More Panel Options

corey    RV Project    

So I’ve been thinking about how I would incorporate backup instruments on my panel, and came up with a couple of mockups:
The above mockup uses a row of instruments below the PFD for backup. The middle attitude indicator would actually be either a TruTrak Pictoral Pilot AutoPilot or a TruTrak ADI Pilot AutoPilot.
This mockup has the panels arranged a little bit differently. I think I like this one. The bank/slip indicator under the airspeed indicator would actually probably be a TruTrak Pictoral Pilot AutoPilot. The fuel gauge below the Altimeter is an EI Dual Fuel Gauge.

Stop Animations

corey    RV Project    

Another RV-7 builder put together some stop animations of his building progress. He has two available on his site and they are very cool:

http://www.freepgs.com/flyboy/rv_index.html

Click Stop Animations at the top of the left nav bar.

More Panel Mockups

corey    RV Project    

Here are two other panel mockups done on epanelbuilder.com. This is one that uses conventional gauges:


Since all of my intruments have to be electric (instead of electric and vacuum) these basic instruments can get very pricey. Since I’d be spending about $6k on the basic instruments in the above image, I figured I might as well spend $8k on the 2 display GRT EFIS in a layout like this:


This is more along the lines of what I’m thinking of currently. So you know what they all are, we have: electronic fuel gauge (probably an EI Fuel Gauge ); chronometer (note that the description says it doesn’t make coffee – I’ll have to look around to see if I can find one that does); GRT Primary Flight Display ; Autopilot below the screen, though I will probably get a round one like the EZ-Pilot or the new ADI AP ; next to the PFD we have an Angle of Attack indicator, which helps you find best-glide and gives stall warnings in any flight profile; next to that is the companion display from GRT which is coupled to their engine monitor (directly below), however it can also show map and info pages; next to the MFD is the hand-held Garmin GPS 396 which will be mounted into the panel (but removable); below that we have the radio stack with either a PMA8000 or Garmin 340 audio panel, a Garmin SL30 Nav/Comm radio, and a Garmin GTX327 transponder (or similar – depends on what I can find cheaper).

I think that’s the major bits. Also on the panel is the stand alone compass (above the glove box), the special electronic prop control (see next to the throttle in the little hang-off panel area), and to the far right is an ELT status indicator. The other switches and buttons are there just for the visual as I’m not sure how many or what exactly I’ll need for those. Now if only all these components didn’t cost $20k altogether, we’d be set!

When you talk about airplane systems you always must consider redundancy. One of the reasons I’m leaning towards getting an ADI AutoPilot from TruTrak is because it has it’s own internal GPS and power supply. If worse comes to worse and I lose my electrical system I can always use the autopilot to fly myself out of bad weather. Since it is also an attitude indicator, it is a backup to the PFD’s attitude display. The Garmin GPS 396 also has it’s own battery backup (because it’s a hand held) so I will always have a map display along with altitude information and terrain avoidance warnings. More than likely I will couple the ADI AutoPilot’s GPS with the GRT EFIS system or buy GRT’s internal GPS option – giving me a total of 3 GPS devices, two of which can run on battery power and provide most (but not all) flight information. The only redundancy missing is an airspeed indicator, and while the AOA indicator will always tell me if we are approaching a stall (if it has battery power) it won’t let me know if we’re nearing an overspeed. So I’m not sure what to do about that yet, though this airplane will be mainly VFR with the ability to go IFR if required: I plan on staying out of IFR conditions unless it’s something simple like a low bank of begnin clouds.

The other instrument not covered by any other instrument is the navigation radio equipment. The GRT EFIS can couple with the navigation radio and display tracks to VOR stations as well as the localizer approach to runways. If the EFIS were to go out (it should be noted that if the screen dies, I can always switch to the other screen and have the same information available) I do not have a backup navigation instrument – however, that instrument is not needed for VFR - especially with GPS information available.

I figured that one of these days I will eventually pony up for a certified aircraft with a full blown IFR panel complete with multipule redundancy – until then, I want to save a few pennies and enjoy flying VFR!

Japan: No Go! Airplane: Go!

corey    Flying, Military, News, RV Project    

I’m a little bummed. Ok, maybe more than a little. I swear (I swear!) I put my name down for a 2 month tour in Okinawa, Japan. Somehow I got passed over (as did all but 2 Traditional Air National Guardsmen – what the heck!) and won’t be going on that trip.

