Altimeter or airspeed if you had to choose one in emergency

[chrisk]

Of course the dilemma goes away if you only have one aspen, and you have more left over for fuel.  Do you not have an "8 pack"?  How about removing a CDI?

[Bob - S50]

In my limited Aspen time I did have one fail for a very simple reason. It rained the night before and some water migrated into the static ports which blocked the static line at the drain. It was pretty surprising to see the screen go black and red-X. I imagine if you had two aspens connected to the same static source that could happen.

Did you try pulling the Alternate Static Source Knob?  Did it help?  Easy to ask about after the fact.  More difficult to recognize in the heat of the moment.

 

Bob

[Marauder]

The "inherent' flaw with any of these replacement products is the single point of failure. I am a firm believer of redundancy, but short of getting an FAA approval for an installed separate pitot/static system, you are still left with the risk.

 

The good news is that a critical component, the AI, is redundant in a dual Aspen system (independent AHRS and a standalone AI powered by vacuum or electric). That is a major step up from the single AI and reliance on the TC found in most GA planes.

[John Pleisse]

I agree Chris, however, our Mooney's have only one electrical buss, one ship's battery and one vacuum system. Independent of the Aspen one-hour back up, I think I will leave in the strip gauges and a 4 pack of analogue instruments. The PFD and engine analyzers aren't the issue. It's the aircraft systems design.

[jetdriven]

Did you try pulling the Alternate Static Source Knob?  Did it help?  Easy to ask about after the fact.  More difficult to recognize in the heat of the moment.

 

Bob

Nope, didn't occur to me or the owner to pull the static. A major failing on my part. My feeling it it would have brought it back to life after a couple minutes. Perhaps someone with more Aspen time can say?

[Marauder]

Nope, didn't occur to me or the owner to pull the static. A major failing on my part. My feeling it it would have brought it back to life after a couple minutes. Perhaps someone with more Aspen time can say?

Been in the rain a few times and have not seen any issues with either of my pitot or static systems. Now that you brought this up, I think I will open my alternate in flight and see what I get.

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[rbridges]

Airspeed. I have other backup altitude on my iPad and 796

 

that's what I was going to say.  Also, having AHRS on the ipad would be a great backup.

[John Pleisse]

I made the mistake of letting my then young kids play in the plane not long before departing. They had pulled the Alt static knob out without me knowing. Additionally, the cabin door was not latched after take off. So, it was a long trip around the pattern with the air speed stuck on 90KIAS to land and figure out.

 

Byron, those kind of errors associated with moisture shouldn't be happening.