avionics up grades
- Thread starter Tom-D
- Start date
Virtual reality glasses which will superimpose airways, airspace, traffic, towers, terrain, etc creating a virtual VFR regardless of the weather. This sort of thing is already in 1st generation production.
denverpilot
Tied Down
The most interesting software driven upgrades keep coming on my iPad and not in the panel, frankly.
The little addition to ForeFlight that pops up the ATIS frequency when a certain distance out from the landing airport for example, is an incredibly useful little thing, that would take years for someone to get through FAA's certification process in a device in the panel, and was just another freebie thrown in by the ForeFlight folks.
Same thing with the talking "entering runway" alerts. There's certified versions of that, but not as cleanly implemented as the FF one. And definitely not as cheap.
Panel avionics are stuck in the 90s. Even the experimental stuff. There's absolutely no reason an autopilot should cost $20,000 in the age of people building large autonomous robots in their kitchens for fun.
Yeah, yeah, "safety" and all that rot. I know. Problem is, the tech and the speed at which it can be delivered AND updated if there's a problem, far outpaces the certification process' speed by many orders of magnitude.
The little addition to ForeFlight that pops up the ATIS frequency when a certain distance out from the landing airport for example, is an incredibly useful little thing, that would take years for someone to get through FAA's certification process in a device in the panel, and was just another freebie thrown in by the ForeFlight folks.
Same thing with the talking "entering runway" alerts. There's certified versions of that, but not as cleanly implemented as the FF one. And definitely not as cheap.
Panel avionics are stuck in the 90s. Even the experimental stuff. There's absolutely no reason an autopilot should cost $20,000 in the age of people building large autonomous robots in their kitchens for fun.
Yeah, yeah, "safety" and all that rot. I know. Problem is, the tech and the speed at which it can be delivered AND updated if there's a problem, far outpaces the certification process' speed by many orders of magnitude.
GLMS_NC
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Rick
I would expect Flir and SVT through a HUD. While Flir/EVS systems are still pricey, more innovation and competition will drive down pricing. I think EVS is key to stop CFIT and loss of situational awareness. It's standard on high end jets and optional on birds like the Cirrus.
I would also like to see all digital autopilots. Replace all this crappy analog stuff in use today and allow this without all the certification requirements. Gfc700 and dfc90 are great examples.
I think an all wireless panel is still years out. Wifi between the iPad and the panel has loads of potential. Look at Garmins Flightstream products. Why all this complex wiring? Or create a standard high speed data bus (network) everything just plugs into (cat 5) cable for example? Installing a device is mounting and plugging in a cat 5 cable. Everything is then software configured.
Autonomous flying is coming. Coml airlines will have one pilot and one robot, but that isn't avionics focused.
I would also like to see all digital autopilots. Replace all this crappy analog stuff in use today and allow this without all the certification requirements. Gfc700 and dfc90 are great examples.
I think an all wireless panel is still years out. Wifi between the iPad and the panel has loads of potential. Look at Garmins Flightstream products. Why all this complex wiring? Or create a standard high speed data bus (network) everything just plugs into (cat 5) cable for example? Installing a device is mounting and plugging in a cat 5 cable. Everything is then software configured.
Autonomous flying is coming. Coml airlines will have one pilot and one robot, but that isn't avionics focused.
Ryan F.
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Ryan Ferguson 1974
I have FLIR/EVS, SVT and HUD available to me in my professional flying. Honestly, they're not game-changers. EVS is sort of nice in certain types of low weather (but it can't see through clouds.) SVT is so-so, and I often don't bother turning it on. The HUD is admittedly nice for shooting approaches in LIFR, but that's about the only time I use it -- maybe a low vis takeoff, but even then I could take it or leave it.
If you took all of that away from me we'd still operate normally with no issues and no loss of capability. The only thing EVS gets you is sort of a poor man's Cat II capability, but not really since the precip has to be light enough for the EVS to punch through.
Autothrottles are nice. Hard to imagine that making sense anytime soon for piston engines.
Not really sure what the next evolution will bring. I'd like to see improvements in the powerplant, rather than avionics. In terms of the gadgets we're doing pretty good, what with WAAS/LPV, GPSS and whatnot. More reliable engines, better and more reliable tech overall under the cowl would be a step forward for GA.
If you took all of that away from me we'd still operate normally with no issues and no loss of capability. The only thing EVS gets you is sort of a poor man's Cat II capability, but not really since the precip has to be light enough for the EVS to punch through.
Autothrottles are nice. Hard to imagine that making sense anytime soon for piston engines.
Not really sure what the next evolution will bring. I'd like to see improvements in the powerplant, rather than avionics. In terms of the gadgets we're doing pretty good, what with WAAS/LPV, GPSS and whatnot. More reliable engines, better and more reliable tech overall under the cowl would be a step forward for GA.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Hahaha that's how I "discovered" it, too. I should probably read their release notes, but they release often enough and have so much garbage in the release notes about hardware "partners" stuff I don't own, and the silly half-baked logbook, that I've mostly been ignoring them. I also generally ignore their "it's safe to upgrade your iPad" alerts, having already done it for other reasons, even though they're fast about it. I figure if they aren't keeping up with Apple's Deb builds of iOS we'd all see much bigger problems.