Sigh.

But, I was worried about it because it falls right at the beginning and at the end of a school semester. This would have made it hard to go to school this summer and next fall (though I was willing to sacrafice half a year to go to japan for a couple months – I mean, come on!). I guess I don’t have to worry about that now.

But! Good news! Today submitted my order for the next two kits for my airplane kit. I ordered the slowbuild (non-preassembled) fuselage kit and the quickbuild (preassembled) wing kit, for a grand total of $16,113 and 50 cents. Yikes.

Thankfully, they only need a 25% deposit to start getting the kits together for me. I expect the fuselage to ship in about 3 months, while the wing kit will take at least 7 months if not 9 months – they have to send the unassembled kit overseas (to Czech Republic I think) to be assembled and then sent back. For an additional $4000 I think it’s a pretty good deal to save me a year’s worth of work.

I’m starting to think about what avionics I want in my plane and coming up with a basic mockup of the panel I want. I’m pretty sure I’ve settled on the GRT EFIS dual display system, which will couple with their EIS (which will be preprogrammed for a Subaru engine). I haven’t settled on much else (TruTrak autopilot or a EZ-Pilot autopilot?) but I think I have the basics.

Here’s one of the panels I made using epanelbuilder.com :

I was thinking of going with a large map display in the middle (like you see here), with something like the VistaNav system. But, instead, I think I will just get a Garmin GPS 396 – much cheaper and you can get XM Weather for it.

I was hoping to get a used Garmin GNS430 (which is a comm radio, gps, and moving map all in one) which can also get XM Weather, but to get XM you have to buy a $5000 add-on module! The price for the 396 with everything is only $3000, so that’s silly.

I’m keeping my eyes open for other used systems: Garmin SL30 (comm/nav radio), Garmin GTX327 (transponder), electronic fuel gauge, one of PMA’s audo panels, and a few other things. I know I don’t have to buy them now, but I might feel cheated if I let a good deal go!

Books and Movies, Movies and Books

corey    Books, Games, Media, Movies, Music    

Since I haven’t posted an update lately, I figured I would run down the list of movies we’ve seen recently:

Aeon Flux – Action sci-fi. I haven’t seen the original cartoon series but apparently it’s pretty funky. I liked the movie, though the people who over analyze movies probably won’t like it as much. ***1/2
Jarhead – Movie about Marine snipers during Desert Storm: Part 1. More of a drama than an action flick, but very good and shows you what a lot of guys go through while deployed and working in the Armed Forces. ****1/2
Memoirs of a Geisha – Pretty good, though slow in some parts. A drama, so hardly anything exciting going on. But still good. ***1/2
Narnia – Done very well, much better than the TV series I’ve seen a bit of. ****1/2
Syriana – Action/Drama. Basically, our (America’s) oil corporations are evil. So is our gov’ment. Interesting and pretty good. ***1/2
The Ringer – Eh. **
Walk the Line – The Johnny Cash movie. Good, but slow in parts. Another drama. The best parts were the performances. ***1/2

And now, books!

I’ve started reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. I have to admit, it’s nothing like I thought it would be, but it’s very good. It’s basically a collection of short(er) stories during this upheaval and removal of a galactic empire. I’m now on book 3 and the time compression has slowed down quite a bit.

I was reading the Dark Tower books by Stephen King but those can be fairly intense, it’s nice to read something a little faster and less emotional.

And, not to leave the other two Media topics out:

Music – I got Monster Magnet: Monolithic Baby! for Christmas, and it’s pretty good. I don’t think I’ve gotten any other music lately, but that’s no surprise.

Games – Started playing EVE Online again recently with a bunch of folks from F13.Net. This is one of those games where you play for awhile, quit, come back, play for awhile, quit, come back… A lot of changes have been made since I last played, so I’m getting caught up on those and trying to figure out what exactly to do with our new Corporation.

And that’s about it for Media updates. Oh oh I forgot one!

Lost – We’ve recently started watching the first season of this show. It’s pretty good! Of course, the second season has already started so there’s no way to catch up. Next season I will have to setup Tivo to record the shows so they are ready for us once we have caught up.

L8trz!