I’ve noticed that the while flying into the sunlight, the reflection of the sunlight bounces on the instrument panel cover and cause a mirror image and glare of the panel cover showing up on the front canopy. This could be very annoying and also cause safety concern.
I’ve seen anti-reflective cover/blanket put on the automobile dash board and wonder if there’s similar thing for aircraft ?
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Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
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- Rich
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Re: Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
That's not something I've ever noticed. My instrument cover and floodlight mount/glareshield both have the original flat black finish.
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Re: Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
That's because there is rarely sunshine in your neck of the woods...
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Re: Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
That's definitely true on my side of the Cascades, but I'm pretty sure Rich's side gets over 200 days of sunshine per year. Maybe not a lot by Texas standards, but still...
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Re: Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
On a more serious note, perhaps someone put Armor-All or something similar on your instrument cover? I'd suggest cleaning it thoroughly, for one thing. Perhaps getting it repainted in a suitable flat black. It's not hard to remove for this purpose, though reconnecting the defrost vent scat tubing requires some patience.
Putting a cover on it would be a chore, as it's got those vents for defrost and cooling air exit in the front.
Putting a cover on it would be a chore, as it's got those vents for defrost and cooling air exit in the front.
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Re: Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
I believe I see what you're getting at. Yesterday I was flying on a nice sunny day and found I could detect a reflection of the panel on the canopy. But to make it even slightly prominent I had to consciously focus my eyes, not outside, but right on the canopy itself. Even then it's not a problem for seeing through to the outside and when I'm focused more normally it disappears altogether from influence.
Some additional thoughts: I fly with photosensitive non-polarized progressive lenses. I also know there are those with hyper-acute vision that can, for example, see stars in the daytime. So perhaps you're more sensitive to this kind of reflection.
Some additional thoughts: I fly with photosensitive non-polarized progressive lenses. I also know there are those with hyper-acute vision that can, for example, see stars in the daytime. So perhaps you're more sensitive to this kind of reflection.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Re: Anti glare/reflective method while flying into sunlight
Yes Sir. Same here with non-polarized progressive glasses. And yes, do see reflections on the lower part of the windshield. I used some flat black spray painting on the piece of plastic and it shows a little improvement. But I did notice some black power being scrubbed off the surface not to long after I applied the paint. I’m thinking to get some non-reflective fabric to wrap around it since it is very easy to remove and replace it with simple twists off those four bolts.Rich wrote:I believe I see what you're getting at. Yesterday I was flying on a nice sunny day and found I could detect a reflection of the panel on the canopy. But to make it even slightly prominent I had to consciously focus my eyes, not outside, but right on the canopy itself. Even then it's not a problem for seeing through to the outside and when I'm focused more normally it disappears altogether from influence.
Some additional thoughts: I fly with photosensitive non-polarized progressive lenses. I also know there are those with hyper-acute vision that can, for example, see stars in the daytime. So perhaps you're more sensitive to this kind of reflection.
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