Avionics News July 2012 - 42

Experimental and Light Sport Opportunities and Challenges
Glass panels are common not only in general aviation and business class aircraft, but they’re also common in the light sport aircraft and experimental (homebuilt) world, which presents a new class of business opportunities and pitfalls for avionics dealers and shops, according to Michael Schofield, product manager for Dynon Avionics. “We’re a market leader in both light sport and in homebuilt/experimental,” he said. “A good amount of our business comes from owners of older homebuilts who are adding glass or doing a new panel.” He warned that certification rules are very different for LSA and experimental aircraft: “To get our product into an LSA, it would need to be in the aircraft when new; anything not in the aircraft is a major modification, which has to go through the airframe manufacturer. There’s no such thing as an STC or AML.” On the other hand, with homebuilt experimental aircraft, the builder is the manufacturer. “Homebuilders can approach a shop to install equipment on their behalf,” he said. “A lot of shops that deal typically with Part 23 or higher may not realize just how big the experimental/ homebuilt market is – it’s much larger than the LSA market.” While he understands that shops used to working on certificated aircraft may shy away from unfamiliar equipment, Schofield noted, “In comparison to certificated equipment, you may find our products easier to install, since we write our documentation for people building their first airplane. In certificated airplanes, you have the STC to work from. On a homebuilt, you have to do a complete design, but we have guidelines for doing that. Shops that ignore the homebuilt market are missing a significant opportunity.” 
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AVIONICS NEWS

RETROFIT INSTALLATIONS
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identiﬁes every pin on every port in the system. Our displays have six ARINC-429 transmitters and receivers; so in this spreadsheet you assign each port, which becomes a design guide. Now you’re ready for detailed design and integration. Done this way, you’ll have very few surprises.” Because these installations are complex, there are a wide range of issues that can arise, leading to unexpected delays and increased cost. “Don’t try to undersell the installation,” Cobham’s Durall warned. “Regardless of who makes the glass panel, there’s signiﬁcant work involved when putting new glass in old aircraft. You will always run into some gremlin. You want enough reserve in the quote to cover that situation. And watch out for the owner who says ‘it was working ﬁne when I brought it in.’” Aspen’s Studley agreed. “When you quote, it’s really important to understand the technical requirements, customer requirements and speciﬁcs for particular models,” he said. “Especially on your ﬁrst install, please call us ahead of time.” According to Gary Harpster, avionics sales manager for Duncan Aviation, “To have a successful program, you have to minimize your risks. The customer may say that while the airplane’s being modiﬁed, they’d like to do some additional work – perhaps an inspection. If you ﬁnd corrosion in that inspection, what’s your plan to deal with it? Same thing with the structure behind the panel – does your shop have the capability to deal with structural modiﬁcations? We have an organization designa-

tion authorization and the experience to do that work ourselves. If not, you’d have to go to your certiﬁcating authority.” Finally, customer training is an issue, as Aspen’s Studley explained. “When you put a horizontal situation indicator in the panel, the pilot only has two knobs to ﬁgure out,” he said. “Glass is different – PFDs are pretty straightforward, but MFDs are not. You’re virtually forced to read the manual. I used to have a customer who wanted all the latest gizmos and never read the manuals. We would put the airplane on an APU and spend an hour or so with him until he was comfortable. Sporty’s Pilot Shop has DVDs covering our equipment, and I’ve heard very good things from people who have used those.” Universal’s Dees agreed. “Don’t ignore customer training – that responsibility really does rest with the installer,” he said. “As the manufacturer, we can tell you the basics, but the installer has to show the customer exactly how it works. A detailed, comprehensive ﬂight manual supplement is very worthwhile.” “With type-rated airplanes, you must provide difference training – because you just made major changes to the aircraft,” Wilken added. “The customer can’t go and get simulator training, because no simulator exists for the modiﬁed aircraft. At Elliott, we run into that quite often. We provide ground and ﬂight instruction in-house before delivery of the aircraft, including desktop demo units that allow ground training while we complete the modiﬁcation, followed by ﬂight instruction in the aircraft when the upgrade is complete.” 

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JULY

2012

Avionics News July 2012

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