New Butterfly Vario

On Jan 27, 6:31*pm, Bruno wrote:
I am planning on getting my order in for the Butterfly next week at
the convention so this topic is of great interest. I don't understand
why the instrument needs to be disabled. I agree that it could give a
competitive edge in competition so why not just make sure the igc
records if the artificial horizon feature was used and we are good. *I
would hate to disable an instrument for a contest and then need that
instrument due to a life or death screw up on my part but it is now
disabled.

How about a rules consideration that says if an artificial horizon is
available during a contest that it must be associated with the logger
of the files being used for judging and that a log must be recorded if
that feature is used? *It would still be available if the crap hit the
fan to save the pilot's butt, however if used, the pilot gets zero
points for the day. *Some of the best pilots I know who are also very
safety conscious have confided in me that they have been trapped above
clouds without an artificial horizon and really scared themselves
getting out of it. I for one want the safety of having an instrument
to help me if my life depends on it. I am sure the rules can
accommodate that.

Looking forward to seeing you all next week at the convention.
Bruno - B4

Just to add a bit more fuel to the fire, there is a large body of
evidence on the power side that even *with* an artificial horizon and
turn indicator, the average lifetime for a non-instrument-rated pilot
in clouds is about 3 minutes, and the accident sequences on which this
evidence is based almost invariably start with straight and level
entry into IMC. Anyone who thinks that just installing an artificial
horizon in their glider is a 'get out of jail free' card is fooling
themselves. I urge anyone considering this to get a copy of Condor
(which has a turn indicator installed in most panels) and try their
luck at maintaining any sort of reasonable attitude/airspeed solely by
reference to instruments.

When I owned a Cirrus SR22 power plane some years back, I carried a
GPS-196 (with a GPS-generated artificial horizon and turn coordinator)
with me as a last-ditch backup if all the electrics died. This
worked, but it took quite a bit of practice to be able to stay
reasonably upright using just that instrument.

Just my $0.02

TA