CockPit Module Here I'll put pictures we've taken showing the cockpit module of our aircraft. Firstly, before it went in there was quite a lot of preparation work involved as we put in the fuel tank, the control linkages and the brake system.This shows the cockpit module before it gets attached into the fuselage. It is sitting on the front edge, with the underside towards us, showing all of the workings and how they fit in. The central well running from top (back) to bottom (front) provides space for control linkages for flaps and tailplane, and for fuel lines and wiring.
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From top to bottom this picture shows: the baggage well the fuel tank (whitish impact-resistant plastic). the pitch push-rod and aileron push-rod linkages (in yellow zinc-chromate anti-oxidation finish, just below the white of the fuel tank). The brackets at either end are to locate the aileron quick-connect fittings (the bracket on the right as shown here is not yet painted). the bottom of the seats, with a channel through each one for the control column torque tube/push rod combination. the thigh supports for the seat slant upwards (away from you in this view) and the resulting space has been subdivided into handy bins with openings at the front (bottom). At the centre of the front (bottom) of each seat you can just see the control column 'yoke' fitting around which the column moves. |
| The larger central opening in middle of the bottom is the wheel well, which takes the large central (semi-retractable) wheel. In the early versions of the kit this wheel well was considerably larger, but we managed to get the updated module where some seat (hip) width has been recovered by sculpting the wheel well around the back of the wheel. | a small black slot in the wheel well is where the brake master cylinder will mount, with it's brake handle sticking through to the upper side. We intend to fabricate a (tight) fibreglass shield around the brake cylinder, however it is out at the moment as the grip is being formed out of wood. |
The main reason the tank has been mentioned is that it is split into two at the bottom, saddle-shaped, to allow the central tunnel to pass through. This means the bottom of the tank is two separate reservoirs with separate feed points to the engine. One is designated a reserve while the other is main.
When flying on a fairly low tank in unusual attitudes, turbulence, or a side-slip, there is the potential (nay certainty) that fuel will slop from one saddle to the other, thereby leaving the pilot unsure of exact fuel distribution. To remedy this we have three solutions:
| 1. We use a return fuel system (as recommended for the Rotax engine) where the excess fuel from the regulator at the carburettor is returned to the 'reserve' side of the tank. This continually replenishes the reserve so that when the pilot switches over it stands a good chance of being full. | 2. We're adding an Avelec dual-sender fuel gauge so that we can get readings of the fuel quantity in each saddle. They are actually two full-length gauges, so when the tank is full we will get two semi-independent readings of the same fuel level. When the fuel is below the saddle level, however, we will be able to read main and reserve directly. | 3. We are going to placard the minimum usable fuel in climb attitude (time to switch tanks) AND the fuel level which corresponds to the saddle (time to stop flying in unusual attitudes and treat each gauge independently). |
If you're interested in the fuel sender, it involves putting a hole (for access) in the cockpit module between the back rests (at the top of the tank) and a hole in the top of the tank. You then form two aluminium pieces to hold the senders in the top of the tank and seal it off again. When we decided to add the second sender to the fuel gauge we could luckily fit it into the same aluminium plate.
After installing the fuel tank (getting it central according to the sides of the cockpit module), we were worried that the central tunnel in the tank was not central with the module. Eddie agreed, when drilling the holes for the rudder cable pulleys, that this would be a problem, so we've taken out the tank and re-centered it using the tunnel / saddle walls for alignment. Taking out the tank was quite a fascinating job - whatever the factory tells you, the resin can glue to the tank!
 The lower fuselage ready for the cockpit module to be glued in. |
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We're putting in a conventional Altimeter and Air speed indicator (natch) but rather than a VSI we've bought and constructed a Rocky-Mountain instruments combined VSI, ASI, Altimeter, altitude alarm, gear alarm, mode C encoder and kitchen sink. This rather neat piece of kit can be used to generate a gear warning below a certain altitude - we intend to mount a micro-switch on the gear over-centre stop so that the gear alarm can warn us if we are below 800ft with the gear up. This still depends on adjusting the altimeter to QFE... Transponders seem to be becoming a standard requirement so we've done our best to use the encoder within the RMI to drive a transponder (rather like a blind encoder).
We've also decided to add a g-meter because of the difficulty in detecting wear on a fibreglass structure. Finally, we're putting in the Avelec fuel gauge as I mentioned above. We have now finalised the location of the various instruments, with engine controls on the left, engine instruments in a line at the bottom, standard 6-pack layout in front on the left, radio stuff, GPS, trim on the RHS. The Six-pack location is a given, of course, and this picture shows the plate which is being mounted on the front of the panel to take the standard instruments and allow them to be removed independently of the rest of the panel.
We've already got an electric Turn Co-ordinator, but Eddie sounds interested in the Navaid Devices autopilot which is built into their own turn co-ordinator. I had been looking at that a while ago but Eddie pooh-poohed it at the time... Oh well. Does anyone want to buy a gyro T-C?
No matter, I think the temporary madness is over, and we've decided to fly the aircraft ourselves. In the mean time, we've mounted the four main instruments we already own in to the aluminium removable panel. Here is the proud panel-beater (Eddie) in person to show you:
