This year’s Sun ‘n Fun Fly-in didn’t have any flashy new product introductions – no $50,000 LSAs or supersonic jets from unknown startups – but there may have been a more important trend unfolding. The vacuum-driven gyro may finally be on the way out.
There has to be a better way…
For the last 50 years, the dry vacuum pump has been at the heart of the instrument panel, driving the attitude indicator and often the directional gyro as well. While inexpensive and compact, such pumps literally operate in a constant state of self-destruction, as the carbon vanes wear away to lubricate the pump. This design keeps the pump clean and lightweight, but also makes it finicky. In particular, contamination from something as innocuous as an engine wash can cause a vacuum pump to fail.
And fail they do. No hard numbers are available on the average lifespan of a vacuum pump, but if you’ve been flying for long there’s a good chance you’ve experienced at least one failure. Even worse, such failures almost always occur without any warning. This leaves the pilot in a vulnerable position – if the failure is recognized.
This often ends badly. While vacuum pump failures are not exactly the leading cause of accidents in general aviation, they are almost always fatal when it happens in IMC. That’s because pilots are typically unable to fly partial panel when it’s for real. The old “needle, ball, and airspeed” routine is good for telling stories in the hangar, but most of us are pretty bad at it. Even experienced pilots often fail to keep the blue side up in these situations.
The crash of a V35 Bonanza last year is just the latest tragic example. A 4000-hour ATP experienced a vacuum failure while in VMC, but upon entering IMC he lost control and the airplane came apart. The pilot and his two passengers were both killed.
Glass cockpits were supposed to solve this problem when they were introduced over a decade ago, but they have remained too expensive and too complicated to find acceptance among the 40-year old airplanes that make up the majority of the general aviation fleet. A Garmin G1000 is an excellent system, but it simply doesn’t help a 1971 Cessna 182 pilot. It’s probably not possible to install it, and if it is possible it’s likely uneconomical. Even in airplanes that do have fully-integrated glass cockpits, the learning curve can be steep.
Given this mixed record with glass cockpits, why should we be excited about a new crop of electronic flight instruments? Far from being mere gadgets, the Garmin G5 and Dynon D10 solve three key problems.
Most importantly, these new products are affordable. At just over $2000 for the “certified” version, it’s a realistic investment for a $40,000 Cessna 172. Installation is also fairly painless, since they fit in a standard 3 1/8″ panel hole and Garmin’s AML-STC covers hundreds of airplane models. One could easily be added during an annual inspection.
They’re replacement instruments, not a full glass panel. That matters.
It’s also worth considering another key difference: the G5 and D10 are not integrated glass cockpits. That may sound like a problem, but it’s actually a feature. Unlike a G500 or G1000, they are refreshingly simple. They are essentially digital representations of analog instruments, with no flight directors or complicated settings. Even with Garmin’s new DG/HSI model, the effect is to have an electronic “two-pack” and not a total panel replacement. This should make them attractive for less active pilots, who can turn on the avionics master and go flying.
Finally, this new class of instruments offers built-in redundancy, so it’s not merely exchanging one failure scenario for another. Solid state AHRS sensors and LCD screens are much more reliable than vacuum pumps and mechanical gyros, for one. Beyond that, both the Garmin and Dynon units feature built-in batteries so they can run for hours after an electrical system failure. Even better, in a two-G5 configuration the DG/HSI can change to show attitude, providing a backup in case the primary attitude indicator fails.
While these new instruments are certainly impressive feats of engineering, the real breakthrough came from the FAA. Both Dynon and Garmin have offered experimental digital instruments for some time, but finally they can be installed in certified airplanes without a costly certification program. This isn’t feel-good stuff – lives will be saved by a relatively minor change in the rules.
Based on initial reaction, the G5 and D10 seem to have hit the sweet spot. At this point, it’s hard to imagine many pilots paying to overhaul a mechanical HSI or attitude indicator, and even that $500 vacuum pump may suddenly seem rather expensive for what you get. They won’t disappear overnight, but the trend is clear.
2017 feels like the beginning of the end for the vacuum pump. Thank goodness.
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This is amazing news that the certification situation is better now..
When did that change? Did I miss an article about that?
I’ve always felt it was crazy that Experimental guys were getting a tangible safety boost simply due to Certification being stuck in antiquity relative to new technologies.
The EAA has been all over this since it’s inception. Don’t think AOPA or other ”alphabet groups” made much of it until the FAA agreed to the relaxed certification requirements earlier this year before Sun N Fun.
I have the G5 attitude gyro. What is needed next is a small, certified alternator that mounts on the vacuum pump pad, sending power to an essential buss to power enough instruments to get the plane on the ground in IFR conditions if the main alternator fails.
Good point about the need for emergency electricity, but I don’t think the answer will be a backup alternator—it would end up as so much useless junk, like all the backup vacuum pumps people bought in the past few years, etc.
A 10 lb Li-Ion backup battery could probably keep essential avionics running for a while—if not now, then in the next gen of battery technology in a year or so.
I don’t want to remove my vacuum pump / AI. But, have one electric and one vacuum.
I would love to remove my vacuum pumps, but what about my AP (Century II with STEC)?
Found this posting while trying to solve this exact question. Any luck?
