EFIS Woes

[david010]

Before making a substantial deposit on any of these systems, check out this url. http://www.jlc.net/~fcs/Builders_Journal.htm for a report on one builder's experience so far.

 

EFIS is complicated and requires a number of subsystems work together. It's been great on Boeing airplanes for 20 years, but the economical transfer of this technology to experiemental aviation is quite a challenge.

 

Greg Richter is attempting to do just that but it is not without its risk. Certainly in time the bugs will be worked out. It is a lot of neat stuff at a reasonable cost, but it must work.

 

dd

[dust]

I emailed this link to blue mountain - as I sent dollars, it interests me greatly

 

Mike

[Jim Sower]

Seemed to me that most of the fixes the guy put in were more about his ides on how something should be put together structurally than a response to an actual problem. He did a lot of "beefing up" for reasons best known to himself. This does not imply that cross wired cables, etc. are acceptable. His implication that there are many more of these cables out there is based on - what?

 

Strikes me that this guy has legitimate issues, but he's also trying to score some points. Mixing all the real stuff up with speculation and personal opinion only serves to muddy the waters.

 

Just a theory .... Jim S.

[dust]

Since I have plunked down my cash, I thought I would ask the question of bluemountain. The following is the question and reply, in my book the reply is fine and the fix honorable. We all have problems and to admit them AND fix them is the best way to be.

 

 

I couldn't help but to notice this site, as we (Thane and I ) have sent a deposit in, is this a true representation of what was delivered?

Mike,

 

Much to our embarrassment, Gary's story is accurate. The first 10 or so machines we made were built like the prototype, and a few of them were not the best. We have contacted all the owners of the early machines (Gary included) and offered to replace them since they were built more like the hobby project that this was at the time instead of the professional avionics firm we have become.

 

Gary has taken us up on the offer of a free replacement unit and we have replaced or are in the process of replacing all the other early, hobbyist-type equipment.

 

We have a strong commitment to making the best equipment available, although this _was_ a hobby of mine only a year ago and some of the early stuff was more suited for tinkerers like myself than for pilots who just want to install and go.

 

I'd put our new equipment up against anything made.

 

Hope that answers!

 

-Greg

[ekisbey]

Looks like I'll need to speak to the wife about adding a new hard dollar value item into the budget. About 12K should do it...

[John Slade]

>Much to our embarrassment, Gary's story is accurate.

Wow. Isn't that refreshing!

There's nothing like screwing up, admitting it, and fixing it.

Best PR you can get.

 

>speak to the wife about adding a new hard dollar value

I'd speak softly. $12k can be a VERY hard dollar item.

 

Mine's reserved - with the wife, that is.

I wrote an EFIS/one into the prenup.

 

John Slade

[david010]

I do not know Greg Richter personally, but have spoken to him at SNF and OSH a few times and came away with the feeling he is OK and certainly a whiz at what he is doing.

 

His response to Gary Newsted's report is most refreshing.

 

It proves again that there are lots of neat people in this business.

 

dd

[Jim Sower]

I first ran into Greg about ten years ago in response to a couple of articles he wrote in Kitplanes about his first notions on EFIS. I've talked to him from time to time since and at OSH and Sun-Fun. He is the best I've met at what he does. He has the confidence in himself and his stuff to readily admit problems and fix them. VERY refreshing after what we've all become accustomed to. I'd buy ANY damn thing he built. I'm just that impressed with him.

Jim S.

[unick3]

I talked to Chrissi (works for Blue Mountain) She said they are discussing having an optional accelerometer which will bolt to the engine to be used to dynamicly balance the engine. You can then balance your engine/prop at any time or just check it out and monitor your engine "on the fly". I think it is a great idea.

[John Slade]

For those interested in the Blue Mountain EFIS/ONE, I saw the following on another list. I'm guessing that the only woes remaining are at BMA, where they'll be busy trying to cope with the demand.....

 

 

text of a 01/15/03 report from Kirk Hammersmith, Lancair's Avionics Manager.

 

 

Last year, I promised I would (continue) to test the Blue Mountain EFIS

system and report how things were panning out. If you recall, we

attempted to flight test Greg Richter's system on several occasions and I

reported negative results. Since my post in July 2002, several things have

occurred. Most significantly, Greg Richter paired up with Malcom Thomson,

who I met in Reno at the Air Races last September. After conversation with

Malcom about our negative experiences with BMA, he assured me that things

were changing at Blue Mountain and asked for some time to prove it. I agreed

to a new round of testing, which we started in October 2002. We installed

the system in our company Lancair IV and waited for Malcom to arrive. After

our first round of flight tests with Malcom in the copilot seat, we did a

fabulous job at demonstrating pitch, roll, acceleration and deceleration

errors that were

unacceptable. After seeing the errors, Malcom agreed that they had some work

to do. Two subsequent flights were made specifically to collect data for

Greg to analyze.

 

Malcom arrives back at Lancair (late Nov or early Dec), this time with Greg.

Some new software code and flight tests showed vast improvements (and hope),

but additional flight-testing continues to show significant

pitch & roll errors as well as acceleration and deceleration errors. After

again collecting more data, Malcom & Greg left, promising to return with a

fix.

 

Malcom, Greg, and Greg's AHRS expert returned to Lancair last week with new

software and determination to demonstrate an accurate EFIS/One. The weather

was nasty all week, preventing any flight-testing. The Blue

Mountain crew headed to Portland for the weekend, returning bright and early

Monday morning. No more snog (snow-fog) and blue skies prevailing, Chief

Pilot Peter Stiles and Greg Richter took off in the company IV to put the

EFIS/One through the paces. After they returned, Peter walked into my office

to report the test flight. "I couldn't fail

the system," Peter tells me. I questioned him further about the test and

couldn't believe my ears. The Blue Mountain EFIS/One performed

flawlessly.

 

Additional testing and refinements to the Blue Mountain system will be done

between now and Sun N Fun. The BMA group dove in head first,

identified problems, and demonstrated incredible support in resolving those

issues. Based on the testing standards we put these guys through, the

accuracy of their system and their level of support, we will be offering the

BMA EFIS/One to our customers. As a side note, the system we are testing has

new software code, which is not released yet,

according to Greg. He mentioned it would be incorporated in his next

software release after refinements and debugging is done.

Additional testing and in-flight photos will be available soon on the

Lancair Avionics website (www.lancairavionics.com)

 

If you have any specific questions about the system or its performance, feel

free to contact me directly kirkh@lancair-kits.com

 

We are preparing for first flight-testing phase of the new Avidyne Entegra

EFIS, Garmin GTX330 Mode S Transponder w/ TIS, weather datalinking system by

WSI and the JPI EDM-900 Engine Monitoring System.

 

 

Kirk Hammersmith

Lancair Avionics

[ekisbey]

Oh darn, would you look at that? I drooled on myself...