Industry News

In a regulatory climate that’s been somewhat relaxing (especially in the avionics market) one of the most common and difficult questions to answer is whether a given repair or modification needs a special signoff. If you attempt to interpret the regulations, the requirements are more than paperwork. The two pertinent FARs involved are Appendix A to Part 43, which defines major repairs and alterations, and Appendix B to Part 43, which covers the recording of those major repairs and alterations.

When I landed, I sent an email to Avidyne’s technical support wondering how I would get home if my second IFD navigator had a similar issue on my trip, and how soon I could have it replaced once I did get home. I got an email back from Avidyne asking what airport in Florida I would be using to clear customs on my return. When I told them I would be using Treasure Coast Airport in Fort Pierce, Florida, they told me a replacement IFD550 would be waiting for me, along with an installer to put it in.

Although its really an incremental upgrade to the long-body M20 series, the Acclaim Ultra was a major certification project for Mooney at a time when were not seeing many of those-from anyone. The results inarguably make the Acclaim Ultra the fastest four-place certified single-engine piston airplane and not just by a little. The Acclaim goes head to head with both its normally aspirated sibling, the Ovation Ultra (see February 2018 Aviation Consumer) and both Cirrus models, the SR22 and SR22T which, together, constitute the current market leaders. That puts the Acclaim into a niche within a niche-a slice of buyers who want speed, but care less about cabin size or payload. Pricewise, at $789,000 base, the Acclaim invoices below the typical Cirrus models.

The suite for the King Air has three high-resolution 12-inch color LCD screens. There’s pilot and copilot primary flight displays and a multifunction display. The displays are instant-on and the whole system comes up ready in roughly 20 seconds. The screens have multilayer anti-reflective coating that permits a pretty wide viewing angle-as much as 80 degrees. They simply have to be high performers for big cockpits and the are. There’s a dedicated autopilot controller directly above the MFD, plus two PFD controllers.

Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the Evektor Sportstar. We had (past tense) several of them here in southern Indiana, and I administered a lot of checkrides in the Sportstar. I believe that the Sportstar is a major player in the LSA community, with a couple hundred of them flying in the U.S. At one point I think they were the third most numerous LSA, behind Flight Design and Legend. That would put them in the middle of the pack of the ones you considered. And I know the Sportstar had its share of accidents. Why did you omit the Evektor from your accident statistics?

You know, Ive been trying to keep my mind open to Jet-A-burning diesels finding their way in the U.S. GA market, but so far its been easy to shrug off the notion that the typical engine buyer has a real need for one. Most recently Textron canceled production of its diesel-powered Turbo Skyhawk JT-A, not a year since earning both FAA and EASA certification. The 155-HP Continental CD-155 turbodiesel powerplant is still offered to buyers directly through Continental as an STCd installation for existing Skyhawks, but whether Textron had buyers or not for the JT-A Skyhawk, its still a tone-setting setback. Officially, Textron said the decision will help streamline its production process. Its not tough to read between the lines.

When we looked at the current Twin Comanche market, we found that owners generally prize the Piper Twin Comanche for the same reasons that they always have. Its a relatively affordable, economical and accessible twin with decent performance. There isn’t much more to ask for. In many ways, its one of the few twins that can claim to be not much more expensive than a single to own and operate, but thats only if you buy the right one. There are plenty of basket cases in the weeds. But there are some pretty nice ones, too, and you’ll pay top dollar for them.

More significant is that Garmins G5 electronic flight display can be installed as a legal STCd backup to the G500/G500 TXi flight displays. Believe it or not, previously this interface required an FAA field approval because the G500-series primary displays didnt include the G5 in the STC. The technical interface is expanded, too, and for the better. Any adjustments made to heading bugs, altitude select, airspeed bugs and baro settings are automatically synced from the G500 TXi or G500 displays to the G5. Flight director and autopilot mode annunciations from the GFC 500 can also be viewed across all displays, including on the G5. No, the G5 isn’t approved for backup in Cirrus models. That means if you have a second-gen Avidyne Entegra or even G1000 Cirrus (or any other G1000 airplane) the G5 is off limits.

AeroVonics has in mind inexpensive replacements for vacuum instruments with its AV-20 and AV-30 self-contained multifunction instruments. The $800 AV-20 fits into a 2-inch instrument hole-the size of a typical clock-and provides 11 discrete functions, including attitude, AoA, bus voltage, flight timer, TAS display, G-meter and a clock. There are actually two versions of the instrument. The AV-20 is a minimal variant that doesnt have the gyro sensing. It will sell for about $499. The AV-20S packs all the features. We saw the instrument demonstrated at AirVenture and although it appeared to have some sort of extraordinarily sharp display, AeroVonics Jeff Bethel says no, its just a garden-variety TFT. But the AV-20s software tweaks the graphic processing at the sub-pixel level, giving the instrument dense colors and smooth refreshes.

I always think of AirVenture as the last chance, final frontier when it comes to product marketing and this year my eyes were laser focused on Honeywell and its BendixKing division. Once the king of all avionics, BendixKing has been, as we say around the office, the lost ball in tall grass, with a history of unveiling prototypes of fresh products that ultimately end up stalled in a long certification process. The KI300 retrofit EFIS display unveiled several years ago, which is the proposed replacement for the ancient KI256 mechanical flight director, is only one example.

The fatal accidents we have had fall into two categories: typical accidents and rather unusual and unexplained ones. I have participated in almost every one of these NTSB investigations, gaining 30 years of experience with these airplanes, including a time when the company was manufacturing kits. The time period between 2014 and 2017 was rough for Flight Design and 2016 in particular was a witching hour for the whole S-LSA industry, with almost three times the statistical average of the years before and after. As was said, the fleet numbers, particularly by type, are so small that there is a lot of uncertainly in the ability to predict much from the raw data.

Aside from connecting to an iPad running the IFD100 app, which adds a second IFD550 display/control set, the navigator connects to a Bluetooth keypad as another option for data entry. Its standard on every IFD model and adds to the choices of how you interact with the navigator. There’s the native hybrid touch, knobs and keys, plus you can interact with the navigator from the iPad and remote keyboard. It really caters to a wide variety of users