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From: William R. Bayne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 3:41 PM
To: Ed Burkhead
Subject: WRB Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Turn and Bank AKA Turn Coordinator
RLYTECH
Hi All,
The reasons I would vote against including a T&B or Turn Coordinator on my instrument list are:
1. Weight (1-2 lbs for the full installation).
2. Drag (venturi)
3. Looks (venturi)
4. Cost of acquisition
5. Cost of installation/approval & logging
6. Cost of maintenance
7. Time necessary in emergency to consider and productively utilize information provided.
I agree that this instrument can save one's bacon in the average airplane, but the Ercoupe, et al, is NOT the "average" airplane. Fred Weick built into the Ercoupe a better way to handle the inadvertent "blunder into a cloud", and I have used it and found it to offer the same level of safety without any of the disadvantages listed above. This method is available to all who fly a properly maintained and rigged Ercoupe, etc. regardless of additional (optional) instrumentation.
1. Observe and comprehend you are "in the soup".
(In my case I was trying to climb through a "sucker hole" in a local cloud layer into known clear air above. The hole was closing as I climbed, so I turned tighter and tighter until my old AN gyro "tumbled" (which I had not been watching). Thusly, at precisely the time I lost all outside visual reference at full climb power and NEEDED reference to a gyro, mine was USELESS.)
2. Cut the throttle to 1900-2000 rpm so engine power does not tempt the plane to find aeronautical "balance" in an unknown or undesired attitude.
3. Stabilize airspeed/rpm such that the plane is neither climbing nor descending per the altimeter (if the plane is in cruise trim, note that speed for future use and memorize it).
4. Let the wheel/yoke go. The plane should assume a straight and level attitude.
5. With the tips of a thumb and forefinger, gently turn to a heading deemed safe or specifically desired (consult VFR chart?).
6. To climb above or descend below clouds, reset throttle for approximately 100 FPM as verified by watch and altimeter.
I recommend you first try the above in cruise flight at 4-6000' AGL on a clear day, so results can be observed and confidence in the plane and procedure established. I didn't have that luxury in execution, but I knew my plane and reacted accordingly.
While an instrument-rated pilot might benefit in emergency from reference to a T&B/Turn Coordinator, it is my opinion that the delay in transition of pilot awareness from outside reference to said instruments is likely to cancel out these instruments' more precise indications. It is also likely the more typical Ercoupe/etc. owner is unlikely to maintain sufficient situational awareness aloft to meaningfully benefit from any measurable difference in actual response to an emergency.
Of course, one size DOES NOT fit all in terms of confidence or capability even in the same airplane.
Regards,
William R. Bayne
<____|-(o)-|____>
(Copyright 2004)
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On Nov 17, 2005, at 10:04 AM, Sydney Cohen wrote:
Percy, a turn and bank is valuable if you ever blunder into a cloud, as I once did. Of course, you don't have clouds in New Mexico, but we do in most of the rest of the country. Also, instead of buying another one or throwing the old one away, Ed could get it reconditioned.
Syd
Wood, Percy wrote:
I wonder why you want a turn and bank, Ed.
I can understand your CFI being addicted to such. S/he probably has great pride in "centering the ball."
How some ever. If your `coupe does not have rudder peddles the T&B is what your plane is set for.
It is not perfect because the rudder-to-aileron coupling is a compromise over the air speed range. It will be off at some speeds, but "good enough" over the range.
Upshot: You can spend a lot of money and not get the desired result.
Percy "If I wanted peddles, I'd buy a bicycle" in NM, USA
From: Ed Clavel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 9:05 PM
To: Coupe-Tech
Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Turn and Bank AKA Turn Coordinator
Hello out there! I need another needle and ball, instrument that is d;^). My CFI discovered that mine sucks (ie.not so good) while doing 45 degree angle turns. I have the small venturi that spins it up but the instrument is of a 1946 vintage and I think it's a little tired.
Anyone have a decent used one for sale out there.
Ed
N3396H
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