Odd thing that happened today
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:03 pm
Wondering if anyone can add some thoughts on an odd thing that happened when I was flying my RV-12 today.
At run-up I was checking the rpm drop from the ignition modules. I switched one off at a steady 4000 rpm to watch the drop. As I did so my fat finger also caught the other module and for a split-second both were off and the engine faltered until I quickly switched both back on. The engine never stopped.
After cussing myself I checked everything and all seemed normal except that Skyview rebooted. I repeated the engine run-up and checked the ignition modules again and the parameters were all normal. On the second repeated run-up Skyview froze and rebooted normally.
I was about to return to the hangar but on the way pulled over to a side area and spent about 15 minutes checking things over, as I would have done at the hangar anyway. Everything seemed normal and I couldn't see anything out of order.
On a 5000' runway I applied full power and all parameters were normal so I continued the takeoff and climb out was normal. Throughout the flight everything was normal except after about 15 minutes the Skyview suddenly went blank. It rebooted and stayed on for several minutes. I decided to return to the field which I'd kept close.
The Skyview went blank and then rebooted. This time it stuck at the opening page. Normally as the RV-12 logo comes up you hear it say "Dynon Skyview", this time it stuck on that so it was "Duh-duhduhduh etc" instead of Dynon. When it blanked I also lost the radio.
As I approached the field I cycled the avionics switch and got the radio back. I checked all c/bs and all were fine. Skyview came back and stopped at the RV-12 screen. I checked for traffic, announced joining the pattern and flew it all the way to landing with no instruments at all. The engine was fine and so I used my experience with the plane to reduce power and slow to familiar looking speeds/sounds, and attitude. I lowered the flaps which are a johnson bar. I kept the speed to what I felt was a bit higher than normal and it squeaked on slightly farther from the threshold than normal.
After shutdown I felt the screen and it did feel a bit warmer than usual but I did hear the cooling fan switch off with the master switch.
I waited about 15 mins to see if it needed to cool down and it didn't seem like it was ever really much warmer than usual.
I restarted Skyview using it's own internal power (master off) and it booted up normally. I shut down and repeated a couple of times and all seemed normal.
I'm wondering if the Skyview got overloaded trying to restart itself in the air? It had more problems each time until it finally hung up on the start-up screen. After total shut-down do you think that it cleared itself and was able to start normally?
When I inadvertently switched off the adjoining ignition module on run-up what might that have done to the Skyview as far as telling it to reboot, if anyone knows?
I did have Foreflight on my iPhone as back-up to navigate and I'm currently trying to decide how to best back-up Skyview, other than having a second screen, which might also have had the same issue as the other screen? I'm thinking iPad or iFly GPS but haven't got there yet. Any thoughts?
It was my clumsy finger which caused the problem but I'm interested in any thoughts as to what Skyview did to itself from anyone with any experience with it.
I'll contact Dynon tomorrow for their input too.
At run-up I was checking the rpm drop from the ignition modules. I switched one off at a steady 4000 rpm to watch the drop. As I did so my fat finger also caught the other module and for a split-second both were off and the engine faltered until I quickly switched both back on. The engine never stopped.
After cussing myself I checked everything and all seemed normal except that Skyview rebooted. I repeated the engine run-up and checked the ignition modules again and the parameters were all normal. On the second repeated run-up Skyview froze and rebooted normally.
I was about to return to the hangar but on the way pulled over to a side area and spent about 15 minutes checking things over, as I would have done at the hangar anyway. Everything seemed normal and I couldn't see anything out of order.
On a 5000' runway I applied full power and all parameters were normal so I continued the takeoff and climb out was normal. Throughout the flight everything was normal except after about 15 minutes the Skyview suddenly went blank. It rebooted and stayed on for several minutes. I decided to return to the field which I'd kept close.
The Skyview went blank and then rebooted. This time it stuck at the opening page. Normally as the RV-12 logo comes up you hear it say "Dynon Skyview", this time it stuck on that so it was "Duh-duhduhduh etc" instead of Dynon. When it blanked I also lost the radio.
As I approached the field I cycled the avionics switch and got the radio back. I checked all c/bs and all were fine. Skyview came back and stopped at the RV-12 screen. I checked for traffic, announced joining the pattern and flew it all the way to landing with no instruments at all. The engine was fine and so I used my experience with the plane to reduce power and slow to familiar looking speeds/sounds, and attitude. I lowered the flaps which are a johnson bar. I kept the speed to what I felt was a bit higher than normal and it squeaked on slightly farther from the threshold than normal.
After shutdown I felt the screen and it did feel a bit warmer than usual but I did hear the cooling fan switch off with the master switch.
I waited about 15 mins to see if it needed to cool down and it didn't seem like it was ever really much warmer than usual.
I restarted Skyview using it's own internal power (master off) and it booted up normally. I shut down and repeated a couple of times and all seemed normal.
I'm wondering if the Skyview got overloaded trying to restart itself in the air? It had more problems each time until it finally hung up on the start-up screen. After total shut-down do you think that it cleared itself and was able to start normally?
When I inadvertently switched off the adjoining ignition module on run-up what might that have done to the Skyview as far as telling it to reboot, if anyone knows?
I did have Foreflight on my iPhone as back-up to navigate and I'm currently trying to decide how to best back-up Skyview, other than having a second screen, which might also have had the same issue as the other screen? I'm thinking iPad or iFly GPS but haven't got there yet. Any thoughts?
It was my clumsy finger which caused the problem but I'm interested in any thoughts as to what Skyview did to itself from anyone with any experience with it.
I'll contact Dynon tomorrow for their input too.