the takeoff roll, I discovered my airspeed indicator was
stuck. I got off tow a little early, and returned to the field to
sort things out.

Back on the ground, I visually inspected the pitot tube (in the
vertical fin on my Ventus 2bx), removed and blew out the short pitot
tube, and put it back on. Then I verified that the airspeed indicator
responded correctly when I (carefully!) blew into the pitot tube.
Problem solved (I thought)

On tow again, I found I had the same problem - hmm. OK, I'm an
experienced soaring pilot, and I don't need no stinking airspeed
indicator, so off I go cross-country. As luck (or lack of airspeed
indications) would have it, I landed out after 200km, about 30 miles
from home - ah well.

While waiting for my crew, I had plenty of time to troubleshoot the
ASI problem. I repeated the steps I had done before, and verified
that the ASI responded correctly on the ground - how could this be?
Then I had the bright idea that the difference might be the position
of the instrument panel - tilted up or down in the Ventus. So, I put
the panel down in the flying position, and voila - the ASI sticks!
Tilted it back up, and the ASI works fine. Tilt back down, ASI
sticks. Of course, the original ground check had been done with the
panel tilted up - lucky me!

After a number of other experiments, I was able to confirm to my
satisfaction that no tubing was being pinched when the panel was put
in the flying position, and the only variable was the orientation
(tilted or horizontal) of the instrument itself.

This is a fairly new instrument (circa 2002), so I'm puzzled by this
apparent failure. Anyone have any ideas?

TIA,

Frank

Frank:
Isolate the problem stepwise--
Remove all lines from ASI
Get a small medical syringe or similar and tubing, and put in 2-3 cc of
air into the pitot line. Do this with panel down. If it works then, it is
plumbing. If not, it is ASI internal problem.
If ASI problem, remove from panel and retest.
If not ASI, remove all connections to pitot (electronic TE, etc) and plug
them. Use large syringe to pressurize the pitot line in reverse--i.e., from
instrument connection end to pitot probe end, but be careful--don't blow the
tubing off the internal connection to the probe.
Then check for static line obstruction, same way. You could also use the
large syringe to apply negative pressure at the instrument end and suck out
water etc.

This should diagnose it for you.

Hartley Falbaum
USA "KF"