Graham Singleton wrote:
>>The panel has involved a lot of head scratching. One thought that is ringing
loud bells is "what about a laptop?" The reliability of modern electronic gear
is quite possibly better than traditional mechanical instruments.<<
Graham,
my bells are ringing too.
What are you doing normally with your PC (or Mac)?
Even if you carry it with you all day and night, I suggest you will care about
it and try to keep it clean, dry, warm and don`t bounce or drop it. I guess,
normally everyone will care about his Laptop in a similar way.
Although, the bl... machines will give up service often enough (IMHO doesn`t
matter how much you care and what make it is.).
And even if you are lucky and the hardware will stay with you for years and
years,first: it is just luck and: the day will come, where the software will
leave you alone.
Not only because there is much less development in it compared to the tools of
the "big boys" but in contrast to to the old fashioned "fixed clocks" like
Tachometer, HSI, VOR, Altimeter, Vario etc.in our common light aircraft cocpits
the ordinary Laptop can be configured by the individual user and that DON`t
mean, this will allways go in the right direction.
On the contrary, I want to contend that 80% of the time people are involved to
pc`s, they are working ON the computer and 20% of the time WITH it.
Even if you say >in my case it is just the opposite, I work with my laptop 90%
of the time and only 10% to make it work<, this is not good enough for me,
because if your computer decide, it wants service right at the moment, when you
are flying in a difficult situation, I bet, even if you have the nerves, you
will never have this 10% time in the air to make things work.
And if some body mean he has, I hope i will never come closer to that camerad in
the air than 100 miles.
Another point:
Of course, there are situations and tasks related to Navigation, where advanced
navigational aids are much better than the old fashioned slide rule.
But that means also, stay trained for the possible event, every electronic
leaves you alone in rain and dark!
And to be honest, if i had the choice - and in this case i have - i would decide
to build in proofed but affordable equipment and - if nessecary - redundant
system configuration.
BTW - I don`t like digital gauges, I like the feeling to get the informations
out of an analog display with a glance (Even though i worked with computers
since years).
You wrote further:
>>There is already softwear which will run a moving map from a GPS position,
it's even possible ( but not cheaper) to add a card + softwear and convert the
laptop into a GPS.<<
I guess in all safety related questions the price can not be the first matter of
interest and - to go further - it should never be a reason to choose a less safe
piece of equipment.
IMHO - flying is expensive and will ever be. That does`nt mean that i like this
particular circumstand, but by understanding that, I will have my freedom to
decide:>Can I afford flying or not?<
I affirm, i AM still fighting with my inner filthy swine and my purse.(g)
You wrote:>>The rest could be electronicand much much lighter. Try weighing a
full panel. 35Lbs?!
That's a possible extra 3+ gallons of fuel allowable.<<
Where do you want to have the extra 3 Gallons? In front of you instead of an
instrument panel? With all respects, i wouldnt like this at all!
And:
How about the c of g? I guess, the Europa was designed with the idea in mind,
that a normal amount of instrument weight will be ad to a presigned area.
Lets imagine:
I normally use a Powerbook Duo what has somewhat 5 pds. add ASI, HSI, Altimeter
and Compass and you will have another 10pd.
There is a difference from 20 pds to your suggested appr. weight of an
instrument panel.
I am not an'aircraft designer but 20 pds is an amount, I would think about what
could happen if it shifts.
And after all, the readability of Laptopdisplays especially in bright sun and
starring at it wearing sunglasses is really not the hit.
And what does a really good equipped (meansa good manufacturer, CD-ROM, Aktiv
Matrix Color Display, big and fast Harddisk, PCMCIA-Slot, Ram Ram and more
Ram,electric power connection , backup batterys and the needed Software) Laptop
cost?
For that money you will get panelmount GPS, VOR, ADF,HSIand ASI and much more
important: another HSI,another Altitude indicator,and another ASI. From my point
of view the much more redundant system than basic VFR plus a good equipped
laptop.
Let me say at last:
Of course the computer will be an important tool for general aviation
flightmanaging as it already is for the big irons. But the actual standards in
soft and hardware for the average pilot and purse is far away from reliability
and affordability and for that reason out of discussion for my plane.
So far
Thomas, Kiel Germany
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