Piper Says It's The Most Extensive Use Of Glass Ever Seen In
GA
New Piper Aircraft says
it will offer Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck as
standard equipment on its top-of-the line piston aircraft, the
Malibu Mirage, continuing to make Piper's deployment of the Entegra
system what it calls "the most extensive application of advanced
glass avionics in general aviation."
By adding Avidyne's state-of-the-art Entegra system in the
Mirage, Piper says it's continuing its strategy of integrating
advanced glass avionics throughout the model line. The Mirage joins
with Piper's flagship aircraft, the Piper Meridian; the PA-28
family of aircraft (the Warrior III, Archer III and Arrow); and the
PA-32 family of aircraft (the Saratoga II HP, the Saratoga II TC,
the Piper 6X and the Piper 6XT) in offering Avidyne's FlightMax
Entegra.
"The addition of advanced glass cockpit technology in the Mirage
continues Piper's commitment to providing our customers with
cutting-edge technological improvements and the best quality
general aviation has to offer," New Piper Vice Chairman Chuck Suma
said during a sneak preview held at the annual meeting of the
Malibu-Mirage Owners & Pilots Association this past
weekend.
Said Avidyne President
Dan Schwinn: "The Mirage implementation of FlightMax Entegra shows
the way forward for general aviation glass cockpits. The redundancy
and pilot-friendly access to such a wide range of flight management
and situational awareness tools set a performance standard for
small aircraft operation."
The FlightMax Entegra system for the Mirage consists of three
10.4-inch diagonal, high-resolution, sunlight-readable displays,
including dual redundant EXP5000 primary flight displays (PFDs)
with dual integrated solid-state Air Data Attitude Heading
Reference Systems (ADAHRS), primary engine instruments and flight
director. The EX5000 PFD presents standard flight instrumentation,
including an electronic attitude direction indicator (EADI),
altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, coupled with an electronic
horizontal situation indicator (EHSI).
Cross-comparators for the PFDs constantly monitor both displays
and ADAHRS and provide visual alerting in the event of any
discrepancy. Each PFD is driven by its own independent ADAHRS,
though a single ADAHRS may drive both displays for failover
operation. A "Pilot Priority" switch also allows the pilot to
prevent input from the co-pilot's PFD when a non-pilot occupies the
right seat. The PFDs in the Mirage can present both standard flight
instrumentation and pilot-selectable moving-map flight plan data
and a RMI pointer in the primary field of view.
The EX5000 multi-function display (MFD) is installed in the
center of the panel in the Mirage and provides a large,
full-featured moving map with optional Stormscope and the Skywatch
traffic advisory service and Terrain Awareness and Warning System
(TAWS) display. Primary engine instrument capability displays and
monitors manifold pressure, RPM, oil pressure and fuel flow on the
PFD. A fuel totalizer is standard on the MFD, showing fuel
flow, fuel used, fuel remaining, time remaining (endurance) and
economy in NMPG. Options include Avidyne's exclusive MultiLink
datalink graphical weather featuring XM WX Satellite Weather,
flight tracking and two-way air-to-ground text messaging, and CMax
Jeppesen JeppView electronic chart display.
"The Piper Mirage has been a trend-setting aircraft since the
day it was introduced," said Molly Martin Pearce, New Piper's
Director of Dealer Relations & Sales. "In a class by itself,
the Mirage delivers speeds greater than 200 knots, at 21
gallons-per-hour and at 25,000 feet, and it does it day-after-day
and year-after-year. Now, with the Entegra system, this aircraft
has moved on to a new and higher level of performance and
capability."