My impression when I hear 'glass cockpit' is all flight & nav instruments so our disagreement may be in my misinterpretation of your meaning .  I just took another look at your web site to see what you meant by 'glass cockpit'. I can understand using windows for data logging & engine monitoring. But, even if Windows wouldn't kill me by locking up during a VFR flight, I wouldn't want to tie all my flight instruments & nav duties to it just because of the hassle factor when I get the blue screen.

Maybe we aren't that far apart in our attitudes about risk vs benefit. I *do* have an iPaq running moving map in the cockpit, but it is non-essential & only a minor irritation when it locks up, since I have a dedicated GPS/moving map independent of the iPaq.

Charlie

al p Wick wrote:

>Needless to say, you are welcome to use whatever criteria you want to
>make a decision. I try real hard to convert these decisions to logical
>statements. So I would interpret your statement as "Charlie thinks the
>risk of computer shut down is greater than the risk of crashing from one
>of the things it monitors."
>
>The computer is running only a couple of applications. It's not on the
>internet. So if I fired up any win platform running one application, how
>often would it crash? If it operated for two weeks without crashing, that
>is equivalent to my flying for two years. Seeing as the average pilot
>flies less than 150 hours a year. Realistically, if Iwas running win 3.1
>(remember that old sys?) EVEN it would go for over 10 years without a
>blue screen.
>So it's very low risk....but there is more.
>
>The blue screen risk is independent probability. So it's only when it
>crashes at the same time as one of the items we monitor goes belly up,
>that we are in trouble. Remember, the laptop doesn't fly the plane. It
>just monitors things, tells you if something is awry. So the odds of
>those two happening at the same time? Holy cow, it must be astronomical.
>1 in x billion or so. Using this logic,  it's abundantly clear that the
>windows system is entirely suitable. However, that would change if I were
>using to laptop to perform some flight critical function. Suddenly they
>are not independent probabilities, but dependant ones. But we aren't
>using it in that manner.
>
>I managed quality assurance for a living. So I put solutions in place,
>then measured how well the solution worked. I then tried another
>solution, remeasured. I did this with huge variety of problems. Us pilots
>have the same failure patterns that businesses do. Things like "I usually
>do x, but I was distracted by......." or "I didn't notice......"
>The intelligent monitoring via glass cockpit is extremely effective
>solution that will save lives. I'd estimate it makes flying around 10
>times safer than the aircraft next to you.
>
>
>-al wick
>Artificial intelligence in cockpit, Cozy IV powered by stock Subaru 2.5
>N9032U 200+ hours on engine/airframe from Portland, Oregon
>Prop construct, Subaru install, Risk assessment, Glass panel design info:
>http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/alwick/index.html
>
>
>
>
>On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 19:00:46 -0600 Charlie England
><ceengland@bellsouth.net> writes:
>  >
>>I run xp home & xp pro at home, xp pro at work supported by a Huge IT >>
>>group (US Gov. agency). XP is much more reliable than the older >>versions; it only locks up once every week or two instead of every >>day >>like the older versions.
>>
>>No thanks on MS in the cockpit, except for stuff like an iPaq that's >>
>>non-essential.
>>
>>Charlie
>>
>>al p Wick wrote:
>>
>>    >>
>>>I suspect there are not Unix versions, but don't know for sure. You >>>      >>>
>>may
>>    >>
>>>be able to find out from wonderware web site. There are no >>>      >>>
>>penalties for
>>    >>
>>>using windows. Particularly newer versions.
>>>
>>>
>>>-al wick
>>>Artificial intelligence in cockpit, Cozy IV powered by stock Subaru >>>      >>>
>>2.5
>>    >>
>>>N9032U 200+ hours on engine/airframe from Portland, Oregon
>>>Prop construct, Subaru install, Risk assessment, Glass panel design >>>      >>>
>>info:
>>    >>
>>>http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/alwick/index.html
>>>
>>>
>>>On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:52:06 -0500 Ernest Christley
>>><echristley@nc.rr.com> writes:
>>> >>>
>>>      >>>
>>>>al p Wick wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   >>>>
>>>>        >>>>
>>>>>I take advantage of off the shelf software and hardware.
>>>>>     >>>>>
>>>>>          >>>>>
>>>>Al, I've looked at you're glass panel page.  I'm not sure, but it >>>>        >>>>
>>>>appears that you base the system on a software package from >>>>Wonderware?  >>>>Are there Unix versions of this software available, or is it >>>>strickly a >>>>Microsoft shop?  I couldn't find that information anywhere on >>>>        >>>>
>>their >>    >>
>>>>website.
>>>>
>>>>-- >>>>        ,|"|"|,                                    |
>>>>----===<{{(oQo)}}>===----        Dyke Delta         |
>>>>       o|  d  |o          www.ernest.isa-geek.org  |
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>Homepage:  http://www.flyrotary.com/
>>>>Archive and UnSub:   >>>>        >>>>
>>http://mail.lancaironline.net/lists/flyrotary/
>>    >>
>>>>   >>>>
>>>>        >>>>
>>>-al wick
>>>Artificial intelligence in cockpit, Cozy IV powered by stock Subaru >>>      >>>
>>2.5
>>    >>
>>>N9032U 200+ hours on engine/airframe from Portland, Oregon
>>>Prop construct, Subaru install, Risk assessment, Glass panel design >>>      >>>
>>info:
>>    >>
>>>http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/alwick/index.html
>>>
>>>--
>>>Homepage:  http://www.flyrotary.com/
>>>Archive and UnSub:   >>>      >>>
>>http://mail.lancaironline.net/lists/flyrotary/
>>    >>
>>> >>>
>>>      >>>
>>
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>>Homepage:  http://www.flyrotary.com/
>>Archive and UnSub:   http://mail.lancaironline.net/lists/flyrotary/
>>
>>
>>    >>
>
>
>-al wick
>Artificial intelligence in cockpit, Cozy IV powered by stock Subaru 2.5
>N9032U 200+ hours on engine/airframe from Portland, Oregon
>Prop construct, Subaru install, Risk assessment, Glass panel design info:
>http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/alwick/index.html
>
>--
>Homepage:  http://www.flyrotary.com/
>Archive and UnSub:   http://mail.lancaironline.net/lists/flyrotary/
>
>
>  >



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