Back-up instruments for EFIS

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jonathanmilbank
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Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 5:03 pm

Back-up instruments for EFIS

Post by jonathanmilbank » Sat Apr 16, 2016 1:46 pm

A friend has asked me to perform the flight tests for the initial permit issue for a nice little 2-seat VLA and he seems only to have an EFIS with little else by way of "steam-driven" instruments for VFR back-up. The only photo I've seen doesn't show the panel clearly.

As a retired commercial pilot, it seems to me that permit light aircraft should be subject to the same requirements as certified VFR aircraft i.e. a bare minimum of ASI, altimeter and magnetic compass. I've seen CS-VLA 1303 Flight and navigation instruments "The following are required flight and navigational instruments: (a) An airspeed indicator; (b) An altimeter; (c) A magnetic direction indicator" but I can't see any reference to whether this applies to permit aircraft, or whether an EFIS alone is enough.

What should I do? Decline to carry out the flight tests until suitable back-ups are installed, or just do the flights and hope that the friend (trainee pilot) has researched this topic for himself and satisfies whatever requirements he's discovered? His aircraft is several hundreds of miles away from where I live.

Jonathan Milbank

Europa G-EIKY

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