In short - have many RV-12 owners activated their AOA feature? And, if so, have you kept the Vane operated Stall Warning?
Flying magazine has a piece about the FAA's most important features for reducing GA accidents.
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-names-surprising-top-lifesaving-technologies?cmpid=enews051713&spPodID=030&spMailingID=17538332&spUserID=NTEzMTMzMzQwNDES1&spJobID=215962172&spReportId=MjE1OTYyMTcyS0
Leading the list is Angle of Attack
I posted the following (somewhat modified) on the General Forum, without any comments (except that a Poll favored AOA only vs Both by 60/40), so I thought I would pulse the RV-12 group, who may not cruise the General Forum.
Per the ASTM Cert Standards, the RV-12 comes with a stall warning vane and system. The warning horn sounds through the headset, and is LOUD (and annoying.) There is also a Red Lite on the Skyview display. The horn comes on about 7 kts above the stall.
I trained on the RV-12 with Mike Seager down in Oregon. We made 8 flights. He put masking tape over the stall warning vane and it never sounded. I don't know if he did that to increase my sensory perception of the stall warning characteristics, or because he felt listening to that raucous horn was a PITA. If the airplane (the Vans Demonstrator) had an AOA installed - I don't know. If so, it was not enabled.
I'm a believer in AOA, so when I built my airplane, I incorporated all the plumbing for the AOA system. After I got my FAA certification, I simply activated the system on my 2nd flight. I calibrated it a few times per the instructions on flights 2 and 3. As noted by others, in addition to the indicator chevron, it beeps at you (gently.)
I had no previous experience flying a light airplane AOA. I immediately fell in love. Now the problem became the TWO systems working in parallel. The Dynon AOA with its gentle beeping vs the raucous vane activated buzzer. The buzzer sometimes wants to come on first, and the sound wants to overwhelm and cover up the AOA tones. (Like the old joke of the pilot who lands with the gear up and tells the Tower he didn't hear their warnings because of the loud buzzer.) It's also quite jarring if it comes on suddenly and unexpectedly during the final approach and landing phases.
Right now, I'm seriously considering deactivating the vane buzzer and just going with the AOA. It seems more precise, guiding, gentle.
Actually, I think Vans should include the AOA in the Plans, so it doesn't have to be installed as a post-Cert mod. After all, the Skyview and its ADAHRS are all set-up for the AOA system.
As to the comments about having them both for redundancy, in addition to deactivating the stall warning vane, Mike also completely shutdown the Skyview (he said I was looking at it too much), and made me fly a series of take-offs, circuits, and landings with nothing but my eyeballs and throttle for maintaining airplane attitude and speed control. He later said they were some of my best flights. I don't know about that, but I felt remarkably comfortable flying the airplane with absolutely no instruments. I recommend it as a valuable exercise for all pilots.
Bob Bogash
RV-12
N737G
Flying magazine has a piece about the FAA's most important features for reducing GA accidents.
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-names-surprising-top-lifesaving-technologies?cmpid=enews051713&spPodID=030&spMailingID=17538332&spUserID=NTEzMTMzMzQwNDES1&spJobID=215962172&spReportId=MjE1OTYyMTcyS0
Leading the list is Angle of Attack
I posted the following (somewhat modified) on the General Forum, without any comments (except that a Poll favored AOA only vs Both by 60/40), so I thought I would pulse the RV-12 group, who may not cruise the General Forum.
Per the ASTM Cert Standards, the RV-12 comes with a stall warning vane and system. The warning horn sounds through the headset, and is LOUD (and annoying.) There is also a Red Lite on the Skyview display. The horn comes on about 7 kts above the stall.
I trained on the RV-12 with Mike Seager down in Oregon. We made 8 flights. He put masking tape over the stall warning vane and it never sounded. I don't know if he did that to increase my sensory perception of the stall warning characteristics, or because he felt listening to that raucous horn was a PITA. If the airplane (the Vans Demonstrator) had an AOA installed - I don't know. If so, it was not enabled.
I'm a believer in AOA, so when I built my airplane, I incorporated all the plumbing for the AOA system. After I got my FAA certification, I simply activated the system on my 2nd flight. I calibrated it a few times per the instructions on flights 2 and 3. As noted by others, in addition to the indicator chevron, it beeps at you (gently.)
I had no previous experience flying a light airplane AOA. I immediately fell in love. Now the problem became the TWO systems working in parallel. The Dynon AOA with its gentle beeping vs the raucous vane activated buzzer. The buzzer sometimes wants to come on first, and the sound wants to overwhelm and cover up the AOA tones. (Like the old joke of the pilot who lands with the gear up and tells the Tower he didn't hear their warnings because of the loud buzzer.) It's also quite jarring if it comes on suddenly and unexpectedly during the final approach and landing phases.
Right now, I'm seriously considering deactivating the vane buzzer and just going with the AOA. It seems more precise, guiding, gentle.
Actually, I think Vans should include the AOA in the Plans, so it doesn't have to be installed as a post-Cert mod. After all, the Skyview and its ADAHRS are all set-up for the AOA system.
As to the comments about having them both for redundancy, in addition to deactivating the stall warning vane, Mike also completely shutdown the Skyview (he said I was looking at it too much), and made me fly a series of take-offs, circuits, and landings with nothing but my eyeballs and throttle for maintaining airplane attitude and speed control. He later said they were some of my best flights. I don't know about that, but I felt remarkably comfortable flying the airplane with absolutely no instruments. I recommend it as a valuable exercise for all pilots.
Bob Bogash
RV-12
N737G
).