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Been awhile since I posted anything, but I've just had my computer guru tell
me how to decode those freakin' MIME files and I'm getting caught up with the
list...
I disagree with the group consensus that all-electric is the only way to go.
Seems to me a lot of airplanes fly pretty well with the traditional vacuum AI
& DG and the electric turn coordinator. As I recall, the likelihood of
crashing due to a failed vacuum system is far, far less than due to running
out of gas or continued VFR into IMC. Doesn't runnign out of gas cause
something like 40% of all crashes? Continued VFR into IMC another 40%? How
many crashes are caused by a vacuum system crapping out? Some, but not many.
I suppose you hard-IFR-all-the-time guys could benefit from the extra
complexity of an all-electric system, but now you've got probably ten pounds
of extra crap and several thousand dollars of extra cost that you drag around
with you all the time. Plus, you haven't yet addressed the issue of the gyro
itself failing -- just it's power source.
I'm a fairly inexperienced IFR pilot -- I may punch through marine layers,
but if it's really raining I stay on the ground. I couldn't care less about
Stormscopes and Strikefinders since in this fiberglass airplane with my
limited IFR experience I have no business trying to thread my way through
thunderstorm cells or heavy rain showers. This is not to say that I'll never
be in the soup, but the percentage of the time I'll be there is going to be
pretty small.
So maybe I'm burying my head in the sand by ignoring the likelihood of vacuum
failure, but maybe not. In my Cessna the vacuum gauge was way over on the
other side of the airplane, where I never looked at it. In my 360 it will be
right next to the AI where it's plainly visible. In addition, I'll have a
low vacuum switch tied into Jim Frantz's annunciator system. And let's not
forget my resolution to practice partial panel on a regular basis.
It's all about risk management. My risks of perishing due to a vacuum
failure are low since I'm not IFR that much and I'll have warning systems to
alert me to the vacuum failure. My risks of not finishing the airplane due
to extra cost and time to install a dual-redundant electrical system and
gyros which cost 4-5 times as much as the vacuum ones are significantly
higher.
If I were to add weight and dollars to the project, I'd make the fuel system
bulletproof -- not the IFR instrumentation. But I think I've already done
that by keeping the relatively simple header tank installation.
Perhaps as I get more IFR experience and begin to feel comfortable in hard
IFR, plus after I've paid off all the loans, I'll retrofit a dual electric
system and the high cost electric gyros. But for now, I'll stay the same as
99 percent of the aviation fleet with the traditional setup, and take my
chances.
- Rob Wolf
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