More fun flying The Predator.

[Martin W.]

What video?

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Different thread

https://www.rotaryforum.com/threads/1930-ballistic-parachute-with-vance-breese-sr.1146681/page-2

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[Vance]

Thursday was an interesting day. I stripped The Predator and was checking every ground with an ohm meter and was surprised when I found the screw I use to ground push to talk, push to talk on the intercom, and the ground for the linier actuator was not grounded. Nothing; even when I wiggled it. I turned on the power and after I pushed the trim briefly; the ohmmeter showed between 1.0 and .9. This intermittent ground seemed like exactly what I had been looking for. I took the left panel off the tower and went looking for a better ground that I could use to ground the screw so I would not have to rewire everything inside the tower.

I found a quarter inch bolt that was intended to be a ground that also mounts my emergency power plug. As is often the case it was in the far corner of the tower and difficult to reach. There was no way for me to hold the bolt while I unscrewed the nut and installed the new ground wire.

It was already after four o’clock and the FBO and most of the hangar tenants had left so I went looking for help. Richard at the owner built hangers was about to leave and agreed to wait 15 minutes while I made up the wire and routed it. It went fairly fast but I have learned to test everything and I found another problem. Sunset had been at 5:27 and twilight ended at 5:54 and it was six by the time she was ready to fly and I felt I was in too big a hurry and too wound up to fly in the dark when I had not flown at night in six months.

The next morning I was excited to try her out and I felt I had found the cause of the noise. The tower did not share my excitement and asked; “Experimental one four two Mike Golf; how many stop and goes are you going to do?” One should do it I answered.

I soon discovered I had not fixed the source of the noise and nothing I did around the pattern made a repeatable difference.

As I was sitting in the afterglow of the flight I remembered someone had said that it sounds like a bad plug wire or a plug with too much resistance. So I headed back out for another lap. By now a CH47 was in closed traffic and I was cleared to follow the helicopter in left closed traffic.

I had seen videos of what a CH47 downwash can do and did my best to keep my distance. It felt like I was on a very bumpy road as I did my best to minimize the effect of the down wash on The Predator.

On downwind I tried shutting off the magnetos one at a time and to my disappointment it made no difference.

Now I had too videos with sound so I could listen and think. I put them up on the big TV monitor and turned up the sound. I noted the noise went away when someone was talking or when I was transmitting.

Jim, the helicopter mechanic stopped by and wanted to talk about his family and eventually I played the video and he said quietly it might be the squelch adjustment. I waded through the manual and found the adjustment and turned it up to max figuring there was no way that it could block out that much noise. I was desperate and was ready to try anything.

The new friendlier controller was on duty but he already had one helicopter on a straight in and the CH47 was now in right closed traffic. He cleared me for right closed traffic behind the helicopter. I repeated the clearance and asked for some distance behind the helicopter for wake turbulence. “Fly straight out and I will call your crosswind.” He called my cross wind early and as I made my way down wind the CH47 was making lots of dust on the runway. I made my mid field call and runway three zero was clear to land. He cautioned the helicopter to have no more than an additional 15 seconds over the runway for inbound traffic. I offered to slow down but he responded no delay for inbound traffic. I was so busy I almost didn’t realize that things were working perfectly.

Once on ground I asked ATC (same guy different frequency) how did he here my radio and he answered; “loud and clear; how you?”

I could not contain my excitement and jubilantly replied; IT WORKS, THE RADIO WORKS!!!

Now I need to resolve the panel power for the GPS challenge and am hoping a new female plug will do the job. Over time the receptacle has gotten loose allowing it to blow the fuse if I remover the plug with the power on. I am hoping this loose connection is also the cause of the noise.

Thank you if you followed my odyssey and/or offered advice. It seems it is always the last thing you check.

 

[Resasi]

Persistence pays off. Congratulations.

 

[j4flyer]

I’m happy for you. It’s always such a relief to find the problem and fix it. Don’t forget to write down the fix. That way if it happens a few years down the road you can remember what was done to remedy the problem.

 

[JEFF TIPTON]

Might also check the 496 fuse size. The manual calls for 3AG 1.5 amp. 2 Amp would also work OK.

 

[Tyger]

Any idea who owns that CH47??

 

[Vance]

Any idea who owns that CH47??

I have no idea, I attached a larger but out of focus picture from the video.

 

[Tyger]

Interesting paint scheme, but I cannot make it out at all.

 

[Vance]

Interesting paint scheme, but I cannot make it out at all.

SMX is a fire base, I suspect the helicopter was training for fire suppression but I don’t know who. If it is flying again today I will take a better picture or capture the N number.

The Video was focused on my instruments so the aircraft was out of focus around 400 feet away.

The pilot did not sound military on the radio.

 

[Tyger]

That makes sense, if it's meant to carry fire suppression teams and their equipment. You don't see too many of those outside the military.

 

[Vance]

The Predator lives!

I had a list of people to call and wanted to make certain everything worked. New Radio, new intercom, new cyclic switches, repaired ADS-B out. I made some more test flights and called up a client explaining that I had not tested the intercom with someone in the back seat.

The night before I stayed late and fixed the panel power for the GPS and it did not appear to affect the radio.

This was my client’s first flight in a gyroplane so we spent the morning learning to preflight and hangar flying.

After lunch it was time to fly and I felt very insecure about the intercom.

I explained how everything worked, and got him bucked up. I went through my start up list and she burst into life with a very short touch of the button.

I checked ATIS (the local weather) and pushed the intercom push to talk button and BBBBZZZZTTT!!!.

It was loud enough to be painful and we could not fly without the intercom working.

