Glass Cockpit Centurion Will Be On Display

Sierra Industries, a South Texas’ aircraft modification company, will host a “Pistons and Pixels” demonstration to showcase their avionics and airframe upgrade capabilities for a variety of high-performance aircraft. The event will be held at the Gillespie County Airport in Fredericksburg, Texas from 8 AM to 4 PM on Saturday, March 13. Owners and operators of high-performance single and twin-engine piston aircraft are encouraged to attend and discover how the latest high-tech retrofits can benefit their aircraft.

Home to the well-known “Texas Top Ten” Hangar Hotel and Airport Diner, Gillespie County Airport is nestled in the picturesque Texas Hill Country and features a 5000 foot asphalt runway. Located 3 miles southwest of Fredericksburg, the uncontrolled VFR airport is home base to some 50 fixed-wing aircraft.

The centerpiece of this special event will be Sierra’s “Super Centurion” (SSC) demonstration aircraft. Combining state-of-the-art avionics with numerous exclusive Sierra modifications such as Sierra’s R/STOL, gear door conversions and a custom single-piece panel, the SSC upgrade showcases a complete 21st century transformation of the classic Cessna Centurion.

The avionics upgrades replace the Centurion’s original analog instrumentation with modern “glass cockpit” digital units, increasing situational awareness and minimizing the pilot’s workload. The integrated primary flight and multi-function displays combine graphic information about aircraft position, speed, attitude, altitude and more with color-coded alert features. The MFD side features a detailed moving-map display of the aircraft’s relationship to ground features, chart data, navigation aids and more with built-in terrain and navigation databases and available Jeppesen chart upgrades.

Sierra’s T210 SSC demo features Garmin G500 and EDM 930 LCD displays chart upgrades. This highly reliable digital information system is capable of restarting and re-establishing position and velocity references while the aircraft is in flight. Numerous safety enhancements are available to alert pilots to proximity conflicts and weather information, including Class-B TAWS, XM Satellite Weather and Traffic Information Services (TIS) alerts. A fully refurbished glareshield with full underlighting is included in the package, as well as a 6-position intercom with auxiliary music input.

FMI: www.sijet.com