Solid state horizons

"Mark James Boyd" wrote in message
news:4222c622@darkstar...

I think I agree with you that partial panel (NB&A) can be done safely
with training in some conditions. Smooth air, or mild and even
perhaps moderate turbulence (with practice) one can fly up into
a cloud and "top" a thermal. And there are places where the "G"
airspace allows pilots to legally practice this. In a medium performance
glider, if one only goes a few hundred feet up into the clouds,
popping out the bottom in a spiral is unlikely to exceed Vne.

On the other hand, I would be quite concerned if I was closed
out while on top of a wave. There was a 2-32 that crashed
with 2 pax under circumstances sounding like this.
Oct 10, 1997 out of Warner Springs. I'd sure love to hear what the
"ocean/atmosphere scientist glider pilot" saw in person that day.
Anybody know who that is?

I don't think the
pilot had a T&B, but I'm honestly not sure it would have made any
difference. IFR in rotor partial panel is a whole different animal.
I was in moderate to severe turbulence at night south of tahoe
IFR once, and it took every ounce of energy to keep the thing upright
(while losing 3000 feet at full power) with the full panel.
Partial panel I think I would have been Mr. Splatt.



If you've flown by airline in and out of Denver, you know how turbulent it
gets. Night IFR in winter along the east slope of the Rockies pretty much
is wave rotor. You get hammered. It can be non-stop unusual attitude
recovery. I can remember spending over two hours banging the control stops
trying to keep the blue over the brown while holding over Estes Park.

I think we disagree about partial panel in rough air. It's not unusual for
turbulence to tumble the attitude gyro leaving you on NB&A. When it gets
rough, I transition to partial panel so if the VG goes, I still have
control. For me, NB&A is PRIMARY attitude control in rough air.

And yes, I've hit a downburst on an ILS. It was an embedded thunderstorm
that Omaha Approach didn't tell me about. Full power at Vx just managed to
hold me two dots below glidepath. (That day airborne weather radar looked
very appealing but I didn't have it.)

So, what does all this have to do with Solid State Horizons in gliders? I
agree that some kind of standby attitude indication could be a lifesaver in
a glider - provided the pilot has taken training to use it correctly. My
choice would be a T&B, preferably solid state so it would use less power and
spin up quickly when needed.

A horizon (VG) wouldn't give useful pitch information unless the pitch
display was amplified for the tiny pitch changes that produce large airspeed
changes in gliders. I'd be using airspeed for pitch information anyway. On
the other hand, tiny changes in bank produce large changes in rate of turn
in gliders so a 2 minute T&B would be way too sensitive. Gliders need a one
minute or less turn needle.

These PDA based MEMS ADAHRS gizmos look interesting since you already have
the PDA.

Bill Daniels