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Brent,
<snip> would you opt to stay with the X-bow 425 or go with the
Pinpoint unit?
Chat Daniel
Chat,
My advice here is the same as it is for any avionics decision, "wait as
long as you can before making a decision". 425 users are in the rare
position of having BOTH the equipment manufacturer (X-bow) and the
dealer (D2) offering to support or replace the product. If you are in a
position to do so, then you may want to wait and see if X-bow really
does have the problem fixed.
According to the web site the Pinpoint GADAHRS has an integrated air
data computer (ADC) and a remote magnetometer. The 425 has an
integrated magnetometer and no air data computer. Both have integrated
GPS. While not mentioned, if the Pinpoint unit has an ADC then it must
also have an outside air temperature probe (OAT), which is need to
calculate TAS. These differences would translate to some amount of work
to accommodate the change. I currently have
an X-bow 500 in my plane.
No matter what path you take, be sure to get a reasonable amount of
flight testing in before you launch into actual.
During flight testing of Fosset's GlobalFlyer there was a failure of
both the attitude and air data systems that were part of the installed
Chelton EFIS. As it turned out it wasn't a "failure" at all, but an
expected, if undesirable, system interaction. It seems the Shaden ADC
and its OAT probe were certified to the -55 celsius (-67F) DO160 limit.
The Shaden engineers assumed that if the OAT was reporting a
temperature outside this lower limit then there must be a failure of
the OAT system and the accuracy of the TAS was in doubt. When the
GlobalFlyer was tested in the flight levels above 350 the actual OAT
fell below the "failed" threshold causing the ADC to report "failed"
causing the AHRS to loose aiding and also report "failed". Given that
nothing had actually failed the fix was simple, above FL180 if the OAT
fails out of range then use the ICAO Standard Atmosphere to calculate
air data.
The point is that even when using certified components there are
challenges at the system integration level that only testing will
uncover.
Regards
Brent Regan
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