wnorth(at)sdccd.edu
Guest
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 Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:24 pm Post subject: Trio Report |
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Well,
I haven't had much chance to speak to this much due to an unusual bunch of
stuff to do, but I've been flying the Trio altitude hold version 2 for a
while now, fine tuning a few of the safety features of it.
Wow, what a neat upgrade to an already awesome system. Having vertical speed
management is way cool. Just tick the encoder and rotate to the VS you want
and pop the go button and the VSI locks onto that number.
I never realized how quickly I get bored with 300 fpm and add power for a
rocket rise. But this deal makes it really easy to "manage" a proper climb
to cruise or an approach.
I'm not really an IFR person, and certainly don't recommend hard IFR with a
non-certified unit, but this thing stays pegged to the approach plate using
its numbers.
There are some neat safety features like min and max airspeed settings one
can capture. When these are hit the unit will give up on sustained altitude
and prevent the airspeed exceptions. The low speed thought is if one does
pass out and fly until no fuel then the unit will start into a slow speed
descent rather than allowing a stall.
Their units also have a number of places where they can be customized in
various settings like differing gains for the different modes of operation,
and dead band, and a host of others. This is the same philosphy used in
their autopilot which can be equally fine tuned if one so desires.
That said, while I played with all of these, a lot, just to see what did
what and how we could get it to operate the smoothest between descents,
climbs, holds, and turns, in both minimum and maximum conditions the truth
is our final results were pretty close to their defaults so most will not
have to tweek it much, if any.
Under most conditions it holds within 20 ft. At worst case I set up a 2000
fpm blast downhill and popped the hold on and it recovers within 40 to 60 ft
and gently returns the plane to the "set" altitude.
The encoder can still be adjusted in hold to compensate for pressure
changes. The unit does require that Pitot and Static are run to it for the
safety features of it to be functional, and they must be functional or it
won't let you play spin the bottle.
Installation is a breeze in most RVs as they have some neat kits for this,
although one can't avoid the trip back into the tail cone section for half a
day or so...
The other neat feature is it will drive the pitch trim motor to keep the
trim matched to the current airspeed. This is really cool when one goes to
disengage after slowing down quite a bit for a final approach. Of course
this only works for those with electric trim. As well it can be used in
conjunction with your existing trim operations with the use of a relay.
All in all this is a great product in its first form, and it is an even
better product in this next enhanced version.
(I would also add that the two versions are more than just software
different, they need some extra components in the main brain box as well as
a few software tweeks to the others.)
And to the list police I do not work for the three pros from Dover, nor do I
make a dime off of those tightwads... (OK, I lied, they are prodisiously
generous and are adamant about helping with my fuel costs on some of the
debugging flights we've done. And they do occasionally attept to poison me
with a special blend of the the Navy's finest South Pole, heart popping
black tar java, which doubles as a wonderful fuel tank sealant as well as
eliminating any remote need for those delighful Ex-lax products.)
And finally, to those who wish to debate Trio vs their competitors issues
I'm not up to going there. I personally feel the Trio units have enough more
useful features for an equal cost value that it's a no brainer for me.
W
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