Mod Fixes Attitude, Heading Reporting Glitch

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) for owners of certain Cirrus, Columbia and Piper aircraft equipped with an Avidyne Primary Flight Display (PFD).

Avidyne originally issued Service Alert SA-05-001 informing owners of several field reports of PFDs displaying incorrect attitude and heading information. These occurrences were accompanied by a "CROSSCHECK ATTITUDE" alert annunciation within approximately 45 seconds after initiation of the condition.

In response to the Service Alert, the FAA issued SAIB CE-06-07 to advise Cirrus owners of the potential problem and recommend increased attention to standard and emergency operating procedures when flying in Instrument Metrological Conditions (IMC).

SAIB CE-06-07 advised Cirrus owners that Avidyne was working to find the cause of the problem -- and that once the problem was better understood, the agency might take further airworthiness action in the future. This SAIB is the follow-up action.

The FAA recommends owners of the affected models of aircraft review the list (shown above; also available at the FMI link below) to determine if their airplane manufacturer, model, and serial number may have one of the Avidyne part numbers covered by Service Alert SA-06-003.

If your airplane is contained within the list -- and an Avidyne PFD is installed in your airplane -- you should determine the PFD part number and serial number. Then call Avidyne at 1-888-723-7592 to determine if your PFD needs to be scheduled to have the modification accomplished or if the modification has already been performed during previous maintenance.

If your PFD is eligible for the modification, as described in Avidyne Service Alert SA-06-003, the FAA "highly recommends" owners have the modification performed.

FMI: Click Here For The Full SAIB (.pdf)