Hello fellow forumers, I just wanted to introduce myself to the forums. I'm Caleb Greene and own an FAA Certified avionics facility at Cable Airport in Upland, CA. Recently, but not so recently, Dynon has come out to the certified market and are pushing production for STC in many single and now twin engine aircraft, to include autopilot. I'm wanting to know if you guys are enjoying your setups (for those of you who have them) and/or what could you change about the system that would be more attractive to certified buyers. For those of you who have the system installed, what would you add or change to make it a better system? And of course, letting anyone who is in the Southern California area that we are primarily Dynon Certified installers! Happy flying!
The AML for the HDX is quite vast. The approval for the autopilot is much smaller. I know they just approved the PA-34 a week or so ago. Waiting to get rid of the steam gauges and throw some stupid money at it if they ever get the AP certified in the PA-32...which has the same fuselage as the 34. Dynon suggested tru trak, but they've since been sold to honeywell and have heard things aren't the same. And also the tru trak didn't have quite the features the Dynon had. Looked into going another route, but the install costs appeared to be even stupider money. I like actual customer service Dynon has...not just, go to your dealer and hang up the phone.
Yes, the clickbait Youtube guy. "I bought a Cherokee 6 for $30k" and then 4 minutes in to the video it turns out he basically bought a ragged out shell for that and then sank probably another $100k in to it before he even saw it or flew it. Yeah, ask that guy
? The guy makes good, wholesome videos. He makes no effort to hide that he invested a lot of money in it. He doesn't pull actual click bait things like emphasizing breasts in his thumbnails (hi 310pilot and Doodles guy). And good videos on his Dynon setup are fairly helpful.
I have V35 Bonanza with dual HDX screens, 3 axis autopilot (roll/pitch/yaw), engine monitoring (replaced all primary gauges) and ADSB in. I’ve also got WiFi connectivity for (VFR) flight plan transfer and to provide ADAHRS and traffic data to Foreflight. I didn’t install their transponder or radio. I’ve been flying with this setup for 2 months now, and more I fly, more I like it. Autopilot is just great, very smooth and precise, although it takes some time to get used to it (no approach mode, need to aim NAV and VNAV separately). I love the feature when you can just press arrow down to start your descent right away at preconfigured default vertical speed and then set altitude. IAS climbs are great too, but all digital autopilots have it. Yaw dumper makes a big difference in my Bonanza, and I like that you can activate it with the yoke button. I like how it integrates with airplane systems, like flaps indicator and gear. It will alert me if the gear is not down below certain speed or any over speed conditions. It also let me to get rid of unreliable stock flap indicator. I did leave the stock gear lights though, but I can also see the gear position on my PFD. One great and absolutely underrated feature that I use is checklists. I created and uploaded my own checklists and don’t use the paper one anymore. $99/year chart&approach plates subscription from Seattle Avionics is hard to beat. Hope they won’t increase their prices after recent acquisition. Basic nav and obstacle data is free from Dynon. I like that most everything can be done using either touch or physical controls. Installation was pretty straightforward, it came with most harnesses pre-fabricated and they have DXF files for Bonanza, so I just needed minor adjustments to make it work for my plane. Their Ethernet-like network also simplifies cable routing. One thing I didn’t like was the lack of software adjustments to correct any ADAHRS and magnetometer installations issues. You HAVE to install both absolutely level and in alignment with longitudinal axis which is easier said than done. Garmin at least gives you an option to compensate for any misalignment during the initial calibration. Overall, I’m really happy with it. Feels like a brand new plane now
Yep, his videos probably tipped the scales toward Dynon when I was thinking about my upgrade path, and I already had one Garmin G5 installed, so G3X route seemed more logical.
Racerx therein lies the problem at least for now. The AP in the HDX is not yet approved for my bonanza but they say it will in a few months. (Although when I called last spring they said the fall). I understand however that they are flight testing the A36 now which when approved will also approve my airframe or so they say. Dynon also suggested I get the tru trak, but I'm not interested in buying two autopilots. As you pointed out now that Bendix owns it appears that things are not the same. Certainly less communication about the product. Did you watch his video on the HDX? Its pretty informative in a real world situation.
All good points. Yes, the unfortunate truth is that since TruTrack sold out to Bendix King, the support is terrible and the time to get the unit is awful. We ordered one for a 177RG in May and it finally arrived at my shop at the end of October. Jay over at Bendix King is the only one who knows anything about the TruTrack. Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas!
It will all depend on what options you get (ads-b out, ads-b in, IFR interface, com radio(s), engine monitor, etc.).
