On Wednesday, November 20, 2013 11:00:25 AM UTC-6, wrote:
So your owner's manual states a mechanical compass is required as minimum equipment. Fact is the sailplane has three GPS sources all with separate batteries. Has anyone been extended a "pass" by a FAA inspector on this?



If you license your sailplane experimental...would the FAA still insist the sailplane have a mechanical compass?



A liquid-filled ball compass with a suction cup meets the requirement as written but certainly not as intended.

depends on what experimental category and how the operating limitations are written. I no longer have a compass in the Cherokee as the operating limitations don't require one. The NG-1 has one mostly because I don't have anything better to put in that spot and you can't see it anyway because the stick is in the way. The Cirrus does, since I'm pretty sure the manual requires it.

I don't think that the FAA considers anything on a suction cup to be "installed" and i'm pretty sure they require required equipment to be "installed", like with nuts and bolts and stuff so at least some effort is required to remove it.