Avionics News October 2013 - 32

Advertisers Index
Aero Standard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Aero-Mach Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Aerospace Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Aerospace Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Aircell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ARINC Direct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Astronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Aviation Instrument Services . . . . . . . . 46
Avionics Specialist Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
AVweb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Becker Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
CAL Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Carolina Turbine Support . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Cobham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Dallas Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC
Dayton-Granger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Device Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Duncan Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
EDMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC
Express Calibration Services . . . . . . . . 87
Flight Display Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Flying Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Garmin International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Georgetown Instrument Services . . . . . 72
GlobalParts.aero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Greenwich / DAC International . . . . . . . 86
Hillsboro Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
KGS Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
L-3 Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Latitude Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Malibu Aerospace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Metro Aircraft Instruments. . . . . . . . . . . 86
Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics . . . . . 5
Midwest Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Millennium International . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Nav-Aids Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Pacific Southwest Instruments . . . . . . IBC
ProCal Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Sandel Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Sandia Aerospace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Sun Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Tech-Aid Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
TGH Aviation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Tri-Star Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
True Blue Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Universal Avionics Systems Corp. . . . . 51
Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

32

avionics news

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october

2013

INTEGRATING MISSION CAPABILITIES
Continued from page 30

the panel that holds the two AHRS units. “I also got carried away with the
interior lighting,” he said. “I have a couple of post lights and LEDs under the
glareshield.”
A Superior IO-320 with a constant-speed Hartzell powers the RV-9, and
its avionics have worked flawlessly, MacArthur said. The real challenge has
been sorting out all of the possible display options for an integrated display of
information in flight.
Al Dinardi – Van’s RV-10
A pilot for 21 years, Al Dinardi’s life changed in 1997, when a friend at
Medford, Ore., airport took him flying in his Van’s RV-4. So taken by its flying
qualities, after a factory test flight, he bought and built a tandem two-seat RV-8,
which earned a Silver Lindy as the Reserve Grand Champion kit-built airplane
at EAA AirVenture in 2000.
When Van’s introduced the four-seat RV-10, “I started eyeballing it as a
replacement for my Cessna 182.” He started work on it about nine months
before he retired in 2005 as the founder and president of Musician’s Friend, a
mail order company he’d sold to Guitar Center. With three daughters and four
grandchildren living at different ends of the West Coast, Dinardi and his wife
of 40 years, Sheri, needed the back seats.
A ride in a Garmin G1000-equipped Cirrus helped Dinardi decide on
the RV-10’s avionics. The G900 is the experimental version of the G1000,
which includes synthetic vision. Dinardi’s reservations about the G900’s
price dissipated when he started adding the cost of the different components
necessary to build a system with the same capabilities. Comparing the sums,
“I thought, I’m not really spending that much extra,” he said. “Then there’s the
interface factor. The G900 was the elegant way to go, and it gave me a clean
panel.”
The G900 is not set up for ADS-B because the Out and In network was
spotty when he ordered the panel two years ago. Meeting the mandate will
require an updated transponder module and the addition of a GDL 88 if he
wants ADS-B In services.
Researching shops that build panels for homebuilders, Dinardi called
SteinAir in Farmington, Minn., and Stein Burch answered the phone. Christer
Stenstrom, avionics manager, managed the project. With avionics controls
clustered around the screens, except for the control panel for the TruTrak
Sorcerer autopilot, which is by the throttles, the pedestal under the panel was
blank. Learning that he wouldn’t need paper charts if he had an electronic
source separate from the G900, Dinardi asked about filling the space with a
Garmin 695. It fit nicely, and it’s connected to his backup instruments. And in
an emergency, the 695’s battery is good for five hours.
To efficiently use the G900, Dinardi has worked through four training
programs and practices on a PC simulator. Powered by a new, Barrett-built
Lycoming IO-540 with an MT prop and a cold-air induction system, the RV10 cut 30 minutes off the flight time to see the grandchildren in Los Angeles.
To increase the comfort, the RV has electric seats and a custom center arm
rest that slides fore and aft with the pilot’s seat. But the feature that Dinardi
appreciates the most, especially with Oregon’s ground fog and LA’s marine
layer, is the synthetic vision. “It’s awesome.” q
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Avionics News October 2013

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