Tue, Feb 07, 2012

Aero-TV: Final Approach -- Discovering Avidyne's R9 with DFC100 (Part 3)

A Glass Panel System Really Shows Its Mettle When You Head For The Approach

So... a few months ago, we had the chance to sit back in awe at the expertise already displayed by one of the Avidyne R9 glass panel's most passionate advocates... and users.

There are few more knowledgeable people on the planet, as far as R9 is concerned, than Trip Taylor and for the better part of a few hours, we had the chance to sit back and enjoy his synoptic descriptions of just a few of the many intriguing features built into one of the most usable glass panel cockpits we've yet flow... now made even more so with the advent of the DFC100 digital autopilot.

Trip, by the way, has served as a Platinum CSIP instructor, head of the Avidyne National Flight Standards Team, and was formerly a check pilot for SATSair, a Part 135 air taxi company that flew Cirrus SR22s.

Employing a fully-modular architecture, Entegra Release 9 includes high-resolution IFD5000 displays, dual Air Data and Attitude Heading Reference Systems (ADAHRS), dual-redundant FMS900w systems with a QWERTY keypad, next-generation fully-digital 16-watt VHF NAV/COM radios, and dual WAAS/RNP-capable GPS receivers.

Release 9’s Page & Tab user interface makes it a breeze to quickly access data without delving into hierarchical menus, pop-up windows or hidden modes. Designed with a fully-redundant architecture, each IFD5000 is fully capable of performing the functions of the other with no unfamiliar or limited reversionary modes.

Join ANN and Trip for a look at a number of tasks that have become far more intuitive using the R9 architecture... this time, though, let's look at the manner in which the R9 system handles the chores when you execute an approach -- a task at which R9 excels.