Inclinometer (ball)

whee

whee

Junior Member
I need a ball, I don’t like the electronic version on my efis and want to install a standalone real life ball. I only have space for a small one and am wondering if anyone has used one they like.
 
If I was in that situation, I might try finding a broken turn coordinator and cutting it apart. They must be available for trash can prices somewhere.
 
Thanks for the ideas and recommendations. I need to measure the spot I have available; it is really small.
 
What don't you like about the GRT ball? Never flown one, or any other brand in an light plane. I did just order GRT stuff a few days ago.

BTW, your original post on this subject could have really been taken another way. It took extreme self control to not reply in a humorous way.
 
Coming from steam gauges, I was not a fan of watching the TV. Now that I’ve grown accustomed to it, I don’t care for steam gauges...

Whee, I’ll predict that you’ll install a ball, but after 50 hours you won’t look at it.

Bill
 
Bdflies said:
Coming from steam gauges, I was not a fan of watching the TV. Now that I’ve grown accustomed to it, I don’t care for steam gauges...

Whee, I’ll predict that you’ll install a ball, but after 50 hours you won’t look at it.

Bill
Click to expand...

The seat of one's pants is far more capable as an inclinometer.
 
svyolo said:
What don't you like about the GRT ball? Never flown one, or any other brand in an light plane. I did just order GRT stuff a few days ago.

BTW, your original post on this subject could have really been taken another way. It took extreme self control to not reply in a humorous way.
Click to expand...

Haha, I was thinking the same things as I wrote the post and I guess it subconsciously came out:D

I'm not sure I can accurately describe what it is I don't like. I feel like it lags and occasionally starts moving in the wrong direction then reverses. Could be that my butt is miscalculated from years of not flying. I was working on stall speeds a few days ago, the left wing kept dropping and the GRT ball kept indicating I needed to apply left rudder which would make the wing drop worse. If I ignored the ball and did why my butt said I could get deeper into the stall before losing the left wing.

Steve W said:
How about a short piece of yarn taped to the bottom of the windshield. Used in gliders for years
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But the prop wash messes with the yarn...so I've been told.
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Bdflies said:
Coming from steam gauges, I was not a fan of watching the TV. Now that I’ve grown accustomed to it, I don’t care for steam gauges...

Whee, I’ll predict that you’ll install a ball, but after 50 hours you won’t look at it.

Bill
Click to expand...

jaredyates said:
The seat of one's pants is far more capable as an inclinometer.
Click to expand...

I'm sure your right Bill. The presentation is great on the EFIS but I don't think the skid ball is as accurate as I'd like. Since I'm rusty and learning a new airplane I need something to back me up till I get a solid feel for the airplane.

I agree with Jared that once I get a feel for the airplane I'll not really need the skid ball. The major hitch for me is I don't trust the EFIS enough to rely on the ball if I get into a situation where my feel of the plane is incorrect. Idaho gets smokey in the summer and while the conditions may be VFR the haze can really mess with you. It wasn't uncommon for me to need to rely on the T&B in my Luscombe for a few minutes so my internal gyro could reset.
 
Anything you buy or build will have a certain set of mechanical characteristics. Damping, inertia, cyclic, etc. You might just be used to one set, and are having a difficult time because you are used to a certain set of characteristics. Maybe wait a bit, and just get used to the GRT? If you do put one in, why not attached it to the bottom of the glare shield, in plain sight?

The only thing I have used a ball for in over 30 years is to adjust trim in flight, mostly cruise. Usually zero. But I heard some 737 pilots would trim the rudder so the left wing was down 1-2 degrees if they needed a lavatory break. Boeing built thousands of 737's where the toilet seat wouldn't stay up in the forward lav. Just rumors, not me, of course.
 
I've flown behind glass (G1000) and steam gauge inclinometers, and I agree that, despite 100-ish hours with the Garmin system, the feel of the mechanical ball is far more familiar. (It's okay, pause to chuckle to yourself for a few moments.) One thing I learned a few years ago is that the electronic inclinometers are not calibrated to the same displacement as a typical mechanical ball. That is, "one ball out" on a mechanical inclinometer is not necessarily the same as having the bottom skinny trapezoid just outside of the triangle on the EFIS systems. I was on a committee that was writing standards for low-speed flight characteristics, and we were trying to adapt what was 14 CFR 23.221 (a) (2) (iii), better known as the uncoordinated maneuvers for for "spin resistant" aircraft. There are a number of maneuvers that are supposed to be done "corresponding to one ball width displacement on a slip-skid indicator." When those rules were first written a few decades ago, this was pretty well understood. With the advent of modern EFIS systems, we had to specify the acceleration associated with "one ball width." (If you care, it's ~0.07 G.) Many electronic systems have a unit displacement that may be off by as much as a factor of 2x from this number (can't remember which way off the top of my head).
 
Whee, I don’t know if you ever found a slip / skid indicator, but winter makes a very nice one that is small. $68 on Wings and Wheels. I have one but have not yet installed it. I also used yarn on the windshield during my test phase. It works instantaneously. If you decide to try it, don’t attach it right at the base of the windshield. A little higher up and 6 to 8 inches long is better. Bob
 
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