ajay said:
All right Alan,
For those of us who fail to see the obvious (me), what exactly does this airframe control package actually do for you?
Does this really have a market for rv's? What about installation time and cost?
In other words will the benefits really out weigh the cost?
Nice panel by the way.
regards,
ajay
Ajay,
I'm quite confident that it will save time and money over an "old school panel". I had 26 Klixon breaker, 7 W32 switch breakers, a 24v-12v convertor, Trim indicators, Trim controllers with copilot lockout, a multichannel dimmer control, and a complex flap control system with steps and instant up in my old panel work efforts. Each of those items was a separate module that had to be wired to a buss. I'm also a dual buss/dual alt airplane and so I had all the complexity of alt/batt switches and cross tie switches. All of the above is gone, replaced with the VP-200 duo (in my case). No longer do I have to "home run" power wires from the devices all the way to the back of the panel, where the breakers were, and then on the batteries.
No longer do I have to develop a "switch flip order" for each various stage of flight and specifically each emergency situation.
Also, now I have full control over the assignment and order of what devices are on or off in each phase of flight, how they function, I can also develop custom "macros" that may program multiple devices as if they are one, plus I can sequence devices or device groups based upon things like speed, altitude, temp, emergency conditions, etc.
I'm all for reducing cockpit workload, especially in an emergency condition. I'm also for providing the maximum amount of flexibility and information that can be assimilated by the pilot if they so desire. In my case, Analog is out, and Digital is in. Yep, I know I'm on the bleeding edge, but that's pretty much everything about my airplane.
Now I haven't really answered the main question "what all is this VP stuff". I wish I could in one word.... As the Manufacture says, it's best described as "having a first officer on board". In my case, its going to remove weight, simplify greatly my wiring, and offer much greater flexibility and control. Any of these items individually is worth it, but in combination, it's even better.
While this might not be for everyone, I'm willing to play beta testor so you all can follow my trials, tribulations, and sucesses. So far, it's been all the later and non of the former.... But we'll see.