Aspen Avionics announces "Connected Panel"

flyingcheesehead

flyingcheesehead

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Just finishing up the press conference - Aspen announced today an in-plane networking box that will allow you to connect an iPad to the Aspen boxes... And ForeFlight will work with it on day one!

Nick will be happy to know that the API is open to anyone to develop for other devices as well. Seattle Avionics, JPI, PS Engineering, Jeppesen, Sporty's, and Bendix-King are development partners as well.

This is going to be VERY cool, and Garmin had better jump in or they might get left behind...

Drool.
 
But what is the FAA going to say about that? A portable box hooking up to a primary flight system. I don't see that going over well.
 
More importantly, putting $75,000 of avionics in a $60,000 plane isn't exactly a winner, either. Flying is already expensive enough.
 
Missing something here... what is gained from the connection?
 
Did they mention the cost on this box?
 
wsuffa said:
More importantly, putting $75,000 of avionics in a $60,000 plane isn't exactly a winner, either. Flying is already expensive enough.
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That is one of the things about aviation I just do not think makes any sense at all. Sure, there are lots of people with a whole lot of disposable income, and for them, most of this highly advanced equipment is just chump change, so their toy gets all the bells and whistles.

For many of us though, spending 10 to 30 K for equipment that we do not need at all in order to operate our older airplanes, well, it just seems downright stupid. Sure, we would love to have it, but not enough to go into debt or put a serious dent in our savings for it.

It amazes me when these avionics outfits tout the "affordability" of their equipment, then they rattle off prices in the umpteen thousands.

I remember going through a Japanese curio shop here in San Diego, where most prices were in the tens of thousands of dollars. Then I came upon a cool little carving for only three thousand dollars. I was actually thinking, hey, this is cheap, I could buy this. (I didn't, I came to my senses in the nick of time.)

I think that same type of sales psychology is what keeps these companies in business. They try to make ten thousand dollars sound like a real bargain by comparing it with much more expensive geegaws.

I guess, as the inflation we are now in starts to pick up, maybe ten or thirty thousand dollars will be a bargain in a few years, heck, we might be paying that much for a loaf of bread, but no way now is it a "bargain",


John
 
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wsuffa said:
More importantly, putting $75,000 of avionics in a $60,000 plane isn't exactly a winner, either. Flying is already expensive enough.
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$75K? I'm agonizing over the $10K engine overhaul and $3K to redo the crappy 45 yo interior in a $30K plane.
 
murphey said:
$75K? I'm agonizing over the $10K engine overhaul and $3K to redo the crappy 45 yo interior in a $30K plane.
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Is it really $75k? Right now a 3 Panel Aspen would run less than $30k installed.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Missing something here... what is gained from the connection?
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Offline flight-planning for one.

Build your flight plan at home with all your waypoints and such, then get to the plane, connect and upload and off you go!
 
Jaybird180 said:
yawn:rolleyes2:
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Haha, I was thinking that it would take me more than the two minutes it takes me to enter in a flight plan to figure out how to get the flight plan from an iPad to the airplane. But then I am not as enchanted with technology as some, or as talented. You don't always get what you planned anyway.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Seattle Avionics, JPI, PS Engineering, Jeppesen, Sporty's, and Bendix-King are development partners as well.
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With this list of partners on it, I suspect there is more to it that just off-line flight plan addition (which are fed to the Aspen from an external unit already).
 
EdFred said:
But what is the FAA going to say about that? A portable box hooking up to a primary flight system. I don't see that going over well.
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Garmin already does this. You can connect a 496 (and I'd suspect a 696) to a 430/530, and it will even allow an automatic crossfill. One of my friends does this on his Travel Air. The 496 has a mount on the upper left of the panel, and has a wire connecting it to the 530. Loads up his flight plan on the 530 and it crossfills to the 496.

I'm not sure what else the Aspen/iPad connectivity will allow, but I don't suspect there's anything there that hasn't already been done in principle. The implementation aspect will be what makes it really nice.
 
From their press release...

http://www.aspenavionics.com/index.php/news/detail/aspen_avionics_announces_connected_panel/

Radio tuning from ForeFlight Mobile into the KSN 770 will also be intuitive. The ForeFlight Mobile app will allow the pilot, by a simple touch on the iPad’s display, to easily push radio frequencies that appear in airport diagrams and charts into the “standby” window of the radio’s Nav/Com. All the pilot will need to do is toggle the frequency on the radio from “standby” to “active” to accept the tuning from the iPad.

Pilot hours and aircraft performance data logging will be able to be automated through Connected™ Pilot, thanks to its integration with AvConnect — a comprehensive aircraft and pilot management application available for general aviation. The AvConnect iPad app will automatically record pilot and aircraft data from installed systems and will then seamlessly create entries in the cloud-based portion of its application — simplifying aircraft and pilot record keeping requirements.

In addition to the KSN 770 integration, all or part of Connected Panel™ functionality will be available for other legacy GPS navigators, depending upon that GPS’s ability to transmit and receive data.
Click to expand...
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Garmin already does this. You can connect a 496 (and I'd suspect a 696) to a 430/530, and it will even allow an automatic crossfill. One of my friends does this on his Travel Air. The 496 has a mount on the upper left of the panel, and has a wire connecting it to the 530. Loads up his flight plan on the 530 and it crossfills to the 496.

I'm not sure what else the Aspen/iPad connectivity will allow, but I don't suspect there's anything there that hasn't already been done in principle. The implementation aspect will be what makes it really nice.
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That to me seems like certified feeding un-certified, not un-certified feeding certified.
 
I don't know about you guys, but I expect integrated to mean just that and not simply connected. Why should I pull up data on an iPad, then press a button on a panel mount?

I use my iPad as backup and chart reading/ flight planning. When I use (for example) the G1000, I prefer to do everything there.
 
