deadredbird

May 15, 2011

Redbird TD

REDBIRD TD

Taken from the REDBIRD FAA qualification guide

Dear Aviator,

BUYER BEWARE!

For those of you wishing to purchase a low cost device (we left out the words “flight training”) REDBIRD is the place to go, Low Price, Low Quality, Poor Functionality!

There seems to be a lot of industry hype regarding the REDBIRD flight sims. You see them at trade events you read about them in trade magazines and it seems that flight schools that are in dire need of some sort of training device are flocking to purchase them (excuse the pun). Today I will give you the inside scoop on at least one of their products, the REDBIRD TD. This product is a good indicator as to what to expect with the rest of their product line.

The new definition of foursome is ” AOPA, REDBIRD, Kingschools and the FAA. What are they thinking when they approved this device?

A recent article written by Craig Fuller (AOPA’s President) said: “Redbird is also making owning a simulator more affordable for flight schools by lowering the cost of acquisition and making it easy to for schools to update and repair their sims. ((and making it easy to for ) not a great sentence, but that’s what he said 🙂 !

How so? By selling customers low quality/low-cost simulators with expensive service contracts. Please inform us Craig!

Craig also said: “Innovation has always been a hallmark of the GA community, and Redbird is a great example of how creative thinking can improve the flying experience. It’s exciting to see what’s going on at aviation businesses around the country, and I can’t wait to see how today’s developments change the way we fly tomorrow”.

Craig, you’re not around the country, you’re in Texas, at one company, what about the rest of the simulator manufacturers, Craig? How about a visit to the other manufactures to see how creative they are? Might even make for a good article in AOPA.

From the Redbird website:

Purchasing Information

TD Price: $6,995.99 (the one we tested)

TD2 Price: $7,995.99 (a $1,000 more for a landing gear switch) well worth it!

* Choose either a steam or glass gauge configuration
** Optional rudder pedals required

This BLOG is specifically about the REDBIRD TD and does reflect the company behind it. It’s amazing what marketing can do even with the poorest of products, and one thing for sure, REDBIRD’s Marketing and Networking is good, this is one thing that REDBIRD does well because it’s certainly not about design, engineering, functionality or quality! This blog provides proof that consumers of this particular product are being taken for a ride!

Just so you know, I am an ex military aviator with many years of experience and I recently started flying Garmin G1000 equipped aircraft. I quickly realized that flying with my head buried in the cockpit and learing a complex system like the G1000 in the air was not the way to go. I felt I needed a ” hands on” training device that could flatten the training curve and help me become a more proficient and safe pilot, so I ordered the REDBIRD TD.

Prologue:

My first view of a REDBIRD TD was brief as I was attending the AOPA conference last November, there were a few people huddled around it at the King Schools booth. From a few feet away it looked good but when I got close enough to move the control yoke (pilots love to touch aviation hardware) it felt loose, the movement was noisy and it was leaning to one side (the King Schools sales person attending the booth told me that it was a demo unit and was damaged from all the events it had previously attended). In thought to myself, why wouldn’t they have brought a new one that was in perfect condition, well anyway I gave them the benefit of doubt, I know that trade shows can be hard on equipment. I only had one day to spend at the show so I moved on to other vendors, I figured as soon as I returned home from the conference I would give King Schools a call and speak with a product specialist to get more details (there is very little information on their websites that describe its capabilities).

So I called King Schools and spoke with a product specialist but he did not seem very knowledgeable on the product so I figured I would ask if there was a functionality/specification document (basically, what will this device do or not do). He said there wasn’t such a document but informed me that they are selling seven of them per month and it is FAA approved (this should have been my first clue as to why I shouldn’t have considered the purchase). I went to the King Schools website and found a link to their FAA (QAG) qualification for the TD http://www.kingschools.com/flight-simulators/redbird/docs/faa-approval-letter-td.pdf , http://www.kingschools.com/flight-simulators/redbird/docs/faa-qag-approval-td.pdf where I thought I would get more information, but unfortunately the only thing you can find is the QAG which describes the components and software (remember this) and that the TD has been FAA approved but does not give you any indication of the quality or how functional the device will be. But, “come on” this is a FAA approved device and King Schools is behind it, it must be good! With King Schools reputation behind the fledgling REDBIRD company I figured “how could I go wrong”!

Product Ordered:

Even though I had some reservations about the TD I was excited and could not wait for the device to arrive, after all I’m out about $7,500 and I want to put my training on the fast track and get some G1000 familiarization and training under my belt. The TD arrived in a few weeks and the packaging looked good and it arrived safely. After that it was all down hill! First the TD would not fit on any of my desks, so I ended up placing it on top of a desk and the ergonomics were awful (still have a stiff neck) and since they forgot to mention to get a set of rudder pedals (required for FAA certification) I went off to the local computer store to get a set. You have to ask yourself why would they not include them, what’s another 100 dollars when you spent $7,500. Setup was simple and easy, the 27 inch monitor and so-called G1000 controls are self-contained in a sheet metal housing and it sits on top of the yoke enclosure and the computer sits behind it, all looked ok until I felt the controls…..it was just as bad or worse than the one I had experienced at AOPA.

