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Bill Maddox can jump in here but here is my
understanding of the history of speedbrakes:
1) lancair version 1 was cable driven.
really hard to rig but worked okay once rigged.
A single motor in the airplane turned a drum which
wound the two cables from the two
speedbrakes.
2) Maddox version 1. This one had fancy
electronics and there were some problems.
Importantly, this one fit in the lancair
pocket.
3) lancair/precise flight version 2. This one
required a thicker pocket. Completely electric
and had a feature so that if one didn't fully
deploy, the other one would be depowered also.
Control is simple. either they are up or
down.
I have heard that these occasionally get iced up
and won't function.
4) Maddox/Wolstenholme version 2. This
one has almost no electronics but has a fancy
clutch arrangement. If depowered, will
retract. Control is motor-up/motor-down so you can
set them to any intermediate position.
The paddles are reportedly more effective in terms
of total drag than (3) above. At this
point bill is no longer selling them. You must appeal
to Wolstenholme for support. They were
very nice to refurbish mine when I found they
didn't work upon installation.
As far as I can tell, these are not better or worse
than (3) relative to getting iced up.
So basically (3) is the only fully supported
product currently.
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