Aspen Avionics Evolution EFD1000
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Above, you can see how clean the installation looks in a Bonanza.
Aspen sales rep Scott Smith told me that typical install times -- and remember, with a retrofit installation, nearly every job is different -- are in the ballpark of 40 hours. If that sounds like a lot, maybe it's because the Aspen solution has raised expectations so much. The notion of getting a flat-panel primary flight display system with AHRS and air data installed and ready to go in 40 hours is remarkable.
The EFD1000 also eliminates much, though not all, of the hassle associated with finding places for remote boxes. You do need to install the remote sensor module (RSM), which is mounted on the top of the fuselage, and run shielded cabling, which has to be installed beneath the headliner in most cases. And in pressurized airplanes, it's a little more complicated still. Almost everything else is contained right inside the unit.
In terms of dollars and cents, Smith warned me that costs vary depending on the specifics of the airplane being retrofitted, but he said that in a typical installation customers might expect to tack on between $3,000 and $5,000 to the $9,995 EFD1000. Downtime, he said, is proving to be about a week. As always, it's the avionics shop that will quote the price, and expect competition among shops to increase as they become more experienced with the installations and more secure in how long it will take their avionics technicians to complete the job. It goes without saying that the final deal is the one you work out with your avionics shop.
Bright Future
Getting back to my original question: Is the EFD1000 a product that pilots would want to put in their panel? The answer is an unequivocal "yes." There are other options that give pilots more glass to gaze at, and those options will appeal to many owners. But they cost more; in most cases, a lot more. For many owners, a $50,000 retrofit display system just doesn't make sense as a ratio of the value of their airplane. The calculus is very different for a $15,000 investment, a fact we know from the phenomenal success of the Garmin GNS 430 navigator.
And Aspen is working hard to give a lot of owners the option to go with glass. Today the EFD systems can be installed in around 650 different models, including a growing number of heavier and faster airplanes. Aspen has recently added some twins, including Aerostars, Beech 58 Barons and some Twin Commanders. And Aspen says that it is "aggressively" pursuing additional approvals. The model is the same that S-Tec used in making its value-priced, full-featured, rate-based autopilots big aftermarket hits. Make a good product that can be installed cost effectively in a large number of airplanes and the business will come.
It's clear that Aspen was setting the bar high when it set out to certify the EFD1000 and to make it fly in hundreds of airplanes. From our perspective, the company didn't just succeed at this ambitious goal; it knocked it out of the park.
What's next for Aspen? In addition to adding more approvals to its list, it's also working on a couple of new products, the fully reversionary MFD/PFD I discussed, and a new PFD model, the ATP, expected later this year, which will boast synthetic vision, terrain, topographical maps with nav data, weather and additional autopilot interface capabilities, all for a projected price of $12,995.
To find out more about Aspen's products visit its website, aspenavionics.com.
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