Avidyne

[tonycondon]

The Jet is going with L3 at least for developmental phases
PiperJet is getting G1000

The beginning of the end for Avidyne?

 

[flyingcheesehead]

The Jet is going with L3 at least for developmental phases

L3? Who dat? Must be either new, or something used on bigger iron right now.

PiperJet is getting G1000

Not to mention, G1000 is now an option on some of the smaller Pipers.

The beginning of the end for Avidyne?

As long as the SR2x's have 'em, they'll be around. I'd bet that there's a secret contract between Cirrus and Avidyne that forces Cirrus to stay with Avidyne for x number of years in exchange for dirt-cheap prices. If it's a 5-year contract, that'd mean that it's up partway through next year.

Alan's assertion that they use Avidyne because it's easier than Garmin... I don't buy it at all. With Avidyne, you have external Garmin boxes for Nav/Com/GPS and all the associated tasks like entering flight plans anyway, so your brain has to speak both languages. I'm sure when Cirrus does finally allow the "option" of Garmin, they'll say it's "what the market wants" or "we wanted to let our customers choose" or something.

What'll be interesting is to see whether the folks already flying Cirri with Avidyne will choose Garmin or Avidyne when they buy a newer Cirrus. It'd be smart for Cirrus to allow the G1000 soon though, as many flight schools are using G1000 Cessnas and folks learning to fly with those would probably go to Columbia instead of Cirrus if they can't get the G1000 in the Cirrus.

Some folks will say Garmin needs competition - IMHO, Avidyne is not that competition. There is one very exciting alternative to the G600 retrofit panel, though: http://www.aspenavionics.com/

 

[tonycondon]

is the aspen thing certified yet?

Edit: Yep!

 

[Teller1900]

You should put that Aspen thing in the Cherokee, Tony. That and some chem lights on the wings and you'll have the nicest, most capable Cherokee EVER.

 

[AWACSEng]

L3 is L3Communications. They do all of the USAF AWACS sim training. By the looks of thier website they do quite a bit in communications and avionics, hence the name i suppose.

 

[Ken Ibold]

L3? Who dat? Must be either new, or something used on bigger iron right now.

You might recognize the names of some of their products, which include Stormscope and Skywatch. (L3 bought Goodrich, but has a large avionics business in its own right and is a $12 billion company.)

 

[Henning]

The Jet is going with L3 at least for developmental phases
PiperJet is getting G1000

The beginning of the end for Avidyne?

The beginning of the end of Avidyne was quite awhile ago. We're getting closer to death throes. When the Cirrus contract expires, so will Avidyne.

 

[poadeleted20]

L3 is the parent of Chelton (like Honeywell with Bendix/King), and the overall name under which the Chelton systems are sold. If you know the Chelton systems, you know the L3 systems.

As for Avidyne, I agree with those who say that as long as it's in Cirrus (and Alan K seems to like it, so that should continue), it will be quite viable.

Finally, I prefer the Avidyne system to the G1000 because it has the actual radios in the panel, not invisible behind the G1000 interface. If you lose the Avidyne PFD, you can press on with little trouble with the three flight instruments, the MFD, and the 430's (I've trained folks to do that, and they pick it up easily). If you lose the G1000 display (and there's a single point failure that can take out both displays), you are deaf, dumb, and blind. Even if you only lose one G1000 display, you have to look/reach a lot farther cross-cockpit to fly off/control the right side screen than you do using at the 3 flight instruments and the 430's with the Avidyne set-up.

 

[Ken Ibold]

If you lose the G1000 display (and there's a single point failure that can take out both displays), you are deaf, dumb, and blind.

Is that the voltage regulator? I thought that had been fixed.

 

[tonycondon]

You should put that Aspen thing in the Cherokee, Tony. That and some chem lights on the wings and you'll have the nicest, most capable Cherokee EVER.

yep im sure that wouldnt be overkill. of course with it being certified i could probably buy 10 dynons for the same price.

 

[deafsound]

I prefer the Avidyne as well, because the interface is considerably easier to get around, althought the G1000 has more "depth" to it.
I think there is a new Avidyne coming out soon that's supposed to be quite good.

 

[gprellwitz]

L3 is the parent of Chelton (like Honeywell with Bendix/King), and the overall name under which the Chelton systems are sold. If you know the Chelton systems, you know the L3 systems.

As for Avidyne, I agree with those who say that as long as it's in Cirrus (and Alan K seems to like it, so that should continue), it will be quite viable.

Finally, I prefer the Avidyne system to the G1000 because it has the actual radios in the panel, not invisible behind the G1000 interface. If you lose the Avidyne PFD, you can press on with little trouble with the three flight instruments, the MFD, and the 430's (I've trained folks to do that, and they pick it up easily). If you lose the G1000 display (and there's a single point failure that can take out both displays), you are deaf, dumb, and blind. Even if you only lose one G1000 display, you have to look/reach a lot farther cross-cockpit to fly off/control the right side screen than you do using at the 3 flight instruments and the 430's with the Avidyne set-up.

Granting your point about a single point of failure, the chance of losing the right panel as opposed to the left panel when you lose only one is 50%, right?

(And my only experience with an Avidyne is one where it's installed only on the co-pilot's side, so...)

 

[KennyFlys]

Granting your point about a single point of failure, the chance of losing the right panel as opposed to the left panel when you lose only one is 50%, right?

(And my only experience with an Avidyne is one where it's installed only on the co-pilot's side, so...)

I think his biggest argument is completely separate comm/nav/GPS components. I love the G1000 but Ron makes a good argument.