Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014 - 38

GOING GLASS

Continued from page 36

standby system automatically picks up 20 amps of
load through its regulator, and an anunciator light will
illuminate. Check the load meter in the panel and reduce load to 20 amps or less, and start looking for a
suitable stopping point to determine the cause of the
main alternator failure.

source, such as a second, smaller battery and a
standby electrical bus dedicated to powering a minimum of radios.
B&C Specialty Products in Newton, Kan., offers
STC’d standby alternator packages for a limited numSTEP THREE – POST MODERNIZATION
ber of Hawker Beechcraft, Cessna and Piper designs.
FAMILIARIZATION: TRAIN FOR THE TRANSITION,
B&C’s BC410 standby alternator is standard on HBC’s
THEN GO FLY
G36 Bonanza singles and G58 Baron twins, and a
The beauty of the glass-cockpit PFD comes from
version is STC’d for Bonanzas back to 1984 models.
its ability to consolidate and combine all the data from
Automatic and seamless in picking up the power,
the six old-fashioned steam-gauge dials into one inteit works through the main bus, providing an indicator
grated display.
that helps the pilot shed load until down to the capaUnfortunately, part of the confusion in using new
bilities of the standby source.
technology stems from the ability to consolidate data
Other solutions exist, including a standby electrifrom the six old-fashioned steam-gauge dials into one
cally driven attitude indicator to back up the PFD
integrated display.
– but, again, it still needs
electricity.
A ram-air turbine that
drops from a wing also can
What we see on the displays is the icing. The cake holds the
provide alternative electrireal benefits of the solid-state sensors and digital electronics,
cal power.
Standby buses and secsuch as great reliability, higher accuracy and longer life
ond batteries are other opcompared to the mechanical analog gear replaced.
tions available, though likely more complicated and
expensive than a standby
alternator of some form.
Regardless of the solution, some form of standby
Why? Because PFD instrumentation departs compower seems prudent when electricity serves as the
pletely from the norm of those six round faces.
sole source of power to keep these electronic wonFor example, most PFD screens provide airspeed
ders working.
readings with a vertical “tape” indicating the speed
And let’s not forget that the Federal Aviation Adminrecorded by the solid-state air-data sensors. That
istration wants to see standby instruments next to the
tape, to the left of the attitude indicator portion of the
glass stack backing up the minimum: attitude indicaPFD, reflects the same philosophy as the two tapes on
tor, airspeed indicator and altimeter.
the opposite side of the AI depiction. The one closest
A multiple-screen, multiple-sensor glass panel can
to the AI reflects altitude, and the one to the right indisatisfy this requirement, but increases the importance
cates vertical speed.
of an alternate electric power source. Otherwise, you
They may also have windows that enlarge current
will need to accommodate the three instruments as
readings, trend indicators or other enhancements.
stand-alone analog devices with no power needs.
The bottom line is they take some getting used to
Avionics shops must help pilots and aircraft owners
for most pilots.
select both the best glass-cockpit system and the simDitto for the full-screen AI, the integrated HSI/DG
plest standby power source, either for an all-at-once
indication, and the turn indicator – complete with its
install or a phased installation.
slip/skid ball (locations vary) and two-minute standardOf course, with Aspen and Mid-Continent products,
rate turn pointer.
standby power is at the forefront and as basic as
Throw in the multiple colors for various navigation
landing gear.
Continued on page 40...
And, should that main alternator fail, the B&C

- 38 -

Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014