GA's Most Revolutionary Glass Panel Keeps Evolving

The ANN and Aero-TV crews are now readying to cover the very First Annual Cirrus Owner's and Pilot's Association 'Migration' that will not be held in Cirrus' home town of Duluth, MN. This time, the event is to be held in the historic environment of Dayton, OH... with all the 'Wright' overtones adding to what appears to be a great year for the annual gathering. ANN is teaming with the COPA folks to produce quite a bit of coverage of this event, and will also be hosting LIVE Aero-TV streaming Friday and Saturday of a number of the pivotal events, speeches and meetings. Please enjoy a look back at recent Cirrus coverage while the ANN/Aero-TV crew works its magic in Dayton, where we have some GREAT things in store for you in the coming days!

It's no secret that we at ANN are rather pleased with the upgraded Entegra glass panel system known as 'Release 9.' Installed in our own Cirrus SR22 G3 Turbo last year, this upgrade has consistently met or exceeded our expectations over the course of several hundred hours of flying. Now, though, Avidyne is finally starting to offer up a promised round of improvements, the first of which is known as Release 9.1... and the crown jewel of that release is a pretty slick feature known as "FMS Preview."

As the name suggests, FMS Preview allows pilots to see a graphical presentation on the split-screen map as they scroll through the list of available departures, airways, transitions, and approach procedures in the R9 Flight Management System (FMS). FMS Preview will be available as part of the upcoming Entegra Release 9.1 software that is targeted for certification later in the second quarter of 2010.

FMS Preview also includes an innovative "FMS Centered" view that centers the map on any selected waypoint in the flight plan.  This feature enables pilots to scroll through the flight plan and view the entire route of flight at a single range setting on the map, to get a better idea of the weather along the route. FMS Centered view takes in-flight strategic planning to a whole new level.    

"FMS Preview makes selecting airways and approaches with R9 even easier, and is another example of Avidyne's commitment to ease of use and our 'Flying Made Simple' philosophy," said Dan Schwinn, Avidyne's President and CEO. "Entegra Release 9 is designed to make single-pilot IFR flying safer and easier, and the FMS Preview feature increases safety by enabling pilots to preview any changes to the flight plan, thereby ensuring they are selecting exactly what they want."

FMS Preview is a new feature included with the upcoming Entegra Release 9.1 software that is targeted for certification shortly. Release 9.1 software is field-loadable by Avidyne-authorized distributors and will be made available to all current Entegra Release 9 owners at no charge.

FMI: www.avidyne.com, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews