I think my panel is jealous

Just home from my last trip in the 180 before hanging the new engine that’s somewhere in freight land.

Normally my Aspen looks something like this but hopefully with less head wind.


And on my my last leg I got this shortly after take off and the autopilot wouldn’t inflate and do it’s thing despite recycling it several times.


Then on landing at home I get this


Kind of reminds me of bumping a pin ball machine too hard - TILT.

HOPING maybe there’s a loose antenna connection or maybe a bad antenna, not sure but my Garmin 650 didn’t give any errors and before I shut down I cycled the avionics off, waited 2 min and then back on to the same display.

Thoughts?

What external sensors do you have connected to that Aspen? Losing attitude and directional at the same time makes me hope for a loose connection.

Some days Otto just doesn't want to stand up and do his job.

Web

Well it is an Aspen. [emoji849][emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org

Farmboy said:

Well it is an Aspen. [emoji849][emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org

Click to expand...

Been 100% trouble free for 6+ years and there wasn’t much else out there then, I went that way I had just replaced my 3rd vacuum pump in two years and it was an easy way to get GPSS to an analog autopilot.

Just get out a big checkbook.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

5k might not cut it. You may need two big checks.

OLDCROWE said:

Then on landing at home I get this
View attachment 52864


Thoughts?

Click to expand...

That one time is too much. Are there any reports of other solid state "primary" instruments from other manufacturers doing this? If it is possible for this to happen, there must be an old fashioned mechanical vacuum driven instrument for a backup. You should be happy you weren't doing an IFR approach down to 200- 1/2 at the time. My thoughts? Never ever install an Aspen instrument in my airplane.

skywagon8a said:

That one time is too much. Are there any reports of other solid state "primary" instruments from other manufacturers doing this? If it is possible for this to happen, there must be an old fashioned mechanical vacuum driven instrument for a backup. You should be happy you weren't doing an IFR approach down to 200- 1/2 at the time. My thoughts? Never ever install an Aspen instrument in my airplane.

Click to expand...

Give it a rest, it’s possible for ANYTHING TO FAIL and the system gave me ample warning and yes to be certified it has a fully independent backup installed plus a very capable portable that I wouldn’t leave home without and for the record VACUUM SYSTEMS SUCK!

wireweinie said:

What external sensors do you have connected to that Aspen? Losing attitude and directional at the same time makes me hope for a loose connection.

Some days Otto just doesn't want to stand up and do his job.

Web

Click to expand...

Thanks Web, my avionics guy is out for a bit with a shoulder injury.

SteveE said:

Just get out a big checkbook.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Says the guy that bought a helicopter.

wireweinie said:

What external sensors do you have connected to that Aspen? Losing attitude and directional at the same time makes me hope for a loose connection.

Some days Otto just doesn't want to stand up and do his job.

Web

Click to expand...

Web,

It's pretty basic, the only option was the GPSS input so it has the electronic compass for heading, it's tied into the pitot/static (all tubing was all replaced) for airspeed, has OAT, and the Aspen has an independent GPS system/input which is what I think initially failed and coupled to all this is a Garmin GTN 650 via the GPSS input, and the 650 has its own separate GPS antenna and then the S-Tec50 is somehow magically looped in as well.

For back up there is a certified electronic attitude indicator (with battery) and King VOR w/ Glideslope, plus a Garmin 796 (with battery) and a secondary GPS input (with battery) that make for an amazing combination plus an I-Pad and a used Texaco atlas I swiped from Bill Tracy.

I also have an aspen in my 206. It has been rock solid. I know aspen had some issues with their recent iteration of their PFD but the older ones have been rock solid. Before you chirp about how much you love Garmin you should consider what it would cost with no competition.

Farmboy said:

Well it is an Aspen. [emoji849][emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org

Click to expand...

And for the record, this was not caused by me getting current in that plane!!!

Now that is said, Good Luck- I would not jump to Garmin thinking it will not have issues, they do.

George

wireweinie said:

What external sensors do you have connected to that Aspen? Losing attitude and directional at the same time makes me hope for a loose connection.

Some days Otto just doesn't want to stand up and do his job.

Web

Click to expand...

Nah, you don't need any backups; these new glass cockpits just don't fail! And if they do just pull out your phone and stare at a smaller screen instead!

Put me up on the betting board for software issues. But I'm making a side bet on something external like a loose connector.

And don't forget, if the auto pilot doesn't inflate, there is a manual inflation tube.

Web

wireweinie said:

Put me up on the betting board for software issues. But I'm making a side bet on something external like a loose connector.

And don't forget, if the auto pilot doesn't inflate, there is a manual inflation tube.

Web

Click to expand...

But that requires testing the manual inflation valve regularly.

Per FAR 43 appendix A of course.

Web

Crash said:

Nah, you don't need any backups; these new glass cockpits just don't fail! And if they do just pull out your phone and stare at a smaller screen instead!

