Avidyne has announced that its AviOS10.3 operating system software has been certified for its Integrated Flight Display (IFD) series of FMS/GPS/nav/coms and Atlas/Helios FMS systems.
The company said it applied for and gained approval from the FAA earlier this summer, as FLYING previewed during EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In a statement, Avidyne said the technical standard order approval (TSOA) and supplemental type certificate (STC) approval from the FAA for the AviOS10.3 now allows the company to begin shipping new units, as well as upgrades for the large base of existing Avidyne customers.
“We have faced several challenges in getting AviOS10.3 to market,” said Avidyne president and CEO Dan Schwinn in a statement, “including, of course, the global pandemic and supply chain crises. Avidyne has continued to innovate, and we are pleased to bring these new capabilities to our current and future customers.”
Schwinn said the update included “several significant new functions and features” that FMS customers will find helpful.
New Features
The product’s visual approach feature provides stabilized guidance into any runway in the database, even if there is a published approach to the runway.
“In addition, our implementation of visual approaches allows pilots to select straight in, base, or downwind entries, plus glideslope angle with intuitive operation,” said Avidyne’s vice president of worldwide sales, John Talmadge.
The software update also has features for helicopter pilots. Talmadge said those included RADALT display, power line database, half-mile zoom range, and a three arc-second high-definition terrain database option.
Other key features of the system include:
- Visual approaches
- VNAV (advisory on IFD5XX)
- Support for tandem/remote VHF COM/NAV tuning in dual installations.
- CDI scaling for oceanic mode
- GI275 interface
- Map zoom down to 1/2 mile
- Power lines added to the database
- RADALT display (via 429)
- RF legs
- Additional ADS-B weather products
- Display of ADS-B traffic and weather from portable devices
- Extended support for flight operational quality assurance (FOQA)
- Support for twin-engine aircraft on fuel calc page
- Ability to import user waypoints from CSV file
- Improved Wi-Fi configuration to ease integration with Stratus, Foreflight, and other Wi-Fi-connected devices.
- Improved pilot setup and configuration pages
- Up to 10 user profiles
- Weight calculator
- Certified TAWS (option)
- 3-arc second HD terrain data (option)
Field Loadable
While the new IFD and FMS units will ship with the new software already integrated, the company said AviOS10.3 is available as a field-loadable upgrade through authorized Avidyne dealers for existing owners. However, while the AviOS10.3 software is available from Avidyne at no charge, the company said customers should note that dealer installation labor is not included. The upgrade allows customers to enable an approved terrain avoidance and warning system (TAWS) for the new IFD and ATLAS systems. The TSO’d TAWS feature for new IFD, and Atlas systems is a $7,999 option per aircraft, including the higher resolution three arc-second terrain database.
