Just to wander off track, an amusing¹ story from a friend of mine. He always has to have a flash car, and got one of the first Audi R8¹s in the UK. A couple of months ago he was leaving the office and found that it wouldn¹t start one of the tyre pressure sensors had detected a slightly under-inflated tyre and instead of a warning it locked out the whole ignition system!
Fortunately a technician with the company with the oldest heap of a car in the parking lot happened to have a foot pump to lend him! The whole company watched with amusement as the Managing Director pumped up the tyre of his expensive sports car... Mike On 4/8/08 08:19, "Hartmut Beil" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ralph. > > No need to do the Microsoft bashing. > > I think the everyone bases his judgment from his own experience. That is ok . > Here is mine. > > 1. A 7 class BMW - electronics and all electrical dies without warning WHILE > DRIVING. The car id dead for at least 30 minutes and after that as if nothing > was wrong. Happened a few times. BMW dealership determined nothing was wrong > with the car. I sent it to the junk yard. I lived in San Francisco these days, > this car was a danger. Never again a BMW! > 2. Jaguar with Bosch fuel injection. A malfunctioning sensor avoided any > success starting the car when lukewarm. Happened to a few Jag drivers. Took me > a few weeks to locate the problem -> the sensor. The repair shop found > nothing wrong with the car. > 3. Fiat Bravo with a Mitsubishi fuel injection unit. Car starts only > sometimes. At OAT over 10 degrees celsius, car starts only every second day. > Car also stalled while driving. Guess what, the FIAT service station did not > find anything wrong with the car. But the EFI computer hat a malfunctioning > chip that was heat sensitive. That I found out myself after a long phone call > with a Electronic Control Unit specialist. > > All 3 cases happened to me. All 3 cases were fixed by me - the BMW was just > garbage, as any BMW is. > > Computer chips are sensitive parts. They are sensitive to almost anything. > Heat, vibration etc. Now think about the environment that your electronics > will be in. One static overcharge and there goes your Computer system. > > It can happen to you in-flight. It certainly will happen this way or another > over time. Cars older then 10 years most likely develop problems with their > computer systems. Be it the air conditioning or what have it. > > My Ercoupe has Eisemann Magnetos on it that worked over 60 years long without > much trouble. I had them rebuilt when they started to miss. And they are now > as reliable as before. > > Try rebuilding a 10 year old computer - you won't even get the parts for it - > you will have to replace the system completely. And I assume the total > replacement of your electronic ignition and fuel injection system will happen > short after the first AD grounds the whole fleet - 3 years after you bought > everything. > > > It's a nice thought to use electronic equipment on your aircraft engine, but I > anticipate that it will be a very costly one it outdates itself over a few > years as do all glass panels. Probably not wisely spent money. > > > Hartmut > > > > > To: [email protected] > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 16:41:06 -0700 > Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] New Engine..... > > > > I sure wouldn¹t hang my life on anything from Microsoft. However, we depend > daily on computers running engines in our autos. They¹ve been computer > controlled for a couple of decades. > > Our 19 year old Mazda just diedthe automatic transmission. 225K miles. At > say 45mph average, that¹s 5000 hours. The engine computer never failed, and > imagine the abuse it takes. > > In my RV build, I will seriously consider electronic ignition, > andgasp!Vertical Power¹s solid state electrical system for the whole > airplane (http://www.verticalpower.com/). It¹s a brave new world ;-) > > Ralph Finch > > California > > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Hartmut Beil > Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 1:01 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ercoupe-tech] New Engine..... > > > > I am working with computers on a daily basis. I would not hang my life on a > computer controlled system. [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ercoupe.co.uk Alon A2 Aircoupe A-188 G-HARY --
