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Originally posted by Bob Cook I have been looking for a 2in standby AI but they are out of this world for price (BGG type). Mags and vac pumps should be relegated to museums.
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Agreed. If the Vacuum pumps don't kill you, the mags will get you.
Here's a radical idea … I was reading an old issue of IFR (November 1998) and it had an interesting article about how Hal Shevers had been trying to convince the FAA since 1991 to allow GA to replace their Turn Coordinators with a backup electrical AI. After 6 years, the FAA said it wasn’t important enough to get acted on now.
Some points from this story are:
1) If your Turn Coordinator is not needed for you autopilot, then replace it with a 2.25” T&B, and put a backup electrically operated AI where the Turn Coordinator was. The RC Allen electical AI's were something like $1600. I have no idea with the replacement T&B costs, but it has to be cheaper than the peanut AI's.
2) Or alternately, they made the argument, that on a case-by-case basis, your local FSDO may approve simply removing the Turn Coordinator and replacing it with the electrical AI. However, this was a crapshoot in 1998, so it can’t possibly be any easier in today’s climate to pull this off.