airspeed static port

[Douwe]

Hey everyone,

question: did any of you not run a static line to your ASI and just leave the static port open? if so, does it read ok? I'm thinking of doing that with my open cockpit SE5a reproduction but wondered how it works

thanks

Douwe

[taildrags]

I think it's quite common in open-cockpit airplanes to just read static pressure at the back of the instrument rather than running a tube from an actual static port on the exterior skin, but I'll let others chime in.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

[Richard Roller]

My Piet was built without static ports originally. It has "static buttons" on the airspeed indicator and the altimeter. It works.

Never the less, I don't like it that way. It can be erratic at times. The pilots instrument installation in the Piet tends to trap air (pressure) which messes with the indications. Slips one way (on my a/c) will drop the airspeed right off the bottom of the gauge. Probably minor issues if you are familiar with the a/c. Ken Perkins, the original builder, told me a couple of times he wished he had done it differently when he built.

Since I'm rebuilding from my crash, I intend to have a static port(s) when I get to that point. At the moment I'm leaning toward the combination pitot/static used on Dan Helspurs Pietenpol.

I've attached pictures of the button on my airspeed indicator.
A link to the style pitot/static Dan has: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... t15144.php

[Richard Roller]

Sorry Douwe! I didn't realize who I was replying to until I was finished!

[Douwe]

Thanks Richard,

where do you get those 'static buttons"?

[Douwe]

I could also just run a short static line into the small baggage compartment which would probably experience less pressure fluctuations than inside the cockpit

[Chuck in Indiana]

Ed (RIP) and I originally just left it open on "Footloose," an S1S Pitts.
https://static.imgzeit.com/reduced/5d30 ... 20/039.JPG
It was definitely wonky before changing it, but I doubt the Piet will have the same rate of climb and pressure changes in the cockpit.

[Richard Roller]

I have no idea where he came up with the static buttons.