Piper blade-style pitot

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:43 am

Pros/cons? Need to decide on a pitot soon. I kinda like the idea of buying a salvage blade for $90 better than paying $425 for a gretz and $118 for a mounting bracket

Post by **bullojm1** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:48 am

Ian,

I know Paul Dye put on on his RV-8 without incident. Here is the link to the "other" forum discussion on the pitot:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/s ... php?t=5889

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:54 am

hm thanks for that Mike!

I'm reading that thread, and specifically the posts about why bother with a heated pitot at all... and coupled with the insane prices of heated pitots, why bother with a heated pitot at all?

How many of youse guys are running the stock goofy 'roll your own out of tubing' rv pitot?

Post by **bullojm1** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:05 am

Ian-

The heated pitot is kind of a waste, especially if you aren't going to be doing IFR. The only way your pitot will get frozen is if you are flying through visible moisture when the air temp is below freezing. Not a condition that any rv should fly though anytime! I put a heated on mine because one day I will be using it for IFR and wanted the insurance it offered.

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:47 am

I intend to fly IFR with it.

I guess I need to just bite the bullet and buy a heated pitot :/

Post by **bullojm1** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:17 pm

After shopping for a heated pitot, I decided to go with the Dynon heated pitot with build in AOA probe. The thing is a piece of art and fits perfectly with the gretz pitot mast. My only regret is getting the gretz pitot mast, because it is way way way overpriced. For 1/2 of the cost, I should of gone with SafeAir1.com's pitot and modified it to be removable like the gretz.

The nice thing about Dynon's pitot is it's electronically controlled, so it doesn't eat up too much power once its on and it doesn't go too hot. I was able to keep my hand on it after letting it run for a while. In fact, I wrote up a little article on my log about it: http://rvplane.com/?categoryid=3&dayid=351 . The biggest advantage of the Dynon not running that hot is you can use plastic pitot tubing all the way to the pitot, without having to run an intermediate aluminum tube between the pitot and the plastic tube to dissipate heat.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:18 pm

I know I'm one of the loners here when it comes to pitot tubes, but I am using the $15 SS one from Van's. My mission is probably different than most however...I will not fly mine IFR. I've said this many times before, and it's just me, but I fly plenty of IFR at work, and I'm to the point that I don't even want to think about flying single engine piston IFR for fun (sorry if this starts a thread creep). It's just not a risk I am going to take anymore by myself or with my wife on board...I've had a couple of almost gotcha's in the soup. Gimme two turbine's, and I'll do it (for money!).

JOHN TIPTON · Post by **JOHN TIPTON** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:02 am

bullojm1 wrote:Ian-

The heated pitot is kind of a waste, especially if you aren't going to be doing IFR. The only way your pitot will get frozen is if you are flying through visible moisture when the air temp is below freezing. Not a condition that any rv should fly though anytime! I put a heated on mine because one day I will be using it for IFR and wanted the insurance it offered.

Ian

I'ts not difficult to be flying in near freezing conditions (Winter/Europe) and moisture does NOT have to be visible to be there, plus the 'wind chill' factor means a heated Pitot is a nice safety measure

John

RivetBangers.com

Piper blade-style pitot

Piper blade-style pitot

Piper blade-type pitot