Could be nice if the Connected Panel was able to stream all cockpit data to an iPad for display and logging (i.e. Weather from XM, Engine Data, IFR GPS track, Comm play back, etc.). The iPad would quickly be able to parse comm data and store the transmissions that have your call sign in them. You could replay any transmission instead of just the last 60 seconds or so. Same goes for engine monitoring. If you think you heard a hick-up but its running/looking smooth now, pull up the last few minutes of data. It could serve as a form of flight data recorder. Most importantly, if you have an emergency, push the "File Flight Plan" button, I hear it works even better than Straight & Level.

Of course most current instruments might not be able to work with it now but in time it would lead to some nice integration and it could sure increase the use of a tablet in the cockpit or even more so a passenger ability to help.
 
Except an iPad is too big to mount on the panel. Anywhere else it gets in the way. So is an Asus, a Galaxy, Crackberry's version...
 
Phone size devices would be able to provide the same functionality in a much smaller space.
 
Traket92X said:
Is it really $75k? Right now a 3 Panel Aspen would run less than $30k installed.
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Plus radios & transponder.

Even putting $30K into a 30 year old plane worth $60K is hard to swallow.
 
wsuffa said:
Plus radios & transponder.

Even putting $30K into a 30 year old plane worth $60K is hard to swallow.
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$60k Plane + $30K Avionics = $90k Resale

At least please keep my delusion alive, our "new" plane is 6 months in and still working out the bugs.:mad2:
 
Traket92X said:
$60k Plane + $30K Avionics = $90k Resale

At least please keep my delusion alive, our "new" plane is 6 months in and still working out the bugs.:mad2:
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Wrong answer. $60k plane + $30k avionics = $70k resale - MAYBE.
 
Have they said if this will be a certified product or something only available to the experimental world?
 
I'd be very worried about the long-term reliability if there's no air gap between the iPad and a primary flight system. For several reasons.

1. The iPad can be networked, so it can become corrupted. If there aren't viruses and trojans now, there might be in the future. Do you want something that can be corrupted like that to be connected to your primary flight display, navigation system, and autopilot?

2. The iPad can run different apps. What if one of them conflicts with your PFD or navigation system while you are in flight? Maybe not now, but years from now?

3. The iPad operating system will not remain the same. It will be updated frequently. Many planes operate the same way today that they did 25 years ago and you can rely on them without worrying about system updates and the like, but if there's a data connection between your panel's avionics and an iPad, you can't count on that. Just think of what it would be like if your flying experience relied on a 1990's era Windows computer that was built on DOS.
 
I'm stil wondering why I need an Ipod. my charts and looking out the window have worked for 55 years, and I've never had a charts battery die.
 
Tom-D said:
I'm stil wondering why I need an Ipod. my charts and looking out the window have worked for 55 years, and I've never had a charts battery die.
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Bottomline: You don't need all the toys. Bernoulli not Marconi.
 
Tom-D said:
I'm stil wondering why I need an Ipod. my charts and looking out the window have worked for 55 years, and I've never had a charts battery die.
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Cheaper to ditch the paper and you recoup your costs after a couple years - depending on your flying habits.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Garmin already does this. You can connect a 496 (and I'd suspect a 696) to a 430/530, and it will even allow an automatic crossfill. One of my friends does this on his Travel Air. The 496 has a mount on the upper left of the panel, and has a wire connecting it to the 530. Loads up his flight plan on the 530 and it crossfills to the 496.
Click to expand...

Yep. I have been planning to do that all along with my GPSMAP295.

By the time I get my round tuit for the panel install it'll be a (used) 830. :rolleyes:
 
Tom-D said:
I'm stil wondering why I need an Ipod. my charts and looking out the window have worked for 55 years, and I've never had a charts battery die.
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Charts for one trip to Gaston's last year = $135

An entire year of every chart made in a single device (not to mention the handheld GPS and flight planning) = $75
 
Bob Noel said:
Which of those charts were not available for free from the FAA?

http://aeronav.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=aeronav/applications
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All of them are available for free. But I would ask a question in return. Have you ever downloaded the sectional rasters and printed them off rather than buying a paper sectional? Or a low enroute? Without printing off every IAP along your route, how would you handle a diversion? Unless you're saying that you would handle them electronically in some other fashion, then I just don't see what your point is. Printing them simply isn't practical for anybody that flies with regularity...to be honest, neither is organizing them manually for some other electronic device.

Worth every penny and then some...
 
They all are available for free, and I have downloaded them, but unless I have a giant printer they are useless unless I put them on an electronic chart display...oh wait...
 
jason said:
Charts for one trip to Gaston's last year = $135

An entire year of every chart made in a single device (not to mention the handheld GPS and flight planning) = $75
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1- SEA sectional $9.75,,,,,,,,,, For the flying I do that's all I need. Other than a clean windscreen to look out of to see if the picture is correct.
 
jason said:
[snip]
Worth every penny and then some...
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Worth every penny to some people. The Tom-D asked why he should should get one.

For my VFR flying, I don't even need a handheld GPS (even after LORAN was stupidly shutoff). I'm fortunate that I can get away with one sectional that I can pick up at the aeroclub. I dropped my Jepp subscription because I'm simply not flying IFR anymore.
 
Tom-D said:
1- SEA sectional $9.75,,,,,,,,,, For the flying I do that's all I need. Other than a clean windscreen to look out of to see if the picture is correct.
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1) The sectional cycle is (I believe) every four weeks. So let's fix some math here...

(52/4) * $9.75 = $126.75/year (if you keep current charts)

2) Sectionals don't contain "all available information concerning that flight"
 
sectionals come out every 6 months. A/FD's include sectional updates and are issued every 54 (or maybe 56) days
 
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