Portable IMC emergency panel

Doug wrote:
I frankly think that the best solution would be a panel mounted GPS
with battery backup. I have practiced under the hood and I can keep my
plane level with just my IFR GPS when in Track Up mode, the line moves
right and left with the plane, keep the line straight up and the plane
is not turning. Display the altitude and you can keep a rough pitch
also. Needs to be panel mounted so it is always there and ready. It
doesn't have to be one of the panel mount IFR GPS's, you could fashion
a panel mount for a handheld. But the key is to have it on, on track
and ready. If you get an electrical failure in IMC you aren't going to
be able to set anything up. ALL you attention will be needed keeping
the plane wings level.

Before you decide this works, if you haven't yet done so, I would
suggest you try it in dark night conditions under a hood. I do not think
daytime hood work adequately simulates the difficulty of keeping a plane
upright in IMC -- the movement of shadows within the cockpit is very
helpful in noticing that the plane is rolling.

Also, if you have a total electrical failure, you are likely to start
rolling and turning before it occurs to you to switch your scan to the
GPS. By then the track will no longer be straight up, and getting back
to the track line will be difficult even if once on that track you find
it possible to hold the track.

--
David Rind

Seems http://www.hangarb17.com/pebin?products.jsp
has pretty good prices for what you want.

Ron Garret wrote:


This looks like just what I'm looking for. Thanks!

Each time I look at this, I find it a little more tempting. Perhaps it's
that I keep noticing new things. This time, I just noticed that the AI
"pops up" upon entry to an unusual attitude. That's a nice warning
mechanism in case one fails to note the AI's failure.

- Andrew

The HSI display on aviation grade GPS units can be used for an
emergency IFR panel. My Garmin Pilot III has internal batteries that
will last several hours (if fresh). The only drawback is that all data
is ground tracked based. The effect of this is that sensitivities will
depend upon wind speed, but this is manageable (don't be very agressive
on the controls).

For any backup to be effective, it must be in the scan at all times.
Don't think of it as backup, think of it as redundancy. The GPS is on,
the pilot is monitoring it. It is in the scan at all times. If there is
a disagreement in instruments, the pilot must decide which ones are
correct and which ones are incorrect and take appropriate action. All
done smoothly and within the flow. Any one system can fail, and the
pilot can maintain control of the plane. The likelyhood of two systems
failing at the same time is small, MUCH smaller than 1/2 the likelyhood
of one system failing if the systems are designed to be indpendent.

Doug wrote:
For any backup to be effective, it must be in the scan at all times.

Indeed. I flew with somebody recently in his own airplane. Very
nicely equipped, with a 2nd (electric) AI mounted just to the right of
the altimeter, so it should have been in his scan. I was also blessed
with a whole array of pullable circuit breakers in front of me, which
I decided to take advantage of :-)

At one point, I pulled the breaker on the AI. I saw the red flag
immediately pop out, but he didn't notice it for about 10 minutes.
Later in the flight, I covered up his DG (HSI, really) and we did some
partial panel work. What I didn't tell him was that I had also pulled
the breaker on the TC (again, with a instant red flag on the
instrument face). He didn't notice that either.

Some airplanes have radar that can shows the horizon. In a pinch, you
could keep the plane level with radar. Pitch can be maintained with
airspeed or groundspeed, with some caveats. In level flight, constant
heading, the wind doesn't change much. Monitor your GS, get iced pitot
tube and loose airspeed indicator, you just maintain your same GS as
you had before the ice, and you are good to go.

I found Garmin 196's panel page good enough for emergency flying. I
tried it once in IMC (with all my panel working, of course!) and it
seems to work pretty well. The most important instrument I think,
during straight and level or shallow turns, is a good heading
reference. GPS gives you that. (Yes I know it's not exactly heading
but a ground track) 196 also gives a GPS derived turn rate indicator
that looks like a TC. It has a little lag but it doesn't lag any more
than the T&B. Combined with the GPS heading reference it's good enough
to keep the wings level and on an accurate heading.

Flying the 196's panel page is a lot easier than partial panel with a
turn needle and a wet compass, I can at least tell you that! If I ever
lose all my panel I won't sweat shooting an approach with it if that's
the only option I have.

I leave my 196 on the panel page everytime I'm in IMC.

Ron Garret wrote:
Howdy,

I fly a Cirrus SR22, an all-electric plane. It has dual-redundant
power
busses, which makes total electrical failure unlikely, but if it does

happen in IMC it can really ruin your day, so I'm thinking about a
backup plan. Obviously a portable GPS and Comm unit are first on the

priority list, but I'd also like to get a portable AI, since it's
really
hard to keep the wings level with just a GPS. Most of the portable
AIs
seem to be part of a complete EFB solution about which I know very
little, but as long as I'm heading in that direction anyway I thought

I'd ask if anyone had any experience or recommendations in this
direction. I want to optimize for portability first. This is just a

backup plan, so I don't want to shlep around a lot of extra weight
that
I'm likely never going to use. Beyond that I'm curious about two
things: 1) what's the cheapest portable AI solution out there, and
2)
what can I get that's still portable if price is no object. XM
weather?
Portable stormscope? Electronic approach plates? The kitchen sink?
(I
suppose a portable autopilot is too much to ask :-)

Thanks,
rg

M wrote:
I found Garmin 196's panel page good enough for emergency flying. I
tried it once in IMC (with all my panel working, of course!) and it
seems to work pretty well. The most important instrument I think,
during straight and level or shallow turns, is a good heading
reference. GPS gives you that. (Yes I know it's not exactly heading
but a ground track) 196 also gives a GPS derived turn rate indicator
that looks like a TC. It has a little lag but it doesn't lag any more
than the T&B. Combined with the GPS heading reference it's good enough
to keep the wings level and on an accurate heading.

Flying the 196's panel page is a lot easier than partial panel with a
turn needle and a wet compass, I can at least tell you that! If I ever
lose all my panel I won't sweat shooting an approach with it if that's
the only option I have.

Are you flying a Cirrus? slick retractable? DGB

"M" wrote in message oups.com...

I found Garmin 196's panel page good enough for emergency flying. I
tried it once in IMC (with all my panel working, of course!) and it
seems to work pretty well. The most important instrument I think,
during straight and level or shallow turns, is a good heading
reference. GPS gives you that. (Yes I know it's not exactly heading
but a ground track) 196 also gives a GPS derived turn rate indicator
that looks like a TC. It has a little lag but it doesn't lag any more
than the T&B. Combined with the GPS heading reference it's good enough
to keep the wings level and on an accurate heading.

Flying the 196's panel page is a lot easier than partial panel with a
turn needle and a wet compass, I can at least tell you that! If I ever
lose all my panel I won't sweat shooting an approach with it if that's
the only option I have.

I leave my 196 on the panel page everytime I'm in IMC.


I haven't done that much experimentation with that, but what I have done has led me to conclude that the
success of it would vary widely depending [inversely] on the level of turbulence. If it's smooth just about
anything will work--compass, adf, gps, etc-- but if its fairly bumpy none of them will work very will keeping
you right side up. My C210 may not be as slick as a Bonanza or Mooney, but it's still not very stable in roll.

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