Hi guys, what's this?

Saw it on the bottom of a Luscombe 8A currently for sale:



Thanks in advance

 

looks like maybe a small RAT...ram air turbine.

 

My first thought. Maybe for charging a cell phone or supplying some kind of power.


edit: I missed the previous post by a couple seconds.

 

Thanks, had no idea about it. My first thought was some kind of old Airspeed measurement instrument.

 

FYI: Thats a new style. They've had air driven generators before that for years.

 

Smart and simple, as it should be.

 

Not much info on the website but love the idea. wonder how much power it can make ? Bombardier jets have been using RATs for years.

 

One of our Fly Baby guys installed one, and wrote it up....

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/wind2.html

Ron Wanttaja

 

That's actually pretty cool, big jets have standby like this, not a bad idea to have this quick deployable alternator.

 

I fly an 8a. That little gen would be nice to charge the battery we use to power lights and intercom. With LED lighs, and a pocket full of batteries, no need for it IMHO.

 

Here’s the one on the Challenger that I fly.

 

It’s a siren. He like’s to play Stuka Dive Bomber

 

“He was a Stuka dive bomber and I was Poland.”
- The Cheap Detective

Ron Wanttaja

 

I just found out that one of those devices actually helped Air Transat's Flight 236 to safely land after a fuel leak. An A-330!

 

Those are for emergency use, typically associated with the loss of all engines. The install of this unit on the Luscombe and other aircraft manufactured without an electrical system is to provide a source of electrical power for normal operations so that you can power radios, etc.

 

If I had one, I'd tell passengers it was like a trolling motor. If the main engine fails, it'll let us fly, but only very slowly.