Look, Feel and Quality:

The first thing I noticed was the control yoke, it’s a plastic yoke and has no switches (not one), no autopilot disconnect, no trim, no push to talk, no nothing! The yoke was leaning to the left so I moved it to the right and left again and it still would not find any kind of center (it’s called hysteresis, not good for flight controls). Then I moved it forward and aft and it felt like it was moving along sand paper, something must be wrong and maybe it was damaged in shipping? The only way to fix this was to either send it back or take a look inside, so I did (looked inside).

(Click on the images below to enlarge)

Just a handful of switches. The fuel boost pump switch does nothing!

Any G1000 user would notice that the panel does not come with any Garmin Style Knobs (just generic)!
Certainly a cheap way out and probably never considered by their technical design team (if they had one).

Whats inside the TD:

Not to my surprise there was a mechanism that looked like a 3rd grade engineering project of sorts, a cumulation of hardware parts, including desk drawer slides, plastic tubing, misc hardware store parts, small wiring harness, and an assortment of pc boards and cheap electronics connected to a USB hub. I must have stared at it with my mouth open for at least ten minutes and thought you have got to be kidding, there is no way that this thing is going to last! Seeing that there was noting to fix or adjust (other than replacing the whole mechanism with something else) I put the lid back on and put the upper console back on top and prepared it for my first test flight (what I should have done was send it back right away).

Take a close look at all the illustrations above and below and decide for yourself, all you need is a hacksaw, screw driver, a few wrenches, hot glue and some hardware store parts and you can make your own (and probably do a better job of it).

Cheap Parts

Poor Design

The more I looked at the products engineering the more disappointed I felt!

Turning it on and checking the computer specs, I wanted to know, what did I get for my money?

Redbirds warranty/Service and Support:
The TD and TD2 comes with ninety (90) day warranty, which includes software updates, and service and replacement parts as needed. After the first initial year, Redbird offers optional one or two (1 or 2) year warranty.
Better purchase it if you intend to keep it!

From their website: “Includes everything you need to begin flying” except the rudder pedals!

One cockpit configuration (analog or G1000) (really, which aircraft cockpit are they speaking of)?
27″ monitor (nice monitor with good resolution, maybe $250.00)
Computer completely configured and ready to run (yes but whats it made of, could be a 486x for all we know)
Instrument panel (biggest expense, only one could guess but knowing Redbird, it has to be cheap)
Keyboard (maybe $25.00 max)
Speakers (maybe a $15.00 set max)
Documentation(one redeeming factor, not bad and easy to follow)

So it comes with a computer? Where are the specs? You have to dig deep to find them as REDBIRD does not want you poking around in there, but I did :).
In a nutshell you get:

A medium tower case (with a handle on top, makes it easy to throw out the window)
Celeron Processor
nVidia 240 Video Card
80 GiG hard drive
Mouse and Keyboard

———>redb doc 1 <——– WOW what a powerhouse! Make sure you open this up and read it!

With a few usb connections and power the REDBIRD was ready fire up. So I turned on the computer and wanted to check its specs (since the computer specs are not listed anywhere) , but it goes right to the REDBIRD startup screen (no doubt to keep users from messing things up). So I found a way in and noticed that the computer uses a Celeron processor and iNvida 24o video card (best part of the whole machine). I imagine it costs somewhere around $350.00 to build this beast of a machine. By today’s standards it’s a slug and barley gets the job done (you have all heard the acronym (MEL) minimum equipment list, well this is the (MCR) minimum computer required. Somewhat of an insult to the consumer.

: Most likely you did not get ESP, you got Microsoft FSX!

What will the FAA do?

In order to preserve product performance and integrity the FAA’s guidance and qualification should be strictly followed, but REDBIRD seems to be above the regs here by changing the software and not telling you, definitely in violation of their existing approval document.
Does this mean that all of these devices are NOT approved? That of course is for the FAA to determine, but it seems simple enough to me that REDBIRD has pulled a fast one to save them money and cheat the consumer.

Don’t believe me, check out these links:

http://forums.jetcareers.com/general-topics/123174-redbird-fmx-simulator.html

http://forums.aopa.org/showthread.php?t=66608

How well does the REDBIRD stack up to a real Garmin G1000? Positive or Negative Transference of Learned Skills? We say NEGATIVE!

Click here to read the redbird deficiencies ->->->->—-> redbird g1000 deficiencies 110517
Or click on the images below.