G-OBAL refit

[ArtVandelay]

I believe PS Engineering strongly recommend leaving it around and actually wiring it up to the intercom. See their FAQ for reasons. I'd leave it around; I actually use mine when starting up / taxiing around without a headset.

It just seems like technology left over from the 60s. I didn’t find PS reasons very compelling. I can always used the copilots jacks if I need to for diagnostic purposes or redundancy.

[tmo]

Not necessarily if they are connected to the same audio panel that is having issues. But, of course, to each one's own.

[Hyett6420]

On 8/5/2020 at 7:35 PM, ArtVandelay said:

I would lose the microphone still hanging on the pilot side.

Ne definitely definitely not.  About 6 months ago i was coming back from the south coast and just as I was turning right around the top corner of heathrows zone, ie aiming at London in effect, i lost all comms.  I couldnt even  hear Farnborough radar calling me, but apparently they were like mad.  Squawked 7600, Farnborough contacted my destination airport to ask “what sort of bloke i was” just to check whether I was a terrorist.  I flew the plane, navigated and then worked out how to communicate, yep the only available that worked was that hand mike.  Its staying!   
 

The fault was the receive wire to the headset jacks, had come loose and broken off, so only the speaker and handmike were working. 

[ArtVandelay]

Ne definitely definitely not.  About 6 months ago i was coming back from the south coast and must as I was turning right around the top corner of heathrows zone, ie aiming at London in effect, i lost all comms.  I couldnt even  hear Farnborough radar calling me, but apparently they were like mad.  Squawked 7600, Farnborough contacted my destination airport to ask “what sort of bloke i was” just to check whether I was a terrorist.  I flew the plane, navigated and then worked out how to communicate, yep the only available that worked was that hand mike.  Its staying!   
 
The fault was the receive wire to the headset jacks, had come loose and broken off, so only the speaker and handmike were working. 

All the jacks? I thought copilot, passengers were are separate circuits. How else does the audio panels perform iso, crew, all modes?

[Ibra]

On 8/5/2020 at 7:35 PM, ArtVandelay said:

I would lose the microphone still hanging on the pilot side.

Check if it's on the MEL/CDL list before cutting it off 

I would connect it to an external loud speaker as at EGTR there is a pedestrians public footpath on runway 08 
It could also work nicely for PA and PAX briefs 

[Hyett6420]

11 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

All the jacks? I thought copilot, passengers were are separate circuits. How else does the audio panels perform iso, crew, all modes?

Mines not that technical, its all or noone.  

[Hyett6420]

8 hours ago, Ibra said:

Check if it's on the MEL/CDL list before cutting it off 

I would connect it to an external loud speaker as at EGTR there is a pedestrians public footpath on runway 08 
It could also work nicely for PA and PAX briefs 

I have a vague recollection its a caa requirement.  

[Hyett6420]

I thought i would would post an update....we are almost there.  Shiny things, shiny things.....

 

Thanks to @G-SLOT for the photos.

So almost two years late she will be totally rebuilt.  Next Friday is pick up day.  

[Airways]

Lucky man...

I’m still in the spaghetti-phase

 

 

[Hyett6420]

30 minutes ago, Airways said:

Lucky man...

I’m still in the spaghetti-phase

 

 

It only takes a few weeks to get from that to where i am, so dont panic.  Its great fun.  Im so happy to see the trays have been put in.  
 

I would be intrigued though how people put the vents in the roof panel and KEEP them there.  The roof panel is out 1. To fix cables to speakers etc, but also to repair the missing vent you can see that was pushed into the panel housing!  

[Oldguy]

On 9/2/2020 at 2:22 PM, Hyett6420 said:

I would be intrigued though how people put the vents in the roof panel and KEEP them there.  The roof panel is out 1. To fix cables to speakers etc, but also to repair the missing vent you can see that was pushed into the panel housing!  

Black RTV. Lots and lots of black RTV.

[Hyett6420]

So that day arrived on Friday (almost 4 yrs to the day when i started writing this thread) when the weather gods and the install gods were in alignment.  Covid-19 restrictions allowing I and my co-pilot flew commercial to Holland, took the train from Amsterdam to Roosendahl, my co-pilot then bought a shed load of beer and we took a taxi to Seppe, just down the road to pick up Baby after she had had her final upgrade of what I planned all those years ago when i first saw her in 2015 and bought her.  
 

She now has full GPSS and a FMS (ifd540) new audio panel (oh boy that is soooo sexy, thanks @gsxrpilot for insisting I went for a PM450B). The sound is amazing.  
 

