AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2017 - 42

PILOT BRIEFING
FIRST LOOK |

PILOT PRODUCTS |

NON-TSO
AVIONICS APPROVED

A fun way to learn
IFR mastery from PilotWorkshops
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N
MY INQUISITORS were a formidable group.
There was a former airline chief pilot;
two FAA designated pilot examiners; a
retired air traffic controller; and an aviation
author whom PilotWorkshops, an aviation
education firm, brought together to examine
a detailed series of IFR flying scenarios.
Sadly for me, all these accomplished
aviators disagreed with my conclusion for
the scenario I was assigned, and they made
no secret of their readiness to pounce.
"Just so you know, I'm going to come
after you on this one," Bob Nardiello, a gruff
FAA designee and former Flight Instructor
of the Year, told me over coffee that morning. "You're going to be all alone on this
one, so be ready for the pushback."
Their criticisms would be recorded
as part of PilotWorkshops' online "IFR
Mastery" series and heard by tens of thousands of fellow aviators. The Nashua, New
Hampshire-based firm has developed an
online following of more than 180,000 for
its subscription IFR Mastery series, as well
as free weekly flying tips delivered by email.
Despite the adversity, or perhaps
because of it, I was looking forward to the
verbal rough and tumble. It started jovially
enough with all of us seated around an

42 | AOPA PILOT September 2017

actual round table in a recording studio
outside Nashua. The IFR scenarios are
meant to draw attention to aviation's
many gray areas not clearly addressed by
regulations.
Mine involved a Lancair Legacy pilot
flying VFR in clear air over an area of
known icing in Ohio on the way to the
East Coast. He must decide whether
to climb to 13,500 feet without oxygen
to stay clear of clouds and continue, or
divert to areas reporting better weather.
(FAR 91.211 allows climbing to 14,000 feet
in nonpressurized airplanes for up to 30
minutes without oxygen.)
I turned out to be the only one on the
panel who thought climbing and continuing the trip was a reasonable choice, and
defended that position as well as I knew
how. But the other panelists had some
well-informed reasons to disagree.
Hear how this, and scores of other
thought-provoking scenarios, played
out online (www.pilotworkshop.com/
ifrmastery). It's a lively, convenient, and fun
way to learn.
COST: $199 to start; $29 per month
EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

FOR THE FIRST TIME, the FAA has approved
non-TSO avionics as primary flight
instrumentation in a Standard-category
airplane from the factory. CubCrafters
has the FAA's blessing to install Garmin
G3X avionics suites in its factory-built
XCubs, and it's already doing so for its
2018 model year. The touchscreen G3X
PFD/MFD (along with digital autopilots)
are approved under a first-of-its-kind
amendment to the XCub type certificate.
AOPA has long advocated wide
approval of safety-enhancing, innovative,
and economical non-TSOed avionics
across the broad GA fleet. Previously,
non-TSO avionics (such as Dynon's
D10A and Garmin's G5 electronic flight
instruments) have only been approved
through supplemental type certificates
on individual aircraft models.
CubCrafters has installed hundreds
of Garmin G3X avionics suites in Carbon
Cubs flown under Light Sport and
Experimental rules. But FAA approval to
put the powerful, relatively low-cost G3X
systems in Standard-category airplanes
opens the door to aircraft and avionics
manufacturers to install similar non-TSO
avionics in new airplanes, as well as the
existing fleet of legacy aircraft.
The FAA has shifted to what it calls
a "risk-based" certification philosophy
in evaluating new technology, and it
has apparently concluded that the G3X
system is safer than the mechanical
attitude instruments that preceded it.
The G3X shows aircraft attitude information as well as GPS-derived "synthetic
vision"; an angle-of-attack indicator; and
a moving map with weather, terrain, and
traffic warnings. It also can drive a digital
autopilot with a one-touch "level" button. (Optional features include remote
radios, ADS-B In and Out, and a remote
transponder.)
"We believe the added capabilities and
valued offered by this new panel are game
changing," said CubCrafters President
Randy Lervold.
-Dave Hirschman
http://www.pilotworkshop.com/ifrmastery http://www.pilotworkshop.com/ifrmastery
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2017
