Flight Data Recorder

[EHaury at aol.com]

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

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.)

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.

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!

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.)

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?) 

Earl

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