The Avidyne 540 is so good, with the GDC31 interfacing into the autopilot.  Put the flightplan into IFD540, activate flightplan, press the little GPS/heading button for the GDC31, put the autopilot into hdg mode and she flies the route steady as a rock, turns on the waypoints, flew down my makeshift approach into my home airport.  Love it.  Total cost a DAMN sight less than the GFC500 rip it all and install Garmin approach.  The IFD540 even comes with a little keypad.  I thought gimic when i first saw this but its extremely useful.  Trying to input things in turbulence becomes a doddle with this little baby.  
 

My co-pilot for the day (which made it a commercial flight so we did not need to quarantine) sat there typing away.  He normally instructs in VFR so when we flew into a little IMC half way across the North Sea he said “im scared”. Made me laugh, as I love IMC and we had made sure all the stuff was working as expected before we launched from VMC to IMC. Oh did I tell you he also managed to break the bracket on the P2 seat back.  Fortunately before we had even started the engine, so the wonderful people at Aeroskill Mastenbroek are doing their aero skills and fixing it for us.  He’s a big rugby player and used a little too much muscle when leaning backwards!  
 

Now we have some old fully functioning radios and things to sell.... see later post.  
 

photos of installation will follow later, we were too busy playing with our new toys.  

[gsxrpilot]

So glad to hear that beautiful 201 is back in the air where she belongs! Congrats on seeing it through.

[Skates97]

3 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

She now has full GPSS and a FMS (ifd540) new audio panel (oh boy that is soooo sexy, thanks @gsxrpilot for insisting I went for a PM450B). The sound is amazing.  

This weekend were the first flights with the PMA450B that I put in which my son came along. My wife had flown to Phoenix and back with me a couple weeks ago and loves the new audio panel. My son is a fan too. I had it on crew mode because my wife likes listening to the radios but later in the flight I had it on "All." After a little while my son said "Can you push whatever button it is so that I don't hear the radios anymore?" 

[Hyett6420]

7 hours ago, Skates97 said:

This weekend were the first flights with the PMA450B that I put in which my son came along. My wife had flown to Phoenix and back with me a couple weeks ago and loves the new audio panel. My son is a fan too. I had it on crew mode because my wife likes listening to the radios but later in the flight I had it on "All." After a little while my son said "Can you push whatever button it is so that I don't hear the radios anymore?" 

Yes we were gently listening to Jean Michel Jarre  Oxygene as we flew across the North sea.  I love how it fades the music back in after a transmission.  It got a tad busy over the east coast of the UK so we turned off the music.  My only complaint would be that on the panel it has CP as Pax instead of CPX.  I had to read the menu to see what CPX stood for when it would be easy for them to display what CPX actually is.  :).  

As for GPSS oh that really is the dogs bollocks, I LOVE it and am so glad we spent that little bit extra to put it in. 

Only next thing is to plan AP upgrade to the Aerocruze. We will stick with the vacuum stuff for the time being till it fails again and then go for a full glass panel.   

Ah planes, no wonder my bank manager hates me. :). 

[carusoam]

The 80s called...

They want their music back!  

My synthesizer friend thought this music was the best!

-a-
 

[Hyett6420]

Hi guys.  its been a long time since I jumped on here.  I do hope all is well with you all.  I miss you, especially the Summit.

Im having a little issue and need your help please.  Baby is having a few winter gremlins.  We discovered that the flight instrument lights (panel lights) have not worked post summer.  I think they are still sleeping and have nit come out if hibernation.  We have so far done the following:-

1. reset relevant CBs a few times
2. Checked the glareshield lights all working.
3. NB as part of the instrument install we installed a gdc31, and the switch that flicks this between hdg and gps is connected to the rheostats for the glareshield and panel lights (not sure which though)
4. below the rheostats are two little grey dome covers that cover two fuses.  We have removed and “looked” at these fuses, but nothing else.

so questions:-

1. are these little fuses available to buy anywhere?
2. has anyone ever lost all their panel lights and what was the solution

any other ideas?  Its a tad annoying.

thanks in advance 

Andrew

@GlennT this is “our” ongoing thread by the way. I post all baby things in here, so its easier to find for all.    

[neilpilot]

Does hibernation in the UK really occur in the summer?

Do you have a VOM?  If so, is there voltage at the CBs?  Then measure voltage at each fuse.  You can also measure resistance across each fuse to determine if they're blown.

[Hyett6420]

Quick update to all on out winter hibernation issues.

