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When Redy Labs moved to Oklahoma I came back to RCA. They were working on cockpit instruments and their Color Radar was now in production. I helped convert it to a cockpit-mounted, color dual display of engine parameters. I also designed, built, and checked out the engine data acquisition circuits module.

I was personally responsible for saving the project by spending a Thanksgiving holiday fixing the grounding problems that were causing the instruments to register unacceptable errors. I also remember a memorable flight in a twin-engine Cessna jet, breathing oxygen at 15,000 feet altitude, waiting for the CRT to arc over, and anxiously waiting for a short-circuit when the reservoir used to hold the water for the concurrent de-icing test vented over the ... instrument pallet. But all went well.

Then RCA decided to develop an artificial horizon display in color. I championed the vector display; RCA decided on a raster display; Sperry bought the RCA division and went ... vector.




Last Update January 1, 2003
©2003 Raymond Van den Heuvel -- all rights reserved