avionics

One sunny July afternoon, a private pilot was returning to his home base from a lunch run to a nearby airport. He was flying a 1946 Luscombe, a well-worn classic but a new airplane to him. As he descended along the mountains skirting a populated area, the unthinkable happened — the engine quit. At his […]

A brief smirk passed my lips. In an effort to hide my nerves, I made a feeble attempt at humor and queried the simulator instructor, “You really want me to execute the ILS without a flight director?” His wordless, stone-faced response wasn’t quite the reaction I had hoped for in alleviating my anxiety. I was […]

The FAA continues to make it easier and less costly to bring advanced technology to the cockpits of light airplanes. The most recent example of this welcome trend comes in the form of an FAA policy statement that will allow aircraft owners to replace older vacuum-driven attitude indicators with more reliable electronic units. The policy […]

The Max-Viz infrared enhanced vision system from Astronics Corp. that has been offered for years in certified aircraft is now available for Experimental and homebuilt models after the company this month introduced a noncertified version designated X1 and priced at $6,000. The unit makes use of essentially the same technology that’s installed in certified aircraft, […]

October, Palm Springs and airplanes. What could be better? Final preparations are underway for Flying Aviation Expo, the premier West Coast fly-in event for general aviation pilots and enthusiasts, with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors anticipated at the three day show October 15-17 inside the Palm Springs Convention Center in southern California. The […]

From Garmin’s latest offerings comes the GTC 580, a new touchscreen controller option for the G2000, G3000 and G5000 integrated flight decks. The high-resolution landscape display adds standby flight display capabilities while using the same GTC 570 interface that provides full flight deck management control, such as flight planning, radio and audio management, and weather […]

Continuing the rollout of new avionics options, Robinson Helicopters has introduced Genesys Aerosystems’ HeliSAS (Helicopter Stability Augmentation System) and autopilot as an option for the R44. Earlier this year a flight test and FAA certification program approved the autopilot for the turbine-powered R66. The R44’s autopilot option keeps the same modes and functionality as the […]

Plan your flights on your desktop or laptop computer, automatically sync them to ForeFlight Mobile on your tablet and then use ForeFlight Connect to sync directly with your avionics in the cockpit. That’s the vision ForeFlight’s creators have for their flight planning subscription service with new web browser capability now in beta testing. Whether they […]

I’m generally biased in favor of anything that flies, but truth be told there have been a few light-sport aircraft that I haven’t enjoyed flying. I felt that those airplanes were so light on the controls that it was rather unsettling. While the Icon A5 looks cool, I was prepared for the worst when I […]

FlightSafety International is in the process of building a new full flight simulator to train King Air 350 pilots flying behind Rockwell Collins’ new Pro Line Fusion avionics suite. The new Level D FS1000 simulator will be introduced at the FlightSafety Learning Center in Atlanta and is expected to enter service early next year. The […]