Avionics News July 2012 - 21

Cessna Skyhawk, Piper Cherokee or other entry-level single may find attractive options like the Aspen Avionics Evolution 1000 package. The lowest price for Aspen’s most-affordable primary flight display, the PFD 1000 Pilot, is $6,180, plus installation. For that price, the aircraft gains all the benefits inherent in all glass-panel packages, including solid-state PFD with its cutting-edge Aspen Avionics’ EFD1000 features, such as: • Integral ADAHRS, backup battery and emergency GPS. • Integral altitude alerter. • GPS flight plan map views: 360 degrees and arc. • Slaved directional gyro with heading bug. These sorts of features are common among most PFD options and the antithesis of the old model of round dials for spinning-mass gyro instruments and aneroid-driven air-data gauges. Among the useful operating functions indigenous to most PFDs is auto dimming of the display at night. Aspen’s units also boast the ability to toggle airspeeds, flexible, programmable hot keys and a simple menu system to help the pilot manage the package. Aspen’s packages plays well with all modern navigators, including VHF and WAAS GPS systems – as do the majority of the options available. A companion could be the Evolution 500 MFD (multifunction display) at $4,995, plus installation. Yes, it offers all the standard features of the basic MFD and the ability to play with hazard sensors of a wide variety. Owners of aircraft at the lower end of the value strata find this $11,000 combination to be suitable for their beloved birds.

For the pilot flying higher-value and more-capable aircraft, it’s a small step up to the Pro Version 1000 PFD and 1000 MFD. The step brings with it numerous other useful features, including a multiple-sensor accommodating, full-function HSI, backup batteries in both units, and the ability to back up one another. The price for the two together, packaged as Aspen’s Evolution 2000 package, is $18,340. Bendix/King’s Apex Edge Series KFD 840 (under $13,000) and KSN 770 all-in one (about the same price) offer another option for PFD and MFD, and so does Avidyne’s Entegra series and Garmin’s G500 and G600 all-in-one-box PFD/MFD options. At the top end of the scale, options exist to install Avidyne’s Release 9 Entegra, Garmin’s G900 or G1000 integrated avionics packages or Esterline CMC’s SmartDeck or other product. These combine PFD, MFD, WAAS GPS, VHF radios and more – but command the sort of prices and utility that make them viable options for pilots flying high-end piston and propjet singles, older light jets and multi-engine propjets like the entire King Air line from Hawker Beechcraft. The point is to recognize that the space between an airplane’s value and the cost of the glass will be a sensitive point for many owners – and not a concern at all for others who covet the benefits of glass. When you start seeing six-figure package prices and nearly as much in installation costs, your customer pool may shrink in size but grow in financing capabilities. Working with the customer to identify their hopes and dreams, needs and wants, can help move a project forward from nothing to a long-term relationship with the client – particularly if the shop and the client plan a phased upgrade like tackling the PFD first, then the MFD or radios and navigation gear. The point is to help them realize their desires without making the result too expensive to enjoy afterward. The variety exists now and will likely grow even wider in the coming years.

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Avionics News July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News July 2012
