<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Earl,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What kind of battery voltages did you see in
flight? Is the sample rate fast enough to see voltage glitches when servos
start? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jim</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=EHaury@aol.com href="mailto:EHaury@aol.com">EHaury@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, June 29, 2003 10:26
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Flight Data Recorder</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">An ad in the latest MA by Eagle Tree Systems for a Flight
Data Recorder attracted my attention. Being able to record airspeed / altitude
/ servo commands, etc., for review after a flight would seem to be a useful
tool for pattern and this device is advertised to do just that for a
reasonable price ($150). Details are at: www.eagletreesystems.com<BR><BR>The
first good sign is service, ordered Tues. morning and received Fri. Second
good sign is that the software loaded on my PC without a hitch. The recorder
calibrated as described and was in a Hydeout and in the air in no time (still
Friday). Lastly, data from the flight transferred to my PC for evaluation. (A
supplied USB cord between the recorder and PC.)<BR><BR>It's tricky to
interpret the data from the supplied graphics in that you need to figure out
just where in the pattern the data were generated. I flew a take off sequence
with a level 180 to enter the pattern, so altitude data were consistent for a
while and the first pull-up was obvious. With the playback on slo-mo, altitude
changes and elevator inputs allow one to follow a pattern pretty
well.<BR><BR>The data can be transferred to Excel and manipulated to provide
graphics of the data of interest. It took about 45 min. to build charts of
airspeed, elev, and altitude for the Square on Corner (I'm a bit Excel rusty).
The data clearly show the entry altitude, the altitude gained (or lost)
between elevator inputs, max altitude, finish altitude, and the airspeed
through the maneuver. Pretty nifty!<BR><BR>The device comes set to capture
data at the rate of 4/sec which will give 22 min. of record. I found that
8/sec is probably better for our use (10/sec max available) and that will give
about 13 min of record. When the buffer is full it stops collecting until
reset. I've made no effort to verify speed and altitude measurements except
that with the recommended altitude calibration it knows the runway is 0
altitude. (Relative numbers are of good value anyway.)<BR><BR>Overall this
device looks to be a useful tool to help one improve practice sessions. There
is no realtime downlink or closed loop control, so nothing outside the rules.
(Hmmm - judge thinks entry and exit altitudes differ, wonder if he / she would
like to see the real numbers?)
<BR><BR>Earl<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>