Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014 - 31

THE FUTURE IS DIGITAL
For many owner/operators of older aircraft, it’s not only
their vacuum system that’s starting to suck. Legacy mechanical instruments can be very expensive to repair or refurbish.
And like humans, the older they get, the more frequently they
need fixed.
“If you have an old King KI-256 to run your autopilot, it
takes $3,000 every time that thing breaks,” explained Kirk
Fryar, vice president and partner for Sarasota Avionics. “If
pilots want to put in an Aspen display, for example, they have
a separate unit that can provide the attitude reference to the
autopilot. You can just buy a stand-alone horizon like the RC
Allen unit. Now you have a digital backup horizon for your
autopilot that’s more efficient and more reliable.”
Fryar said increased reliability and reduced maintenance
costs are two great reasons to consider replacing analog
standby instruments with digital.
“Regular instruments are made the same way now as
always,” he said. “They may use newer materials, but they
operate the same. Units like the Mid-Continent have gone
solid state, which eliminates problems with mechanically
driven instruments.”
Of course, like everything, new technology does have its
price. “Many pilots come in looking for the least expensive
solution,” Jacobson said. “Typically, that’s using the vacuum
system they already have. But, I try to turn it away from
money and toward safety. How safe do they want to feel?
What is the cost of that safety?
“Pilots who come in to upgrade their panels are not lowuse pilots. They fly a lot and need reliable avionics. If they
want the best for themselves and their families, the digital
units won’t cost as much as they think.”
PANEL SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER
While reduced maintenance costs and increased component reliability may be two strong incentives for owner/pilots
to upgrade legacy standby instruments, panel space or lack
thereof, may indeed be the final motivating factor.
“Panel space is a huge factor today,” Fryar said. “If you
install a G500 or G600, it takes quite a bit of the available
space. If you have a Stormscope, radar altimeter, digital
engine monitor or other equipment in your panel already, you
might not have room for a separate airspeed, altimeter and
horizon in the panel.

“That’s where the new all-in-one units like the L-3 Trilogy
or the Aspen backup display comes in. Yes, they’re a lot more
money, but you get so much more.
"And you get rid of the troublesome vacuum system
completely.”
Fryar also said that another huge advantage to the all-inone type units is instead of scanning the panel looking for
critical information, everything you need is right in one place.
“For example, per the STC, the airspeed and altimeter have
to be within 6 inches of the G600 display,” he said. “Well, you
can put the altimeter on the left, the artificial horizon on the
right and the airspeed at the bottom – you have lots of latitude
of where things can go. That can make it tough in IFR conditions. There’s also a continuity element. You need a backup
that uses the same type of readout.”
AVIONICS OEMS GO ALL-IN WITH THEIR
ALL-IN-ONE BACKUP DISPLAYS
With the introduction of some cool, new electronic backup instruments, the industry has created digital alternatives
to analog instruments that deliver incredible amounts of
information without taking up huge amounts of panel space.
Of course, the evolution was inevitable. During the past
20 years, the aviation industry has changed from the use of
individual federated mechanical instruments to integrated
“all-in-one” electronic displays.
These new electronic backup instruments not only
continue this evolution, but they also are resetting what is
expected of backups by offering a new instrument with the
same information and capabilities previously only available
on the primary displays.
Having these new all-in-one backups may seem like a bit
of fluff at first glance, but for pilots currently flying large format glass, it can be a real emergency if they have to quickly
transition to legacy mechanical instruments with much less
information than they are used to.
According to the folks who know, these glass backups
mitigate the shock of this transition by providing all the same
information the pilot expects, but in a more compact format.
It’s just one less thing for pilots to stress about when things
aren’t going according to plan. q
See all-in-one backup instruments product
guide on following page.
- 31 -

Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014