I pulled the breaker for the ADS-B out, intentionally blew the fuse for the GPS panel power, turned the squelch up as far as it would go and still when I pushed the intercom push to talk button it was BBBBZZZZTTT!!!

I pushed the push to talk on the radio button and BBBBZZZZTTT!!!

My heart sank.

I shut everything down and explained to my client that we can’t fly without the radio and he needed to get out.

He looked despondent.

As I began to un-belt and unplug I thought to try one more thing. I had my client make certain the helicopter plug for his head set was plugged all the way in. He had unplugged it when before exiting the aircraft (I love it when people follow directions) so standing next to the aircraft he plugged it in and I had him put on the helmet. Like magic everything worked.

We had a successful flight and she is now tested and ready to fly.

I am getting too much wind noise in the rear microphone and need to work to improve that.

I am very excited to be back in the flight instruction business and have called or messaged everyone on the list and received positive responses.

YYYIIIPPPEEE!!!

 

[j4flyer]

Van you have probably already fixed the wind in the mic issue but if you haven’t, sometimes a mic cover is all it takes.

 

[Vance]

Van you have probably already fixed the wind in the mic issue but if you haven’t, sometimes a mic cover is all it takes.

A good question about an ongoing challenge.

With the old set up the rear microphone was only hot when either the radio push to talk or the radio push to talk was activated.

I used a microphone with a foam muff and a leather cover and there was too much wind noise in the radio from the back.

An effective solution is this mush mouth; some of my clients find it annoying.

I have different needs as the training progresses.

In the beginning I am in the front seat and make the radio calls.

My learner needs to be able to talk to me.

When the learner progresses to the front seat there is less wind noise in his microphone and they can make the radio calls.

I still need to be able to make the radio calls when they leave something out and I need to be able to talk to them.

I don’t mind the mush mouth and that may be my short term solution when I am in the back seat..

I tried a windshield in the back seat but it was cumbersome (I had to remove it to get in and out) and I found people learned faster without the windshield. It seemed to be a distraction.

I have always found communication a challenge in an open aircraft.

 

[j4flyer]

Do they still make the snap on full face covers for helmets ? Or perhaps one of the newer convertible helmets could be made to work.

 

[Vance]

Communication in an open aircraft is an ongoing struggle and the new microphone priority makes it begin again.

 

[okikuma]

Ever since the invention of ground bound vehicles and aircraft, using the vehicle chassis or aircraft airframe as “the common ground” for all electrical connections will always introduce a near infinite number of electrical problems at one time or another. The only reason this has been done is to save on the cost of wire.

First, all electrical connections must have a continuity of like manufactured material to ensure continuous, solid connection for the maximum flow of electrons. A chain of dissimilar metals (Copper, Aluminum, Steel, Nickel,) within any electrical connection over time will always form layers of corrosion and resistance by way of electrolysis and thus introduce connectivity problems. For the past 100+ years, even with this knowledge, cognitive dissidence reigns supreme and chassis and airframes continue to be used as a common electrical ground.

When I eliminated all my chassis based ground connections and converted to a common ground buss wire connection on my old Volkswagen Beetle, all previous electrical problems ceased to exist. All lights became brighter, the starter turned the engine easier, no electrical noise on the radio, and the indicated maximum load on my amp meter reduced.

With my Piper Pacer, I also eliminated all airframe based electrical grounds and installed a ground buss wire system. I achieved the same outcome as with my VW. Brighter lights, the starter turned the engine easier, and no electrical noise within my COMM or intercom. As the VW, the Pacer’s indicated maximum load on the amp meter also reduced. For 30 years, I never experienced another electrical related problem again.

Wayne

 

[Sv.grainne]

Years of experience with boat electrical systems says bring all grounds to a common point and don't share 2 ground runs on 1 conductor. This applies equally well to all electrical/electronic equipment. We used negative and positive distribution buses and eliminated many ground loop problems and strange symptoms.

 

[Vance]

My current challenge with radio communication in The Predator is wind noise in the rear microphone when I push to talk. The Predator does not have a windshield in the back.

The radio is working well and I just have to learn to use it. There is less distortion at higher volumes and it seems to have good range. I find it hard to read what is in the display.

The tower can hear me well as long as there is no microphone in the back seat.

With the old set up the microphones were prioritized; with the new transceiver/intercom both microphones are hot when I press either push to talk button.

If I used a single throw double pole relay I could activate the push to talk and cut off the rear microphone with the push to talk button in the front.

I feel this would probably get the job done.

As you may imagine I am not anxious to dive back into the wiring even though this is pretty straight forward.

I have some flying to do to catch up with my absence and I am headed to Copper State (driving) on February 17 returning February 22.

I feel the mush mouth will also address the challenge and that is my short term solution.

 

[DavePA11]

Or a full face helmet for the passenger may help, but then have to integrate the audio and mic into it…

 

[Sv.grainne]

My current challenge with radio communication in The Predator is wind noise in the rear microphone when I push to talk. The Predator does not have a windshield in the back.

The radio is working well and I just have to learn to use it. There is less distortion at higher volumes and it seems to have good range. I find it hard to read what is in the display.

The tower can hear me well as long as there is no microphone in the back seat.

With the old set up the microphones were prioritized; with the new transceiver/intercom both microphones are hot when I press either push to talk button.

If I used a single throw double pole relay I could activate the push to talk and cut off the rear microphone with the push to talk button in the front.

I feel this would probably get the job done.

As you may imagine I am not anxious to dive back into the wiring even though this is pretty straight forward.

I have some flying to do to catch up with my absence and I am headed to Copper State (driving) on February 17 returning February 22.

I feel the mush mouth will also address the challenge and that is my short term solution.

Vance:

I made a small PPT switch for Tyger for use in the back seat. I can make another.