REFLECTOR: drag brake and general reliability of AC equipment

[Scott Derrick]

David,

I have a speed brake and consider it a valuable tool for landing and 
slow flight. For landing I use it unless I see that I am too low or to 
slow when turning on to final, Otherwise I always use it turning on to 
final.  Better visibility and shorter landings, less wear on the brakes. 
  If your going to routinely be using a short field I would consider it 
a required item on my checklist. Sure you can get into short fields 
without it, but why push the envelope and extra wear on the brakes?

Not sure why your actuator would fail so soon, mines over 10 years old 
with hundreds of cycles.  Sure its not a bad connection, these actuators 
are tough?

I would certainly figure out your battery problem. If your battery 
really is low after sitting a few days you either have a bad battery or 
a drain somewhere. Easy to test with a multimeter. Put a current meter 
in between your battery and connector.  Turn on the master switch, be 
sure everything is else is off so your not drawing much current. Then 
turn the master off and see if the current goes to very very close to 
zero.  I do it this way because the sequence of power on to power off 
can leave a relay engaged, but disconnecting the battery will disengage 
the relay and you won't see a sticky/hung relay,

Scott


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: REFLECTOR: drag brake and general reliability of AC equipment
From: David Ullman <ullman at robustdecisions.com>
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Date: 05/04/2012 09:52 AM

> I am part way through my 40 hours.  I am mainly practicing landings - trying
> to get my speed down.  At altitude I can drive around the sky at 75 kts with
> good control and the speed brake up, but seem to be fast on final.  Trying
> to get to 80kt over the numbers.  I have used the speed brake on all my
> landings to date.
>
> On Wed I went out to fly and speed brake would not deploy.  I was still on
> the ground.  After chasing the problem I found that it is not my wiring, but
> the motor itself not working.  To get it out of the plane is major surgery.
> So, here is the question.  Do I even need the speed brake?  I know some
> people use it and some don't.  I need to consistently get in and stopped on
> 3000ft so I can move to another airport.  Can I do this without the speed
> brake? (I am learning on 5000ft, so not an issue just now).   Any words of
> wisdom are appreciated.
>
> Also, I am having another, intermittent problem.  The day the speed brake
> failed, the engine would not start.  When I turned the key, I could hear the
> starter solenoid click, but no starter.  This has happened once before, but
> all the other times, no problem.  Both times I put a trickle charger on the
> battery (I don't usually leave it on and have a good battery.) and traced
> the problem to the solenoid.  Both times, as soon as I traced the loss of
> current to the solenoid by checking voltages, the starter miraculously
> worked.  In other words, by tracing the problem, it went away.  This doesn't
> give me a feeling of confidence.  The starter is new, the solenoid is new,
> the battery may have been a little down (I still need to check if there is
> any draw with the master is off. I don't see how there can be).  Any
> thoughts?  I am leaning toward replacing the solenoid.
>
> While on reliability, I had a problem with my Dynon ADAHRS.  It was
> wandering all over.  It is mounted under the rear pilot-side seat.  I don't
> have the seat in yet and I made sure there was no ferrous material anywhere
> near it.  So it was the unit, not my installation of it.   They replaced it
> and all is fine.  I also just bought two autopilot servos from them.  One of
> them bound up when rotated.  They replaced that also.
>
> All of this lack of reliability has not given me much encouragement.
>
> David Ullman
> N-444DX Velocity
> EAA 292 President
> david at davidullman.com
> 541-754-3609
> 1655 NW Hillcrest Dr
> Corvallis OR 97330
>
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