Former NASA engineer William Steele founded VirtualHUD in 2006 around his ForwardVU Virtual heads-up display (HUD). The ForwardVU projects heads-up flight data on the backside of the spinning propeller while eliminating the pricey optical gear required of high-end HUD systems. The Wingman was later engineered as a stand-alone EFIS to compliment the HUD system.

Steele realized there could be a market for an inexpensive portable EFIS system. He was right. By description and price alone, interest in the product has been brisk.

Still, we wonder just what purpose the Wingman can serve since the company aggressively warns that the unit is an informational aide only. Under no circumstances should it be used for IFR flight. They then counter that by saying the unit is intended as a backup attitude indicator.

On the other hand, weve heard that death and destruction lawyer-talk with other portable products. We read the subtext between the lines as saying, “If you auger while using the Wingman for real attitude awareness, we told you so.”

The system is GPS based and displays standard EFIS attitude symbology (no speed or altitude tapes). All of the electronics, including the internal attitude sensors, GPS engine and antenna, are contained within the units thin casing. It actually resembles Garmins aera portable GPS. The back chassis offers only a serial connector and power switch.

On the front is a crisp and bright, 4.3-inch, color touch-screen display that we found awkward to manipulate. Adjusting the screen brightness is accomplished by activating and dragging an onscreen brightness bar. It was either too sensitive or not sensitive enough for our sweaty fingers in a bouncing, hot Florida cockpit. The screen is glove friendly for pilots who favor flying with their hands in Nomex.

The horizon display is well-defined with the familiar blue on brown graphics. But heres where it differs from a traditional attitude gyro. Roll and pitch indicators show you the relative roll and pitch angle of the Wingman chassis itself and not that of the aircraft. Each “tick” mark on the roll and pitch indicates 10 degrees. Tapping the center of the horizon display mimics gyro caging or display centering. You can also adjust the pitch-level reference as you would with a mechanical gyro.

When the unit is connected to an external GPS via the power/data RS232 port on the rear of the chassis, the Wingmans data fields switch over to the data being