Standby System Responds Automatically to Unusual Attitudes,
Helps Pinpoint System Failure
It may
become the coolest gadget of 2003... Control Vision, makers of
award-winning color GPS moving maps and weather radar systems for
general aviation, began shipping Anywhere AI, a solid-state
attitude indicator first introduced last year at AOPA Expo.
Anywhere AI is a standby attitude reference system for use
during any number of emergencies including failure of the attitude
instrument, the aircraft’s vacuum system or its electrical
system. While intended solely as an emergency backup, Anywhere AI
can be used effectively to routinely cross-check primary attitude
instruments. If the aircraft’s attitude indicator disagrees
with the turn coordinator or with the heading or vertical speed
indicator, Anywhere AI provides reference readings that can help
the pilot pinpoint the failed instrument or system.
Anywhere AI uses ship’s power and carries
its own standby battery power for up to three hours of attitude
indicator and GPS operation. It delivers true three-axis attitude
referencing for any aircraft. Pitch, roll and heading are displayed
in color on the screen of a PDA, along with track, bearing, ground
speed, altitude, and vertical speed. Anywhere AI is sold separately
or as an upgrade to Anywhere Map or Anywhere WX, including software
and a hardware unit containing the gyros, logic and power
supply.
So... What's the Big Deal?
An engine-driven vacuum pump powers most gyroscopic instruments
including the attitude indicator and heading indicator in General
Aviation aircraft. The pumps, however, are prone to failure. In a
study of 40 accidents involving vacuum pumps from 1983 through
1997, 32 of which resulted in fatalities, AOPA’s Air Safety
Foundation listed a failed vacuum pump as a contributing factor in
most of the accidents, and as the primary cause in 13 of the
accidents. Pilot/owners are cautioned to expect a vacuum failure
every 500 hours.
“Air safety was the number one reason we developed
Anywhere AI,” said Jay Humbard, Control Vision’s
President. “Vacuum systems typically fail gradually as either
the vacuum pump’s output or the instrument itself begins to
degrade. A failing pump or instrument initially shows
only subtle changes that can escape a vigilant pilot’s
routine instrument scan. Anywhere AI continuously monitors aircraft
attitude and alerts the pilot to a problem immediately and in a
very direct and useful way—by placing a correctly reading
AHRS3 on a bright screen directly in front of him.”
Sometimes, as vacuum output begins to degrade, the
pilot will notice that the heading indicator does not agree with
the magnetic compass, ordinarily a routine occurrence due to
precession, remedied by manually resetting the heading indicator.
Precession, however, may not be the culprit and as other systems
begin to disagree, a partial panel failure is underway. Air safety
researchers agree that partial-panel practice is the best way to
train for a vacuum or electrical gyro problem, however this is a
little-practiced area of ongoing training.
A failing vacuum pump or gyro indicator delivers erroneous
readings to an already busy pilot. By the time the pilot recognizes
that he is faced with an system failure, the aircraft is probably
in a hazardous flight attitude. Day VFR flight can make a pilot
complacent about checking the attitude indicator, a factor
reflected in accident statistics in which five times as many non
instrument-rated pilots as instrument-rated pilots incurred spatial
disorientation accidents flying VFR into Instrument Meteorological
Conditions.
The "CYA Feature"
A key Anywhere AI feature is a set of programmable
attitude reference thresholds. The pilot sets up an
“envelope” consisting of a normal angle of bank and
pitch, and rate of turn. If the envelope is exceeded, Anywhere AI
warns the pilot by instantly presenting the attitude indicator
display directly over the moving map.
“This is one very level-headed co-pilot,” said VP
Engineering, Greg Yotz. “The gyros and situation sensing have
their own logic activated by default or programmable overrides. By
making Anywhere AI an integral part of Anywhere Map, it
doesn’t need to be started by the pilot if and when it
detects a problem.” Anywhere AI’s independent CPU
ensures that simultaneous operation doesn’t degrade the
performance of either the moving map or the attitude indicator.
“If you exceed situational metrics, you are presented with a
multi-function nav display with three hours of onboard reserve
battery power,” added Yotz.