YAGQ (Yet Another Gyro Query)

"Steve" wrote in message om...
Light IFR cross country can turn into hard IFR cross country. Consider the
importance of the instrument and then decide whether it would be better to
buy a new one or overhaul a 20 year old AI. I think you already know what
you should do.


Well, gosh, what should he do?

When our DG failed, we figured the AI was the same (unknown) age
and bought a new instrument with a vacuum failure flag.

The new AI failed less than 50 hrs later.

It was replaced under warranty, of course, and has been OK since.

I have friends with overhauled AIs which work perfectly for hundreds
of hours

So tell us, what should Cory already know that he should do, because
having gone through 2 instrument and 1 vac pump failure in 1000 hrs
of flying time it's not so clear to us?

FWIW Cory if you don't have a vacuum guage in your primary scan
I'd consider a new instrument with a vacuum flag on the face.
But, it's just not clear to me that new is necessarily superior
to a good O/H. A lot of people seem to like Kelley Instruments
these days.

Cheers,
Sydney

Snowbird wrote:
: FWIW Cory if you don't have a vacuum guage in your primary scan
: I'd consider a new instrument with a vacuum flag on the face.
: But, it's just not clear to me that new is necessarily superior
: to a good O/H. A lot of people seem to like Kelley Instruments
: these days.

While I agree that when toddling around in the soup, you don't
need anymore challenges, I'm thinking that the additional $150 overhead
for adding a flag needs to be reconsidered. I've got the vacuum gauge,
albeit on the far side of the panel. At some point, however, one needs to
say, "enough is enough. I won't get raped any longer on aviation price
gouging." Having the flag doesn't make the gyro work when it breaks, just
potentially alerts you sooner.

Dunno... need to think about it a bit more. Don't even get me
started on the $150 price overhead for getting a lighted one....

-Cory

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In a related note, anyone have reason to believe foul-play for the
regulator if it reads a solid "4.25" in operation? I don't suspect a weak
pump, since it'll stay at 4.25 once RPM is about 800 or so. I just find
it weird that it would be off that far without intentional mis-setting.
Do the regulator springs really get weak over time and drift?

-Cory

--
************************************************** ***********************
* The prime directive of Linux: *
* - learn what you don't know, *
* - teach what you do. *
* (Just my 20 USm$) *
************************************************** ***********************