Installation of SkyBeacon on Colt

[MrBill]

Your right there where we need you then and where it matters for us low and slow guys in it for the kicks. That is where my respect is directed. Higher up than that you cannot really talk to em without thinking your getting into some kind of trouble.

[dgapilot]

Just as lawyers say, never ask a question unless you already know the answer!

If you need to ask, be prepared to supply sufficient data to support your desired answer, and why what you are asking for is a safety improvement.


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[MrBill]

Ha, that's funny also very true. Commercial construction had gotten so taken over by the mid 90's I had to leave. Common sense and safety caused way too much conflict. People have gotten used to having a safe path in front of them. Caused more harm than good. Spell check always comes to mind, before spell check I could spell about every word correctly...downt now cuz I aint gotta. Too many Lawyers and not enough independent thinkers.
I should not have and do not intend to compare the effects of safety in aviation to construction because I haven't the experience to do so but there is no way in hell I would climb up a ladder to fill my tank with one of those OSHA approved gas cans.

[Jeff J]

Better off to put on the tailbeacon! Have installed 5, zero complaints, easy and quick!

I won’t be recommending the tailBeacon to anyone who wants one on a balanced rudder. I am about to tell the owner to return his tailBeacon for a refund.

[dgapilot]

I won’t be recommending the tailBeacon to anyone who wants one on a balanced rudder. I am about to tell the owner to return his tailBeacon for a refund.

It works ok if the light you remove weighs the same as the tail beacon. Otherwise you need to pull the rudder and verify it meets the balance requirements. Fortunately, fabric control surfaces (at least Piper) aren’t balanced control surfaces. Of course the Tailbeacon doesn’t fit a Piper Rudder without significant modification or some sort of spacer moving it farther out of the hole.


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[Jeff J]

On average, the tailBeacon is about a half ounce heavier than the light it replaces. The one I installed was 15 grams heavier. Doesn’t sound like much until you pull the surface and check it and you find out it was out of limits BEFORE you worked on it. Paint on the surface is pretty thin. Surfing around the internet and talking with tech support, it seems like it is a common occurrence.

Kind of interesting balance information here: https://barronaviation.com/control-balancing

[Steve Pierce]

On average, the tailBeacon is about a half ounce heavier than the light it replaces. The one I installed was 15 grams heavier. Doesn’t sound like much until you pull the surface and check it and you find out it was out of limits BEFORE you worked on it. Paint on the surface is pretty thin. Surfing around the internet and talking with tech support, it seems like it is a common occurrence.

Kind of interesting balance information here: https://barronaviation.com/control-balancing

What aircraft are we talking about? Not a Short Wing I take it?

[Jeff J]

This one is a Cessna 175. The post was a heads up to those who work on other airframes than tube and fabric Pipers.

[Steve Pierce]

OK, I guess I was confused.

[dougclinton]

Gilbert and all others, I started this post and appreciate all the information contributed. Bought the Sky Beacon in September and had to wait awhile before my AI could get to it. Finally installed it failed the PAPR check. After two attempts, contacted u/avionics and had a really nice and extremely capable tech support guy named Andrew walk us through the configuration. Found an input error with the ICAO identifier, fixed that. Techie said everything looks right. Flew for an hour today, landed and requested the PAPR from FAA. Failed again. Gave it a proper warm up so that is not the problem. I will try again tomorrow, Sunday. This is getting old.