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I got in a discussion with a guy at the airport
yesterday regarding the Toyota drive by wire throttle problem. He's of the
opinion that technology has gone way too far. He want federal regulations that
prevent manufacturers from placing electronic systems in throttle, braking, and
steering systems. He concedes that cars now are far safer than they were 30
years ago (where he is apparently stuck), but in his opinion even one death
attributed to "too much technology" is one too many. How do you have an
intelligent conversation with someone like that?
Mike Wills
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2010 8:39 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Ut-Oh...
Thanks David,
Both you and Jon are aviators and I
knew you guys understood the score on this stuff. It's mostly the
non-flyers that think that every conceivable failure / error mode can and must
be eliminated. Try yes, but it will never be 100%. I'm too
embarassed to say how many times I've inadvertantly turned off my fuel pump
switch. Must move it soon.
BTW, I think it is a tribute to the
community of experimental builders and pilots that so many power out landings
end as gracefully as the ones that have been discussed on this list. Don't
know the official stats but my impression is that only a small fraction of
typical GA power out incidents end this well.
Tracy Crook
On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 11:04 AM, David Leonard <wdleonard@gmail.com> wrote:
Tracy,
I definately do not consider this a short coming of the EC2.
Though, I do think that I will cut down the switch to help prevent a
recurrence. Though I don't think I will ever neglect to check that if
something should happen in the future... I wonder what else is lurking
out there.
On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 7:10 AM, Tracy Crook <tracy@rotaryaviation.com> wrote:
I know Dave or Jon wouldn't phrase it this way but I've
already received a number of messages from others about these two recent
in-flight power failures due to EC2 issues.
Jon's was due to a
loose mounting nut inside the EC2 that shorted the main power input filter
to ground and burned open both foils from the 2 power input pins. How
lucky was that.
Anyway, at the risk of sounding defensive, I
thought I'd share my response to one of them that suggested changing the EC2
case to an external mount of some sort. I'm sure there are scores of
messages on the way urging me to place switch guards on the cold start
switch : )
REPLY
Hello ----------
I'm aware of
the failure and have the unit here for repair.
Like a
thousand other critical details in building an aircraft, it is not possible
to explicitly spell out all of them. The precise method and hardware
used to accomplish it are not part of the EC2 or the instructions. The first
paragraph of the installation guide does say the following:
"Needless to
say, the quality of installation is just as important as the quality of the
hardware itself. It is not practical to include a course
on proper electrical wiring practices in these installation instructions,
but it is imperative that proper wiring techniques be employed during the
installation of the EC2."
It was my thought that avoiding the
presence of loose metal objects inside an electrical device that your life
depends on fell into the category of "needless to
say".
Nevertheless, a cautionary note might well be worth
adding. As also stated in the first paragraph of the
instructions,
" I want your project
to succeed and your life to be a long and happy one. "
All the best,
Tracy Crook,
RWS
On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 2:34 AM, David Leonard <wdleonard@gmail.com> wrote:
Boy, word sure gets around these days..
short answer... inadvertently hit cold start switch while messing
with GPS and flying at 1000' AGL.. not enough time to
troubleshoot... had to fly plane and find a place to
land.
Both happy and appalled when the I realized the problem 2
minutes after the commotion stopped. The tower must have been plain
appalled when I took off again later this afternoon.
--
David Leonard
Turbo Rotary RV-6 N4VY
http://N4VY.RotaryRoster.net
http://RotaryRoster.net
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