We found an AMAZING avionics guy, who is an old fashioned electrical engineer.  You know those guys who use volte meters etc to measure resistance across circuits. So….

Panel Lights

1. this came down to a blown fuse.   - underneath the panel light rheostat  switches, you will see two little grey “tits”. If you unscrew these there are two little SLOW BLOW fuses of 5 amp.  One of these had blown.   Our guy went further to try and work out why.  He discovered a rheostat transistor on the panel was overheating, so this was replaced as well, and soldered in.  The Tit  Fuses were upgraded slightly to cope with the increased current draw that had been added over the years to 6 amp.   All now works beautifully.  
    

Autopilot.

1. this has been an interesting journey and we have learnt TONS.  I can honestly say its been a bit like the no back spring thing. I now know EXACTLY how the BK autopilots work and it really is a brilliant piece of kit.   
    
2. So the issue with ours (KFC150) is that post lockdown the AI failed to erect, (at my age, I'm told this is normal).  This AI was swapped out for an “exchange reconditioned “ unit.  This unit worked well (ie erected and tracked well)  but the AP developed a tendency to porpoise.  This was definitely a fault of the new AI so a another recon unit was installed.  This one, OMG, flies with the FD perfectly, but the moment you engage the AP will pitch down at an alarming 2+k fpm dive, then correct and do the same up, and on it goes.  AP as a consequence is useless, but it has helped us keep our IMC manual skills upto date!!!
3.  So Chris (our new found avionics guy) got to work.  He setup a vacuum system, put the plane on jacks and connected the instruments upto the vacuum system he had setup so that the instruments could be operated in an inflight mode, but without starting the engine.  He managed to reproduce the fault, always a good start…put the AP system on a rig and tested everything.  Previously he had gone through EVERY piece of cabling to test for shorts, and unnatural voltage drops etc.  The wiring was good.  He found a bit of the loom was rubbing on the yoke pushrod so he tied that back.  He also found that the bushes that the yoke push rod goes through were a bit crudded up,  so he cleaned those up and lubed it (he felt it could have added resistance to the trim servo). Oh boy are the controls better now, a LOT lighter, something for you all to do perhaps.  Makes a huge difference….
4. so the AP… on the rig it was discovered that there was no output from the AI for pitch.   The AP monitors attitude and altitude and it does this by receiving inputs from the static system, HSI and the AI.  All done by measuring the AC signals that these instruments send to the AP.  If for example the altitude is off by a few feet the AP will send a signal to the trim to trim down/up  a bit, it receives a signal from the AI via an AC sine wave that the AP reads and depending on the strength, length etc of the wave the AP can tell that the correct attitude has been made, if it does not receive this signal it will just continue to apply trim, because it assumes that the plane has not been adjusted yet.  Now the BIG difference between the older APs and the later ones is that in the later ones, the trim is only put in for a little while, then if the AP receives no signal, it assumes there is a fault and cuts out the trim.  A GOOD safety feature.  
    

On discussing this with our avionics guy, he let us into a little known facet on info.  When you AI is reconditioned at a shop, invariably the gyros, lasers etc are checked and replaced, mirrors aligned etc.  But very rarely are the little sensors that send out the electrical circuits checked and replaced.  Thus you can get a recon AI that you THINK works ok ie it erects, but the important electrical bits at the back have not been tested/replaced.  Definitely caveat empor.

 

anyway we are now looking for another exchange unit that WORKS, while we get the Aspen that we have bought of an old saratoga, upgraded to a max, so we can install that and have the cockpit that we want.  
 

Ill post an update on here when we have one.  If anyone knows of a GOOD recon shop for KI units, I would be interested.   

Andrew

[Emmet]

Quick update to all on out winter hibernation issues.
We found an AMAZING avionics guy, who is an old fashioned electrical engineer.  You know those guys who use volte meters etc to measure resistance across circuits. So….
Panel Lights

1. this came down to a blown fuse.   - underneath the panel light rheostat  switches, you will see two little grey “tits”. If you unscrew these there are two little SLOW BLOW fuses of 5 amp.  One of these had blown.   Our guy went further to try and work out why.  He discovered a rheostat transistor on the panel was overheating, so this was replaced as well, and soldered in.  The Tit  Fuses were upgraded slightly to cope with the increased current draw that had been added over the years to 6 amp.   All now works beautifully.  
    

Autopilot.

1. this has been an interesting journey and we have learnt TONS.  I can honestly say its been a bit like the no back spring thing. I now know EXACTLY how the BK autopilots work and it really is a brilliant piece of kit.   
    
