Companies Celebrate Part 141 FITS Approval
Symphony Aircraft Industries (SAI) announced Tuesday that -- as
part of its partnership with Skyline Aeronautics, a leader in the
development and delivery of FAA Industry Training Standards and
Technically Advanced Aircraft programs -- its SA160 two-place
aircraft has been approved for FITS and Part 141 acceptance for the
two Symphony/Avidyne TAA Transition Training Programs.
"The Avidyne Entegra-equipped Symphony SA 160 is the most
advanced two-seat aircraft on the market, and with this technology
comes the need for education on how to safely maximize its use,"
says Jeremy Keninger, National Sales Director, Symphony Aircraft
Industries. "It is of the utmost importance to Symphony Aircraft to
provide qualified training to ensure the highest level of comfort
and safety to our customers. When it comes to TAA aircraft training
we have a lot of confidence in Skyline’s abilities."
"Thanks to a joint effort between Skyline Aeronautics, Avidyne,
the FAA and Symphony, we now have this coursework in place to
provide free of charge to the growing list of customers ordering
the Avidyne Entegra-equipped Symphony," added Keninger.
As Aero-News reported, the
partnership between Symphony and Skyline took flight last November,
when SAI first selected Skyline Aeronautics as its exclusive
training developer and provider for its 141 FITS Avidyne Glass
Cockpit transition course -- a course that recently received FITS
approval.
"This program will truly benefit Symphony Aircraft customers
flying the Avidyne Entegra integrated instrument panel," says
Michael G. Gaffney, President and Director of Flight Operations and
Training, Skyline Aeronautics. "It provides a professional
scenario-based and student-centric training program that will lead
to a safe and enjoyable flight experience for pilots taking
advantage of this fantastic combination of aircraft and panel
technology."
"Skyline was one of the first non-university pilot training
schools to recognize the advantages, in both safety and efficiency,
of the FITS tenets of flight training," says Tom Glista, the
FAA’s FITS Program Manager in Washington, DC. "We appreciate
the hard work Mr. Gaffney and his team has done with the FITS
program. The FAA and the entire FITS Team looks forward to a
continued partnership with Symphony Aircraft and Skyline
Aeronautics developing high quality training programs that meet the
needs of their customers."
The Symphony SA 160’s optional Avidyne Entegra flight deck
features large-format, flat panel liquid-crystal displays that
integrating virtually all instruments and gauges from today’s
panels. The Entegra EXP5000 Primary Flight Display (PFD) presents
standard flight instrumentation including attitude direction
indicator (EADI), horizontal situation indicator (EHSI), altitude,
airspeed, vertical speed, moving map, weather, terrain, and traffic
on large 10.4-inch diagonal, high-resolution, sunlight-readable
full color displays, while also conveying a pilot-selectable moving
map presentation of flight plan data and an RMI pointer, all within
the primary field of view, reducing pilot workload.
The large screen Entegra EX5000 MFD displays navigation data, XM
data link weather, lightning, color radar, traffic, obstacles,
terrain, and CMax™ approach plates with an intuitive user
interface.
"Avidyne applauds Skyline Aeronautics for its initiative and
leadership in producing FITS training for Symphony Aircraft," said
Mark Sandeen, Avidyne Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "With
the structured training program and the intuitive, easy-to-use
Avidyne Entegra flight deck, pilots can quickly learn the
capabilities and performance of the Symphony SA 160 and
state-of-the-art avionics. They’ll not only learn how to fly
safely and proficiently, they’ll learn how much fun the
Symphony is to fly."
The Symphony SA 160 is a two-seat, single-engine, high-wing,
Normal Category, FAA-certified VFR/IFR aircraft with fixed tricycle
landing gear. It is powered by the Lycoming 0-320-D2A engine with a
fixed-blade MT propeller, and is designed to offer an affordable
and easy flying experience for even the most inexperienced student
or private pilot.