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I plan to use a TruTrak ADI as a backup to my
Cheltons and I feel confident that this is not likely to be the
"Achilles
heel" of my plane.
Doug,
I agree with your comments re:
lack of backups in GA aircraft.
I'm betting on tru-trak for my
auto-pilot and I expect their ADI really is quite reliable and I like
that
(I think) it has it's own battery
backup. I'm not clear exactly how they do pitch. the ad says
"gyro
enhanced vertical speed" which sounds like it's
either baro or gps, which is another variable in the reliability
equation.
I remain somewhat circumspect
about electrons, however, as I've had the whole wiring harness on
my car get fried, for example.
Where I ended up personally is:
- has to survive any single
power source failure (vac or electric)
- survive any single instrument
failure
- smooth failover (I don't have
to do anything to get the backup to come on line. )
- easy detection (two ai's next
to each other with conspicuous failure annunciators)
- operational similarity of
primary to backup (what your mind does looking at a chelton is different
than what it does when integrating multiple steam gauges)
On that last point, I have an electric AI two holes
over from my vac ai in my cessna.
The electric responds slightly more slowly,
has slightly different markings and it requires looking 10 degrees to the
right.
I am amazed how different it feels to fly an
approach with the electric AI.
Colyn
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