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UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

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JonathanMilbank

Joined: 14 Apr 2012
Posts: 388
Location: Aberdeen area

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:03 pm Post subject: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

A friend has asked me to perform the flight tests for the initial permit issue for a nice little 2-seat VLA and he seems only to have an EFIS with little else by way of "steam-driven" instruments for VFR back-up. The only photo I've seen doesn't show the panel clearly. 



As a retired commercial pilot, it seems to me that permit light aircraft should be subject to the same requirements as certified VFR aircraft i.e. a bare minimum of ASI, altimeter and magnetic compass. I've seen CS-VLA 1303 Flight and navigation instruments "The following are required flight and navigational instruments: (a) An airspeed indicator; (b) An altimeter; (c) A magnetic direction indicator" but I can't see any reference to whether this applies to permit aircraft, or whether an EFIS alone is enough. 



What should I do? Decline to carry out the flight tests until suitable back-ups are installed, or just do the flights and hope that the friend (trainee pilot) has researched this topic for himself and satisfies whatever requirements he's discovered? His aircraft is several hundreds of miles away from where I live

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pjeffers(at)talktalk.net
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:39 am Post subject: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

Hi Johnathan

Unless something has changed very recently the CAA/LAA will require a

minimum of backup ASi ALT and compass. The only exception to these rules is

if the a/c is classed as a microlight, then there are no such requirements.

Do with that info as you will.



Pete



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JonathanMilbank

Joined: 14 Apr 2012
Posts: 388
Location: Aberdeen area

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 4:31 am Post subject: Re: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

Hi Pete,



Thanks for confirming this. It would be good if I could discover the reference in print from the LAA.



Jonathan

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JonSmith

Joined: 21 May 2010
Posts: 110

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:56 am Post subject: Re: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

The new LAA leaflet TL2.28 giving details of requirements for IFR also outlines requirements for VFR as an intro to the IFR part.  The section specifically about VFR flight instrumentation is on page 9.



http://www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/engineering/TechnicalLeaflets/Operating%20An%20Aircraft/TL%202.28%20Night%20IFR%20assessment.pdf



Don't know where the original defined VFR requirements are. CS-23 maybe?

H.T.H, Jon

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JonathanMilbank

Joined: 14 Apr 2012
Posts: 388
Location: Aberdeen area

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:20 am Post subject: Re: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

Perfect, thanks Jon. Good enough for my purposes. And by squinting closely at the indistinct picture which my friend provided, I think I can just make out that the cluster of three instruments are those required for back-up. Apart from that he has no other round dials in evidence; just one large EFIS panel in front of the pilot which probably displays everything including engine parameters.



Jonathan

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rampil

Joined: 04 May 2007
Posts: 870

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 11:23 am Post subject: Re: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

Hi Jonathan!



I'm just curious about your query and underlying assumptions.

Are light aircraft in the LAA/PFA world required to have certificated instrumentation 

(USA TSO equivalent)?  In the US, that is not the case, FWIW.



Assuming (and quite possibly wrongly) that certificated instrumentation 

is not mandatory, why then are steam gauges required in your opinion, if the

EFIS has all required data displayed.  

Are you making the argument that electronic instrumentation is less 

accurate or less reliable than mechanical? I do not believe you can find 

objective data supporting that contention. The hide-bound FAA in the 

US has come to see the light. They have begun to allow non-TSO

instrumentation to be panel-mounted in certified aircraft, e.g., 

Dynons D10 in Cessna 172s.



Of course some people just don't like glass instruments.  I have a neighbor

here with over 25000 ATP flight hours, a J-3 cub, a Stearman, and an FAA

"Wright Brothers" award for 50 years of accident-free flying. He won't 

fly behind a Rotax because he believes an engine RPM over 3000 is unsafe.

Each to their own.

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JonathanMilbank

Joined: 14 Apr 2012
Posts: 388
Location: Aberdeen area

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 3:32 am Post subject: Re: UK back-up VFR instruments for EFIS

Hi Rampil!



In the EASA world most certificated small light VFR aircraft are required to have the bare minimum of three mechanical instruments, altimeter, ASI and compass. As far as I've managed to read (I'm lazy so I don't spend too much of my retirement time wading through documents) EASA and our CAA don't cover this topic i.r.o. permit (experimental) VFR aircraft. That seems to be left up to the LAA who do insist on aircraft heavier than "microlights" (ultralights) having at least the basics.



I can agree that the requirement for mechanical instrument back-up is unnecessary if a VFR light aircraft has at least two EFIS screens powered from independent sources and that it is possible to transfer displayed information from one to the other in event of power and/or screen failure.



However the aircraft which I've been asked to flight test for initial permit issue has only one EFIS screen and power source including the aircraft battery. If there were no back-up of any description and the screen were to fail, then the pilot would be sitting in an aircraft without flight information.



In the above situation you and I would probably manage to land happily enough "by the seat of our pants" and if a GPS was displaying groundspeed, then a safe landing could more easily be made provided that the aircraft was facing into wind. But perhaps an inexperienced pilot would be daunted.



My final 6 years before retiring from commercial aviation included 4k hours flying in an all-glass cockpit, where even the back-up was a neat little EFIS. I love the modern stuff, but feel that it should have some sort of back-up.



Light aircraft in the LAA world are not required to have certificated instrumentation. As regards EFIS reliability, on average during those final 6 years I experienced one screen failure each month (there were 2 main EFIS in front of each pilot) and a couple of times before retiring I experienced multiple screen failures. Our MEL allowed us to depart on IFR flights with one dead screen and three out of four could be dead for VFR departures. Often a dead EFIS could be brought back to life by rebooting.

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