As soon as I learned of Garmin’s DG/HSI capability I excitedly contacted my avionics shop. He spent some time talking to Garmin tech reps, and came back with the disappointing news that the non-TSOed G5 HSI probably would not drive my S-Tec autopilot. I’ll be talking to Garmin’s reps at Oshkosh about this, but if that’s true, we haven’t arrived at vacuum-pump-free Nirvana just yet.
As everyone should know by now, the announcement came the week before Oshkosh, and Garmin’s reps confirmed it at Oshkosh. The G5 HSI received FAA authorization to drive most light airplane autopilots. Garmin had the technology ready to go, so it’s now official.
This is great news and far too long in coming.
The technology’s been here for decades and it’s good to see the FAA is finally getting on the ball with revising the certification path for ECONOMICAL things like this that increase safety by making systems and aircraft more reliable.
Good for Garmin for jumping on this quickly- they lead the way on useful, supported, reasonably priced GPS navigation for small aircraft so this is no surprise.
Antiquated mechanical technology such as vacuum systems and manual mixture/ice prone fuel/induction systems on GA aircraft are things that we shouldn’t even be talking about anymore. The reliable replacement technology has existed for decades and implementation has been stifled by regulators- and frankly some aviation journals and their editors- that, like most humans, are resistant to change…
I have a 1961 Cessna 172 that still operates using a very reliable Venturi tube vacuum system. The attitude indicator and heading indicator are worn out and expensive to replace. Now I have the opportunity to install these new and reliable instruments as well as rearrange my panel to a more modern 6 pack configuration. My students and renters will appreciate the modern upgrades.
Agree with those that wrote about the inability of these units to drive an autopilot. That’s a deal breaker. And seemingly unnecessary as (I have been told) the non-certified versions are able to drive an autopilot.
If you remove the vacuum pump, you can install an engine driven backup alternator in its place off the drive gear. They are lightweight and cheap insurance. An electrical fail in IMC has is own hazards. My RV4 has one, and it doesn’t take much room.
Along with the autopilot concerns, many of the newer Cessna’s (e.g., my 1997 Cessna 182S) have the KAP-140 autopilot. The vacuum DG heading bug drives the KAP heading inputs. The new Garmin G5 will need to somehow accommodate that heading input in order for us to take out the vacuum DG. Is Garmin working on a solution for heading inputs to the KAP-140, and other autopilots?
I’m rebuildinging a 1974 Midget Mustang. It will have Dynon EFIS, AND, the IO320 won’t have a vacuum pump. Had vacuum pump failures twice since 1969. A point of failure I’ll happily say GOODBY to.
The vacuum attitude gyro in my Cardinal failed just before annual inspection time. Several years ago I had installed a G500 that eliminated the DG, but the attitude gyro had to be retained by regulation. So, when the attitude gyro failed, I replaced it with the new Garmin electric attitude gyro and removed the vacuum pump. The icing on the cake, if it were available for non-experimentals, would be a back-up alternator to replace the vacuum pump. The Dynon D2 with its own battery is the temporary solution, but real fix is a back/up alternator with a split buss.
I had a G5 installed in my Cessna 172RG and it’s a lovely instrument. Unfortunately, the G5’s HSI does not work with any of the certified GPS units at this time, therefore I’m still required to run with a DG until such time as Garmin decides to obtain an STC for a magnetometer input of some kind to feed it mag headings.
The non-certified version, at half the price, works great with their G3x and also works with Garmin’s own autopilot system. I hope that they enable more functionality in the certified version in the long run.
“While vacuum pump failures are not exactly the leading cause of accidents in general aviation, they are almost always fatal when it happens in IMC.”
I think that’s true mainly for retractables. It’s hard to find fatal accidents where a vacuum-pump failure was a main cause of a fatal accident in a fixed-gear plane that was flying under IFR (I think someone did find one example once).
That’s backed up by the 2001 ASF/FAA study that simulated unannounced vacuum failures in-flight with groups of Archer and Bonanza pilots—despite slow recognition and sloppier flying, 100% of the Archer pilots were able to land successfully on partial panel, while 25% of the (more-experienced) Bonanza pilots were deemed to have “crashed” when the tester had to take control:
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=450ffe49-129b-496d-ad41-819c75601982
But even if a vacuum-pump failure in my Warrior II in IMC wouldn’t be life-threatening the way it is be in a Bonanza or Archer, I’ll still be happy to lose the extra weight and maintenance headaches, so this article is all good news.
A big thank you to Garmin for listening to all the requests for a G5 that can both replace a DG and provide connection into many 3rd party autopilots. Looks like this technology will become available to consumers in October. That clears my hurdle for removing the old DG and vacuum system. So thanks to the Garmin product managers and engineers for handling this!
I know that this is really late, but two points that should be made. When Garmin says that the G5 will interface with 3rd party autopilots they are talking heading/nav data only, NOT pitch and roll that originates from an Artificial Horizon or Turn Coordinator. So if you have a Century II or III, etc, or an S-Tec you will have to keep the AI or TC.
Second, there is a 20 amp alternator for the vacuum pump pad. The B&C model BC4xx has been certified for several models of Beech, Piper, and Cessna. It can be installed by 337 on other models by using the certified data and a willing IA.