2. So the issue with ours (KFC150) is that post lockdown the AI failed to erect, (at my age, I'm told this is normal).  This AI was swapped out for an “exchange reconditioned “ unit.  This unit worked well (ie erected and tracked well)  but the AP developed a tendency to porpoise.  This was definitely a fault of the new AI so a another recon unit was installed.  This one, OMG, flies with the FD perfectly, but the moment you engage the AP will pitch down at an alarming 2+k fpm dive, then correct and do the same up, and on it goes.  AP as a consequence is useless, but it has helped us keep our IMC manual skills upto date!!!
3.  So Chris (our new found avionics guy) got to work.  He setup a vacuum system, put the plane on jacks and connected the instruments upto the vacuum system he had setup so that the instruments could be operated in an inflight mode, but without starting the engine.  He managed to reproduce the fault, always a good start…put the AP system on a rig and tested everything.  Previously he had gone through EVERY piece of cabling to test for shorts, and unnatural voltage drops etc.  The wiring was good.  He found a bit of the loom was rubbing on the yoke pushrod so he tied that back.  He also found that the bushes that the yoke push rod goes through were a bit crudded up,  so he cleaned those up and lubed it (he felt it could have added resistance to the trim servo). Oh boy are the controls better now, a LOT lighter, something for you all to do perhaps.  Makes a huge difference….
4. so the AP… on the rig it was discovered that there was no output from the AI for pitch.   The AP monitors attitude and altitude and it does this by receiving inputs from the static system, HSI and the AI.  All done by measuring the AC signals that these instruments send to the AP.  If for example the altitude is off by a few feet the AP will send a signal to the trim to trim down/up  a bit, it receives a signal from the AI via an AC sine wave that the AP reads and depending on the strength, length etc of the wave the AP can tell that the correct attitude has been made, if it does not receive this signal it will just continue to apply trim, because it assumes that the plane has not been adjusted yet.  Now the BIG difference between the older APs and the later ones is that in the later ones, the trim is only put in for a little while, then if the AP receives no signal, it assumes there is a fault and cuts out the trim.  A GOOD safety feature.  
    

On discussing this with our avionics guy, he let us into a little known facet on info.  When you AI is reconditioned at a shop, invariably the gyros, lasers etc are checked and replaced, mirrors aligned etc.  But very rarely are the little sensors that send out the electrical circuits checked and replaced.  Thus you can get a recon AI that you THINK works ok ie it erects, but the important electrical bits at the back have not been tested/replaced.  Definitely caveat empor.
 
anyway we are now looking for another exchange unit that WORKS, while we get the Aspen that we have bought of an old saratoga, upgraded to a max, so we can install that and have the cockpit that we want.  
 
Ill post an update on here when we have one.  If anyone knows of a GOOD recon shop for KI units, I would be interested.   

Andrew

If you consider all the labour and exchange parts a GFC 500 / G5 would probably have been the cheaper route at the end of the day …


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

[Hyett6420]

43 minutes ago, Emmet said:

If you consider all the labour and exchange parts a GFC 500 / G5 would probably have been the cheaper route at the end of the day …


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

Nope sorry we had done the maths.  An Aspen install with a2nd aspen is a damn sight cheaper than a G5 install and a gfc500.  We have saved over 6k gbp doing it this way.  And why swap out a perfectly functioning autopilot. The only thing NOT working is the AI. So change that to digital and we have a good solution. 
 

oh and did I mention i hate Garmin.   

[Will.iam]

17 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

Nope sorry we had done the maths.  An Aspen install with a2nd aspen is a damn sight cheaper than a G5 install and a gfc500.  We have saved over 6k gbp doing it this way.  And why swap out a perfectly functioning autopilot. The only thing NOT working is the AI. So change that to digital and we have a good solution. 
 

oh and did I mention i hate Garmin.   

Well that knocks out GI-275 for AI replacement but I thought the Aspen would drive the autopilot? 

[Will.iam]

On 11/14/2021 at 6:17 AM, Hyett6420 said:

Quick update to all on out winter hibernation issues.

We found an AMAZING avionics guy, who is an old fashioned electrical engineer.  You know those guys who use volte meters etc to measure resistance across circuits. So….

