Linux, Avionics, and spins

[cyoung at bbnplanet.com (Chuck Young)]

Rock on with your bad self!  I like nuts and bolts too.

Er, aircraft quality, that is.

Chuck Young
GTE Internetworking

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Jerry Feldman {75562} wrote:

> Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 08:55:54 -0400
> From: Jerry Feldman {75562} <gzf at gbr.msd.ray.com>
> Cc: discuss at Blu.Org
> Subject: Re: Linux, Avionics, and spins
> 
> Rich Braun wrote:
> 
> > The interesting jobs are in avionics.  Fifteen years ago, I was developing
> > Intel 8088 and 8051 code for flight-instrumention systems; the underlying
> > technology was a few years old at the time.  The equivalent today would be
> > building systems around something like a P100--FAA regulations require
> > a few years of field experience for all the various components.
> > 
> > It's very costly and tedious to get a product through all the hoops that
> > the FAA imposes.  But it wasn't that aspect which killed off most technology
> > development in general aviation:  it was lawsuits.  JFK Jr.'s plane was
> > a rarity, a g.a. plane less than 15 years old.  The reason 95% of all g.a.
> > planes today are that old is a set of legislative and judicial setbacks for
> > manufacturers who faced unlimited liability after some court decisions sometime
> > in the 1970s (maybe it was the 1980s).  Rather than accept liability for
> > the entire life of a plane, they shut down their production lines.
> This is very true. Cessna was the leader in GA aircraft with their single
> and multi-engine high wing designs. Nearly the entire Cessna high-wing
> aircraft are based on FAA type certificates going back well over 40 years.
> While JFK Jr. purchased his aircraft used, it was a relatively new aircraft.
> But still has the older instrumentation with needles. That does mean that
> they may be able to determine airspeed and other information showing on the
> instruments if the salt water did not erase the traces. Being an aviator
> from the old school, I would prefer to have a pressure airspeed indicator,
> an alcohol inclined plane ball (eg needle and ball), a pure barometric
> altimiter, and a barometric rate of descent indicator. While these
> instruments often lie, they are reliable and predictable. And, not to
> forget, a real magnetic compass. I have experienced a complete in-flight
> electrical failure (at night over water). Fortunately, I had a knee pad with
> a light I could use as a flashlight. (Also, sparkplugs in a light plane are
> powered by 2 independent magnetos which are totally independent of the
> aircraft's electrical system). Light planes do not normally have a dual set
> of instruments, so the older mechanical instruments are better. The newer
> digital instruments, while much more accurate, can fail.   
> -- 
> Jerry Feldman (HP On-Site Consultant) http://gbrweb.msd.ray.com/~gzf/
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