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.

FMI: www.controlvision.com