Newbie questions

[Raisbeck]

I just spent the grandkid's inheritance on a Skyview HDX for my 182 and have run into questions that I suspect are kinda dumb, but I'll be darned if I can find an answer in the documents I have.

First, does the flight director need to be adjusted before takeoff like the old attitude gyro it replaced? I've been assuming that, being solid state, it doesn't need such, but I've noticed that it indicates a nose high attitude in level flight at 10500', where i usually cruise.

Second, I'm getting a warning from the maintenance log that my pitot static is out of date, but I can't change it in the system to reflect the current status.

Finally, I've downloaded the latest database from Dynon, copied it to the usb drives that came with the system, and followed the instructions on the Dynoncertified page, but I can't seem to get the new data to load, so I'm still running the temporary, installation package that's 3 years old. Doesn't bother me much as the mountains haven't moved much since then in the areas I frequent, but I would like to make it work the way it's supposed to.

 

[RV8JD]

A1: From the EXPERIMENTAL SkyView HDX Pilot’s User Guide – Revision K, Page 4-7 (so the CERTIFIED version may, or may not, work the same):

"If the displayed pitch on the screen requires adjustment to accurately depict the aircraft’s attitude in level cruise flight, use the Flight Angle Pitch Adjust Page in the In Flight Setup Menu (IN FLIGHT SETUP MENU > FLIGHT ANGLE PITCH ADJUST...). The pitch may be adjusted to a maximum of ±20 degrees.

NOTE: the Flight Angle Pitch Adjustment is only intended to adjust for minor differences in the aircraft’s attitude at various weights or CG locations. It is not intended to compensate for an ADAHRS which is improperly oriented with the aircraft’s longitudinal axis."

 

[greentips]

I just spent the grandkid's inheritance on a Skyview HDX for my 182 and have run into questions that I suspect are kinda dumb, but I'll be darned if I can find an answer in the documents I have.

First, does the flight director need to be adjusted before takeoff like the old attitude gyro it replaced? I've been assuming that, being solid state, it doesn't need such, but I've noticed that it indicates a nose high attitude in level flight at 10500', where i usually cruise.

Second, I'm getting a warning from the maintenance log that my pitot static is out of date, but I can't change it in the system to reflect the current status.

Finally, I've downloaded the latest database from Dynon, copied it to the usb drives that came with the system, and followed the instructions on the Dynoncertified page, but I can't seem to get the new data to load, so I'm still running the temporary, installation package that's 3 years old. Doesn't bother me much as the mountains haven't moved much since then in the areas I frequent, but I would like to make it work the way it's supposed to.

I just test flew mine for the first time. The attitude pitch is a set once, mainly forget it indicator. The log entries are in the setup menu, I think in the aircraft information section. Go into setup and select aircraft information. Then scroll down to the bottom of the list to Maintenance Log. You can update the checks and set up the maintenance intervals and in my case, even has an entry for the Medical expiration date, although as an AME, I can't recall ever giving a flight physical to an airplane. It came from the factory with that one, but you can customize the menu entries if you want.

As for the pitch angle, RV8JD is correct, the ADAHRS should match the level aspect. For mine, I took an ATS digital level and compared the firewall pitch angle on the ground to the panel the Skyview rack was riveted to and the ADAHRS was mounted to and compared the angles.
The FW and panel mount matched to within a degree or so, and the ADAHRS angle matched the floor angle in pilot's position to within a 1.5 degrees. I used the pitch adjustment to set the bar on the ground and the next flight was a very good match in straight/level flight.

 

[Dynon]

First, does the flight director need to be adjusted before takeoff like the old attitude gyro it replaced? I've been assuming that, being solid state, it doesn't need such, but I've noticed that it indicates a nose high attitude in level flight at 10500', where i usually cruise.

The above advice from RV8JD is sound. An interesting note: many aircraft actually do cruise with a few degrees of aircraft pitch up (depends on the specific design, and is a function of angle of attack, incidence, how the airplane was designed/built/ etc). So in many aircraft, you would expect to see a slight nose up attitude even if things are perfectly installed. But that's not the way most folks want to fly light aircraft, and so there's an adjuster that lets you set it to your preference.

Second, I'm getting a warning from the maintenance log that my pitot static is out of date, but I can't change it in the system to reflect the current status.

The place you want to edit this this up (and presumably fix the date, which I suspect is wrong) is in SETUP MENU > AIRCRAFT INFORMATION > MAINTENANCE LOG.

Finally, I've downloaded the latest database from Dynon, copied it to the usb drives that came with the system, and followed the instructions on the Dynoncertified page, but I can't seem to get the new data to load, so I'm still running the temporary, installation package that's 3 years old. Doesn't bother me much as the mountains haven't moved much since then in the areas I frequent, but I would like to make it work the way it's supposed to.

Where exactly are you getting stuck in the load process? The digital databases do need to be in the root (ie inside no folder) of the USB stick for it to be loadable. And then you need to load it by going into the software load menu.

 

[PaulSS]

First, does the flight director need to be adjusted before takeoff like the old attitude gyro it replaced? I've been assuming that, being solid state, it doesn't need such, but I've noticed that it indicates a nose high attitude in level flight at 10500', where i usually cruise.

Are you talking about the flight director or the attitude indicator? They are two very different beasts.