Panther Sport Aircraft Forums

Glen,

Instruments in airplanes are highly overrated. It is perfectly legal to have a blank panel on a day VFR EAB. Part 91 does not apply. The only reason to go with steam gages would be if Uncle Ralph died and left you a box of freebies. Should you install them, just hope that you're looking at the fuel pressure when it slowly starts heading south. Or the oil pressure. Or the CHT heading up. Or the EGT going down. The value of glass is the ability to alarm every last thing that's being monitored. I know lots of folks flying with glass. I don't know even one that's lost one inflight. My RV-3 had the crap kicked out of it by a tornado. The Dynon fired right up the next day.

The time require to transition from steam to glass is at best 15 minutes.

The Panther prototype started out with MGL glass.

Question: Your glass craps out. You have a GPS. The windsock/smoke indicates a 10 mph headwind. You typically fly final at 60 mph. What GPS groundspeed should you fly?

Tony

I was wondering if builders could share their views on traditional steam gauge instruments, vs. the new glass instrument panels. Team Panther seems to be pushing the GRT Avionics, Sport panel. It's a nice looking display, and seems like an affordable way to get all the information you need on one display. If you add up the prices for all the steam gauges, it seems to be cheaper to go with the GRT display. My concerns with glass cockpits are:
- If one part of the GRT display doesn't work (that's say the airspeed indicator), the airplane would be grounded until you send it somewhere to be fixed. With steam gauges, you can just swap out the defective component.
- Will GRT Avionics be able to repair their panel 5, 10, 15 years from now? Will they still be in business? If they go out of business, will anyone support their product?
- We all know how 5 year old computers, phones, pads, etc. are considered obsolete, and usually not worth fixing. Will this be the fate of glass cockpit displays?
- If the glass cockpit display is considered obsolete and must be replaced, will the old sensors work on the new display?
- What is the lifespan of a glass cockpit display, considering the harsh environment it's put in? (cockpits are hot in the summer, cold in the winter, humidity issues, possibly getting wet from rain when you open the canopy, etc.)
- How well can you see the glass panel display, when the sun is beating on it?
- Do glass cockpits have any built in protection to control voltage spikes?

I'm not trying to put down glass cockpits. I have never flown an airplane that had one. The closest experience I have had to a glass cockpit, was playing an F-18 computer game (buy the way, I hated the altitude and to a lesser extent the airspeed number bars). I can see some of the benefits of having a glass cockpit, like having all the information you need on one display. The total package would probably save some weight. There would be an initial cost savings, but again, I'm not so sure about long term costs. Might it be a good idea to have a hybrid panel (glass cockpit, with some steam gauge instruments like airspeed and altimeter) so the airplane isn't grounded if the display goes bad. If you look at Dan's old construction photos, it looks like he had a steam gauge panel initially, then switched to the glass cockpit later on.

Glen