These days “the all glass panel” is the rage. Does this mean that the old steam gauge altimeter’s days are numbered in general aviation? We at OneWink LLC think that the answer to that question is no. The G1000 line of avionics in all new GA aircraft have classic altimeters as back ups in case the lights go out. Unfortunately they are often in places away from the PIC’s central scan making them even harder to read and adjust. The problem grows even worse with the new small face altimeters (2 ¾ inch face). Adding a Cole Clarifier to these altimeters greatly eases the adjustment process in flight. Should you be such a pilot we recommend that you purchase a Kit Cole Clarifier and adjust its position over the Kollsman window in order to ascertain the optimal lens placement (To accommodate lateral parallax which may obscure the lubber line in the Kollsman window). If you then wish permanent bonding you can send us the instrument with the lens in place or fly to us so we can get it perfect. Of course you could continue to just use the Kit Cole Clarifier if you like without a permanent mount.

To meet the requirements for IFR flight or flight into Class C or higher airspace only certified, TSO’d altimeters may be used. The altimeter, altitude encoder, and the static pressure system must be inspected and certified every twenty four months. Altimeters must be tested (See FAR 91.411, FAR 43 appendix E & F) and certified by appropriately licensed avionics shops or repair stations. Altimeter certification requires, among other things, hysteresis testing. For practical purposes, this tests requires that the altimeter or altimeters, be removed from the aircraft panel and be bench tested. Once the instrument has passed, it must then be placed back in the plane and a static pressure system and transponder check be performed (some blind altitude encoders and most encoding altimeters have a transponder check performed on the bench). If your airplane has not had the altimeter removed and bench tested at the biannual check, there is a very good chance that your altimeter was not appropriately checked and certified as outlined in FAR 41 appendix E. It is very difficult to run the intact system up to the required altitude limit in the airplane while calibrating the altimeter against a known standard because it would require a leek free connection to the static pressure port. The static pressure port is also distant to the altimeter making a comparison to the reference altimeter difficult.

If you aren’t sure, check you aircraft log book. Certification of your altimeter requires the requisite paperwork to be placed in the logbook. If it’s not there, it wasn’t done. Static pressure system testing as well as a transponder check also require separate log book entries.

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Let the buyer be aware. When buying a TSO’d altimeter for IFR use it is smart to purchase an instrument that has a 24-month time limit before it needs to be re-inspected. This requires the instrument to be bench tested right before shipment to you. It is perfectly legal for an avionics shop to ship a new altimeter up to 9 months after having been certified. Should this be the case, you will have to have the altimeter re-certified 15 months after installation. The cost for a biannual instrument check is considerable in time and money. You can avoid this by insisting that the instrument be retested and certified just prior to shipment. If the vendor refuses, their price may not be such a bargin. All new altimeters purchased from OneWink LLC are certified within a week of shipment to you guaranteeing that this will not happen to you.

If you are sending us your altimeter get it certified first. We can get the instrument tested for you, but it is better to make sure the instrument passes certification before hand. This will save you time and money (shipping a bad altimeter both ways is about $30 UPS ground, a failed instrument check costs $55). It is worth knowing that new TSO’d altimeters last about six years before they must be rebuilt or replaced. This time can be longer in planes not flown much or shorter in those that are flown a lot. If you have an old altimeter that fails re-certification, it is not wise to have it overhauled as there is high probability of failure at two years. Currently only a few brands of altimeters can be overhauled (United and Aero Sonic). The cost for an overhauled or rebuilt altimeter is only about $200 less than a new one. An exception to this are encoding altimeters. They are quite expensive instruments. It is very much worthwhile overhauling them. Non-encoding altimeters when rebuilt have no guarantee. Previously we would send out altimeters sent to us for overhaul, but we have had them fail to pass muster after being reinstalled in customer’s aircraft. For this reason we no longer send in failed instruments for overhaul.

If you have purchased a Kit Cole Clarifier or an FAA approved Cole Clarifier write to us and tell us about your experiences flying behind one. We love hearing from you. If you include a picture of you & or your plane we will post it on our web site so that other pilots can read about your experiences. We would especially like some feed back from helicopter pilots who have purchased our product. Send us your comments and photos via email to info@OneWinkLLC.com .

Installing the Kit Cole Clarifier is a piece of cake! The one thing to keep in mind is to only use a very tiny amount of the mounting gel. You only need about a quarter of a drop! This is one time that “less is best”. The gel comes in a special syringe that allows you to dispense very small amounts with ease. There is enough gel to remount the Cole Clarifier over 50 times. If you ever run out or loose the gel we’ll be happy to send you more.

How long will the mounting gel work? In our shop testing of the gel it has worked for over 24 months without any change. So far the clock is still counting, but at least 2 years is a certain answer.

When cleaning the Cole Clarifier never use ammonia containing glass cleaners as they may damage the magnesium fluoride coating on the lens. We recommend only using high quality lens or glasses cleaning solutions that you can find at an optometrist or camera shop. Only use lens paper, Kimwipes (Kimberly Clark), or clean cotton cloth. Remember, treat the Cole Clarifier like you would a fine SLR Camera Lens.

If you still have questions please call us (309-664-6764) or email us info@OneWinkLLC.com and we will try to answer your questions.