Gents:  I can only speak for the IVP, but I wouldn’t be without them, for the following reasons:

1)  I may need them to make up for my lack of prior planning

2)  I may need them to make up for the FAA’s lack or prior planning

3)  Gradual Engine cooling (using speed brakes rather than chopping the throttle)

4)  My Seattle Location

My landing patch is near sea level, inside a ring of mountains, including Mt. Rainer that 14,500 or so.  Being able to make a fairly rapid descent at a reasonable speed, especially in turbulent conditions is a must.

5) Running the traffic pattern and accommodating smaller slower airplanes

You do what you have to do, in conjunction with tower directions, to stay safe – which ranges from doing a 360 to give some room to slower traffic, to slowing rapidly/descending quickly gives you a lot of control / margin of safety that you flat would not have without speed brakes.

Just my 2 cents.

John Hafen

IVP 413AJ 400 hours

(un-paid endorsement:  during a descent yesterday into the Seattle soup, I experienced some relatively heavy “light” rime icing.  Pitot heat on.  Prop heat on.  Glycol sprayed on the wind screen.  RDD Thermix wing heat on – ice pealing up like potato chips and blowing off.  It really works and I was glad to have it.)

Bill,

I like that label!  However I put the microswitch a half inch above my throttle so there is no room for that many words.  (I would not put the switch on the stick because it is just not used enough.)

Robert

ES-P N301ES