Click to expand...

Message sent by Morse code on a rotary phone using dial-up? Damn those newfangled gadget computer doohickeys!

Might check for kinked or plugged pitot/static lines - Simplest cause.




Transmitted from my FlightPhone on fingers...

stewartb said:

Message sent by Morse code on a rotary phone using dial-up? Damn those newfangled gadget computer doohickeys!

Click to expand...

Nope, sent from a computer that freezes up, crashes, and needs updates every other time I fire it up. :lol:

I had an E5 installed in my pa-18. So far so good. I like it and so far it's a big improvement over what I had. I lost a few pounds for the vacuum pump. I'll mention a few gripes, but overall I'm really happy to have it. Having the CDI with course, course deviation, heading, to/from indicator and ground track all right there in front of you is a great improvement. Right now the wind direction and wind speed is not displaying but I think that it only takes a setting to enable them and will have that set up pretty soon.

No reliability problems (yet.) The avionics guys didn't set it up perfectly, but I learned how to do some of the installation settings. I left the analog rate of turn, altimeter, VSI & airspeed indicators on the panel for redundancy.

Matching it to the GPS data, the E5's airspeed indicator is definitely more accurate than the analog gauge at all speeds but I still am using the round gauge because it's bigger and easier to read quickly. The E5 is very bright and very daylight readable, unlike my Garmin Aera backup navigator. I really like the fact that the the ADAHRS on E5's backup battery will probably last longer than my fuel if I have an electrical failure.

One significant disappointment is the centering of the attitude indicator. In my other plane, the AI slowly adjusts to level flight - in the E5 it doesn't do that and is not pilot adjustable, so it will read a different attitude in straight and level depending on load and center of gravity. On the other hand, one plus for the E5 is that the attitude marks are in 2.5 degree increments, so it is twice as sensitive as other PFDs on the market. I use the AI on climbout and I like this feature.

Some of the features seem to be unnecessary. Do I really need to set airspeed and altitude bugs to remind me how fast and how high I want to be in a taildragger? The autopilot settings also are no use to me since my plane doesn't have one. A flight director mode would be more useful for planes without an autopilot, but it does not do that. Another issue is the airspeed tape getting too crowded with V-speeds.

One change that I am having to get used to is the fact that the vertical speed indicator only shows at all if the rate is more than +/- 100 FPM. What were they thinking on that one? I keep looking for it and it's not there, so I am now instinctively looking only at the round gauge for this also. No big deal though.

Haven’t had a chance to do much with the Aspen but we’ve been being careful to sneak the new engine on hopefully without anything else noticing.

Follow-up:

The new engine and prop rebuild has the family truckster running like a swiss watch (thanks Continental for the re-man, Ly-Con for the magic, Foster’s for the prop rebuild, Aircraft Accessories for the prop controller rebuild and Aircraft Specialities for the 27 little things needed). It’s really STRONG with dyno results right at 330hp. So once past the initial flight (following two dyno runs) I took it to the avionics shop that did my install several years ago and they were convinced it needed an Aspen upgrade (I'm told the new and improved model uses fewer chips and as a result runs much cooler) and Keith had a loaner ready for my use in the mean time but I convinced them to humor me and check the harness before swapping and low a behold they found one loose pin which they reset and so far no issues after a three-day trip.

What are your engine details? 330hp is nice.

eskimo77 said:

What are your engine details? 330hp is nice.

Click to expand...

IO520D factory reman ordered thru and delivered to Ly-Con for Port/Polish/flow match and multi-angle Valve Grind then Dyno run.


This is one of my cylinders looking up the exhaust after it ran on Ly-Con’s Dyno.


And this isn’t mine but is an excellent example of their cylinder work.

OLDCROWE said:

Follow-up:

The new engine and prop rebuild has the family truckster running like a swiss watch (thanks Continental for the re-man, Ly-Con for the magic, Foster’s for the prop rebuild, Aircraft Accessories for the prop controller rebuild and Aircraft Specialities for the 27 little things needed). It’s really STRONG with dyno results right at 330hp. So once past the initial flight (following two dyno runs) I took it to the avionics shop that did my install several years ago and they were convinced it needed an Aspen upgrade (I'm told the new and improved model uses fewer chips and as a result runs much cooler) and Keith had a loaner ready for my use in the mean time but I convinced them to humor me and check the harness before swapping and low a behold they found one loose pin which they reset and so far no issues after a three-day trip.

Click to expand...

So continental did a re-man and let you deliver the cylinders from Ly-Con for installation?

behindpropellers said:

So continental did a re-man and let you deliver the cylinders from Ly-Con for installation?

Click to expand...

Ly-Con is a dealer and placed the order. Continental shipped the complete engine to them and they pulled the cylinders for the magic, reinstalled and Dyno ran the engine for about 3 hours then crated and shipped it to me where my mechanic and I did the swap.