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IFR in a vintage 172 - vacuum system
On Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 2:14:32 PM UTC-5, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
Well, at long last I've decided to go for my instrument rating. I'm having a ball (aside from yesterday's disastrous simulator session), but now I'm facing the dilemma that every instrument student has to deal with: where to find an IFR-capable aircraft. My 1961-vintage 172B's panel has a six-pack, a KY-97A, a GTR-225, and an ancient 300-series ARC ADF. Good solid comms, but not much else. That's nothing a boatload of money can't fix, except for one thing: my vacuum gyros are powered by venturis. (It's great fun when a young hotshot instructor from the flying school next door wanders over, points to the venturis, and says, "What's that?") What makes it difficult is that my Continental O-300C (150 SMOH and purring like a kitten) has no option for a vacuum pump. The O-300D was the first model that provided a mounting pad on the rear case. All my buddies walk me through Trade-A-Plane, etc., pointing out nice Cherokee 180s decked out with a 430W and a KX-155. That's well and good, but the old girl has been in the family for over 40 years. Heck, she _is_ family - my wife is doing her PPL in her right now. So... is there any way to retrofit a vacuum system in my plane? Adding a heated pitot and alternate static are trivial, and the radios, as I mentioned above, are just a matter of money. But I don't think it would be a good idea to take off into the soup when my gyros aren't spun up until several minutes into the flight. And conditions that would ice up a carburetor are bound to be at least as bad for venturis - and they have no equivalent of carburetor heat. Common wisdom says get another airplane. But there's the sentimental factor here. Any ideas? -- /~\ lid (Charlie Gibbs) \ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way. X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855. / \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign! here's another that is even a lower cost. http://www.chiefaircraft.com/pf-svs-v.html Mike |
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