Landing Height System for Mooney

[Microkit]

4 minutes ago, mike261 said:

So this is a total bummer... no reflection on Microkit.

UPS delivered the unit on Friday in a snowstorm. UPS listed the drop spot as other. I assume its buried in the snowbank from the plow, its nowhere to be found. I had to file a claim. 

It will probably turn up in April.

Mike.

 

Very sorry about this!  I have your tracking number now and will raise it up with our UPS account rep today.  It's odd they did not put it at the front door as usual, unless due to the storm!  I will email you, and we won't wait till April to get you sorted.

Any chance you like to watch Gold Rush and ended up with a metal detector .   If you find it that way, the feeling is probably the same as finding gold.  

Regards

Nidal

 

[Will.iam]

On 2/2/2021 at 1:14 PM, Microkit said:

Yes, fly normal approach as usual.    

There is a relationship between the approach itself and how long the airplane stays in ground effect to lose energy for a smooth landing.  Pilots who are always performing hard landings (or harder than what they prefer) could mean flaring too early, or they are forcing the airplane down out of ground effect before it wants to come down.  Some may hear a higher number then touchdown, this is harder than it should be.  The system skipped callout on a number because the time it took for them to touchdown was shorter than the callout duration of the previous number.    

Others may hear two numbers fast then touchdown very fast, in this case, there is still room for improvements.  The best situation would be to hear a number, little pause, hearing another number, little pause, then touchdown.  Pilots will be able to gauge and train themselves to keep the pauses between the lower-end numbers consistent.    Some may take a fast glance at the airspeed at various callouts just to see if they can manage their airspeed next time. 

The cadence timing effect I talked about how valuable this is on jets on page 4 of this chat. And can totally see this helping when transitioning back and forth from GA to bigger planes and back again. Just got to scrounge up an AMU to get one myself. 

[carusoam]

Mike,

How deep is your snow?

I have a car that won’t be freed for a few days in NJ...

-a-

[donkaye]

3 hours ago, carusoam said:

Mike,

How deep is your snow?

I have a car that won’t be freed for a few days in NJ...

-a-

I spent my early youth growing up in Cleveland delivering the Cleveland Plain Dealer in -2° temperatures.  I thought it was normal.  I remember in the middle of winter watching live television showing summerlike weather in California.  I didn't know that several years later I would be living in year round sunny Southern California.  As much as I dislike California for so many reasons, the unbelievable weather keeps me and many other "would rather live somewhere else" people staying here.  I don't miss the cold, snowy weather one bit.  It is pretty to look at, though.

[Microkit]

5 minutes ago, mike261 said:

Update:

The driver left a Driver follow-up card on the door.

It said it was delivered the fifth (the day of the storm) and left at mailbox.

We have rural route mailboxes at the street, 300 feet or so from the house in these parts.

Its not unusual to see packages perched on top of the mailbox or in a bag hanging from the flag. No one but the owner or the post office is allowed to put anything in a mailbox under federal law.

There is now 4 foot snow banks on the side of the road. 

I surmise the package is in the snow, and could be a half mile down the street.

Can someone tell me what size the package is? would it even fit in a standard mailbox?

 

 

Package box is 5" x 5" x 4".  

[Microkit]

48 minutes ago, mike261 said:

ill bet its white too!

Mike

 

The external shipping box is actually the standard brown corrugated box.

[Mcstealth]

58 minutes ago, Microkit said:

 

The external shipping box is actually the standard brown corrugated box.

That was a joke.

[Minivation]

I'm quite late to the party, but ... WOW! Kudos to you @Microkit for getting this done and Norsee certified!

I've actually wanted this exact device for a very long time - back in 2017 when I was a mx officer for a club with two 172's I was looking at taking a Garmin V3HP Lidar and interfacing it to an Arduino board (along with barometric pressure sensor and OLED screen) to create a poor man's radar altimeter callout device and cruise altitude alerter (with C chime and everything). Unfortunately I don't know jack about computer programming so that never took off beyond concept.

I don't own the Mooney I'm flying but if it were, I'd pick this up in a heartbeat. I occasionally fly into my old home airport (where the abovementioned flying club is at) at night but the runway is flanked by trees and has a very pronounced bowl shape (downhill slope on both ends) which makes the touchdown somewhat an affair of luck. Perhaps I'll convince the owner to get one.

[Gary0747]

What is the procedure for cleaning the lens?  Installing behind the wheel will likely get the lens dirty on a wet runway.    I wonder what to expect in changing performance of the unit will be with a slightly dirty lens?