Panel Lights

1. this came down to a blown fuse.   - underneath the panel light rheostat  switches, you will see two little grey “tits”. If you unscrew these there are two little SLOW BLOW fuses of 5 amp.  One of these had blown.   Our guy went further to try and work out why.  He discovered a rheostat transistor on the panel was overheating, so this was replaced as well, and soldered in.  The Tit  Fuses were upgraded slightly to cope with the increased current draw that had been added over the years to 6 amp.   All now works beautifully.  
    

Autopilot.

1. this has been an interesting journey and we have learnt TONS.  I can honestly say its been a bit like the no back spring thing. I now know EXACTLY how the BK autopilots work and it really is a brilliant piece of kit.   
    
2. So the issue with ours (KFC150) is that post lockdown the AI failed to erect, (at my age, I'm told this is normal).  This AI was swapped out for an “exchange reconditioned “ unit.  This unit worked well (ie erected and tracked well)  but the AP developed a tendency to porpoise.  This was definitely a fault of the new AI so a another recon unit was installed.  This one, OMG, flies with the FD perfectly, but the moment you engage the AP will pitch down at an alarming 2+k fpm dive, then correct and do the same up, and on it goes.  AP as a consequence is useless, but it has helped us keep our IMC manual skills upto date!!!
3.  So Chris (our new found avionics guy) got to work.  He setup a vacuum system, put the plane on jacks and connected the instruments upto the vacuum system he had setup so that the instruments could be operated in an inflight mode, but without starting the engine.  He managed to reproduce the fault, always a good start…put the AP system on a rig and tested everything.  Previously he had gone through EVERY piece of cabling to test for shorts, and unnatural voltage drops etc.  The wiring was good.  He found a bit of the loom was rubbing on the yoke pushrod so he tied that back.  He also found that the bushes that the yoke push rod goes through were a bit crudded up,  so he cleaned those up and lubed it (he felt it could have added resistance to the trim servo). Oh boy are the controls better now, a LOT lighter, something for you all to do perhaps.  Makes a huge difference….
4. so the AP… on the rig it was discovered that there was no output from the AI for pitch.   The AP monitors attitude and altitude and it does this by receiving inputs from the static system, HSI and the AI.  All done by measuring the AC signals that these instruments send to the AP.  If for example the altitude is off by a few feet the AP will send a signal to the trim to trim down/up  a bit, it receives a signal from the AI via an AC sine wave that the AP reads and depending on the strength, length etc of the wave the AP can tell that the correct attitude has been made, if it does not receive this signal it will just continue to apply trim, because it assumes that the plane has not been adjusted yet.  Now the BIG difference between the older APs and the later ones is that in the later ones, the trim is only put in for a little while, then if the AP receives no signal, it assumes there is a fault and cuts out the trim.  A GOOD safety feature.  
    

On discussing this with our avionics guy, he let us into a little known facet on info.  When you AI is reconditioned at a shop, invariably the gyros, lasers etc are checked and replaced, mirrors aligned etc.  But very rarely are the little sensors that send out the electrical circuits checked and replaced.  Thus you can get a recon AI that you THINK works ok ie it erects, but the important electrical bits at the back have not been tested/replaced.  Definitely caveat empor.

 

anyway we are now looking for another exchange unit that WORKS, while we get the Aspen that we have bought of an old saratoga, upgraded to a max, so we can install that and have the cockpit that we want.  
 

Ill post an update on here when we have one.  If anyone knows of a GOOD recon shop for KI units, I would be interested.   

Andrew

When you had the autopilot failing the test what fixed it? Was it the trim switch with a weak return spring? If so what spring did you order to replace it?

[Hyett6420]

2 hours ago, Will.iam said:

Well that knocks out GI-275 for AI replacement but I thought the Aspen would drive the autopilot? 

No the failing part is the Attitude Indicator.  It has an electronic output to the autopilot that tells the ap that the Attitude has changed (vertical and horizontal). Ours has a failing part in the vertical output. So yes the Aspen WILL fix it, but we want to upgrade the aspen to a max before fitting it. So we are searching for a replacement AI.  
 

As for when th AP was failing the test sequence tbh we have no idea what fixed it.  We have had a LOAD of avionics works done that required the panel to be pulled apart and the problem (touch wood) has disappeared.  We did have to replace the trim switch housing so all the wiring had to be redone so it was possible that that “fixed” it.    
 

Andrew

[flyboy0681]

On 11/14/2021 at 7:17 AM, Hyett6420 said:

 I now know EXACTLY how the BK autopilots work and it really is a brilliant piece of kit.   

 

Add to the mix that the KFC/KAP design goes back to 1982.

Here is what the inside of the computer looks like for those interested.