[VetRepp]

Since there are several inspection panels to chose from on the Mooney,

I'm curious which ones people are choosing, why and if there were any issues with the selection.

(I'd love to see post-instal pics if so inclined )

 Thanks

 Roger

[bradp]

Also- anyone using circuit breaker switches? Looks like 1 amp are harder to come by than a push push.  

[donkaye]

1 hour ago, bradp said:

Also- anyone using circuit breaker switches? Looks like 1 amp are harder to come by than a push push.  

I'm using a 5 Amp circuit breaker switch with a 1 amp inline fuse.

[Microkit]

17 hours ago, Gary0747 said:

What is the procedure for cleaning the lens?  Installing behind the wheel will likely get the lens dirty on a wet runway.    I wonder what to expect in changing performance of the unit will be with a slightly dirty lens?

Per the manual, if the unit is installed in an exhaust soot stream, a periodic dry wipe may be necessary.  Wet wipe (water only) can also be used.  

Unless wet landings are accompanied by dirt/mud, some water droplets on the glass viewing window is fine.    

The visible black glass is not the actual laser element lens.  It's a protection glass layer and also to block UV along with all light < 800 nm wavelength. 

[Microkit]

1 hour ago, bradp said:

Also- anyone using circuit breaker switches? Looks like 1 amp are harder to come by than a push push.  

 If using a “Switched” audio input, a dedicated circuit breaker or one that is Push/Pull type is not required.  

Even if a “Switched” input is not used, a dedicated toggle switch can be used in lieu of a dedicated circuit breaker.  In the above two scenarios; a non-essential circuit breaker can be used to share the power of the unit regardless of the CB type/limit.  The unit internal over-current protection is set to just above 1A.  Unit uses < 200mA of peak power @12V or < 100mA Peak power @24V 

[larrynimmo]

Installed on copilot side of plane...because it is an easier disassembly for me....no soot ever gets on the wing there

[bradp]

Mine is going to go two panels outboard from the fuel vent on the pilots side. One piece of wisdom I got when installing GMU magnetometer was to keep non fuel related wiring two panels (at least one rib from) fuel tank. I’m going on pilot side to go opposite where my magnetometer lives. 

[Eduleo]

Quick PIREP.

Love this thing! I got mine installed yesterday at an MSC in PA, and it took them about 5 hours to do everything, including testing and setup. We did use the panel behind the wheel faring on the pilot side as recommended, and after removing the pilot seat and one side panel, the wiring was relatively easy (at least it looked that way). They did install a fuse so I didn't have the danger of a shorted circuit right behind a fuel tank.

I had two landings afterwards, one in KTEB and another in KHGR, both at night. The system announced all altitudes from 70 down, including the "check gear" warning, and the sound was clear and loud from the ADF input on a Garmin 340. Both landings were made easier and touch downs more predictable. You hear the cadence of the altitude callouts and adjust your rate of descent accordingly. 

Of course you can land without it, but after a long day of flying and landing at night with strong winds, this was a welcome aid.

[carusoam]

Great details, Eduleo!

Thanks for sharing them...

Best regards,

-a-

[hammdo]

My install is in progress!

-Don

[hammdo]

Installed! Love it...  Performed perfectly... I'm setup 'certified'... 

Worth every penny... 

-Don 

[J Bird]

It would be nice to see video of the new devices in action.

[J Bird]

3 minutes ago, hammdo said:

Installed! Love it...  Performed perfectly... I'm setup 'certified'... 

Worth every penny... 

-Don 

Did you also install it on the Pilot side?

[hammdo]

Yes, out of the exhaust stream...

Edge Aviation in Commerce did the install. Great shop...

-Don

[A64Pilot]

I’m new and just noticed this thread.

‘Is this device made by Aglaser?

Years ago I had a very similar device added to the factory drawings for a laser altimeter for Ag aircraft, and this looks awfully similar 

[Microkit]

1 hour ago, A64Pilot said:

Years ago I had a very similar device added to the factory drawings for a laser altimeter for Ag aircraft, and this looks awfully similar 

No.  Though all LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) devices share the same exact outside profile.  A window acting as transmitter and another window acting as receiver, allowing continuous beams to be sent out with the other window always receiving.  

Some devices incorporate UV/IR filter glasses on each of these windows, others use one UV/IR filter covering both windows similar to our other unit while inside there are still two separate elements to act as a transmitter/receiver.