Able to be removed:

Let's get the Duke on that list too. there's a lot of them out there flying around in Century IVs.

I don't know of a single Duke owner that would blink @ 20K entry price.. 

Yes, I already have Dual Aspen PFDs. 

I and my partners in an A36 Bonanza are hoping to upgrade to the DFC090 as soon as it is approved for our 'bird'.

We have:

Aspen 1000

Century III A/P

Garmin GNS530

and are 12V electrical system

How is the schedule looking?

A36 Kevin

First up will be the Cessna 182s (14V or 28V) that have Stec servos.

Next up will be the 14V or 28V Bonanzas (33, 35, 36) that have Stec servos.

After that we'll add the Barons (55, 58) with Stec servos.

Then we'll see if the Avidyne servos are ready by then or is it time to hit the Century servo integrations.

any estimate (month/year) as to when a Bonanza (14V) with Century III A/P servos may be 'in play?'

It helps with our planning, thanks!

I would like to purchase the complete DFC90 including servos for a 14V Bonanza 35. 

What time frame are we looking at?

Thanks!

This is still a little unclear. 

If I add 6 months to what? I don't know whether your Cessna 182 cert will happen tomorrow or 3 months from now. Or even approximately how long the Bonanza cert will take after that.

Could you please clarify?

Thanks!

 Notice all the Bonanza guys asking all the questions, hint, hint, nudge, nudge ;).

A36 with Century III servos

Will you be attacking that combo AFTER you do the Avidyne servos?

If so, that sounds like summer 2013 or later?  Our A36 A/P is down right now and I'm trying to figure out if we can wait or not.  (I'm in flight test so I DO know how schedules slide!)  Thanks for you're patience!  We're just excited about that DFC90!

I know you have to execute the most efficient flight test plan that makes sense for your total statement of work.  You know much more the details of that than we do as you are immersed in it!

 

My only comment and thought, from a marketing standpoint is where is your bigger market for DFC90s?  It would think there are quite a few Bonanzas and Barons that may be waiting to utilize their existing Century servos and just replace their Century A/P 'brains' with the DFC90s rather than replace their servos with either new Avidyne servos or that might have existing STec servos.  Are there very many Bonanzas and/or Barons that have STec servos/Autopilots?  Seems like that number would be low and that there might be a pretty big market for Century A/P equipped Bonanzas and Barons out there....  I'll be quiet now...  sign me "waiting patiently in Seattle!"  Wishing you all at Avidyne quick success with your flight testing on the DFC90!

Cirrus with Stec -> Stec now proven, lets expand airframe to 182,Bo,Baron with Stecs -> 4 Airframes available lets expand the servos -> Lets make our own servos ->Future expand to more airframes(?)

 

Just my guess as to what went on behind the scenes.

When do you need that information?

Kind Regards

Robert

it's now been 12 months since I prepaid for my DFC90 and IFD540

i'm really hoping the wait is nearly over !

 

As noted above, we have borrowed and modified a customer aircraft to have the DFC90 wired in in a fully conformed and certifiable manner.   We were just about to begin the formal, delegated, for-credit flight test when we found a pre-existing non-conformity with the airplane.  We've spent the past few days trying to clear that up and when we're complete, we'll start the formal flight test. That formal flight test should only last a few days and then we submit our final paperwork.

 

In the meantime, we've also submitted our STC cert plan to the FAA for the SR2x DFC90 STC amendment that adds the Aspen PFD to the STC.  We're waiting on FAA action on that one.  Depending on other FAA workload, we are still hopeful for approval on that one before the end of January, however, we have no confirmation/acknowledgment of that from the FAA yet.

it really helps our peace of mind to get any news however small, so keep 'em coming.

It's been a long road, and we all know there's a lot more ahead, but this is the most exciting product developed for GA for many years, once the certification process is complete, it will have all been worth it !

Tim Walter

Beech A36TC Aspen/KFC200

still waiting for the day :)

When they do come out, they definitely will come along with install kit options for clean sheet installations.

We did complete the company testing of the V-tail Bonanza this past week (yesterday in fact) with no autopilot or performance anomalies noted.  Company test serves as the Avidyne official test-for-credit phase.

We now move onto FAA TIA testing this week.  This will be a comprehensive flight test profile which serves as the FAA official test-for-credit.   The good news is that the FAA has delegated these flights back to Avidyne to conduct.  Weather and schedules permitting, this should take about a calendar week.

 

I have a 1976 A36 Bonanza with a C-III; I have pre-purchased an IFD 540.

 

What are your current plans and expectations regarding the Century servos?

 

Aspen has given C-III owners the back burner place in the queue as well. No worries, my C-III is working well for now.

 

My long term plan is an IFD 540 talking to an Aspen Pro 1000 playing nicely with a DFC 90.

 

"If you build it, they will come".

Like my dad keeps telling me, "Timing is everything...."

 

What is happening with the Bonanza Cert on Tony's airplane?  Long time no update.  Hope all is going well.

 

Regards,

 

Tom Indseth

Still creeping toward the finish line on the initial Bonanza cert for the DFC90.  We still have Tony's airplane and are trying to get TIA issued by the FAA.  As soon as the FAA issues TIA, we can move on to the FAA for-credit flights which should  take about a week to complete.  Will post an update when TIA is issued.

 

I see a DFC90 in my future if you offer it for the Baron. I don't see anything on the current certification schedule list posted on the DFC90 website...how about tacking it on the end to make us fee good! :)

 

Chick

Explanation clear enough?

 

Again, good luck and keep us posted.  There are a lot of anxious folks ready to install the DFC90.

 

Regards,

 

Tom

(As for David's questions about flaps, if we can get the voltage from the flap switch which we convert to flap position, then yes, we can provide flap overspeed cautions and use flap position to adjust stall speed for Envelope Alerting.     And for the question about Avidyne servos, there has been no meaningful progress since the last report.  It's going very slowly.).

 

Tom

Congrats on the progress for all things Bonanza! As far as the Avidyne servos...you will sell 10 time more autopilots if you certify with existing equipment and develop the new servos for replacement down the road.

This, of course, spoken from a Baron flyer with a CIII and an Aspen. Bring us the autopilot and we will buy!!!!

As you note, G-35's and earlier are on a different TCDS and not part of the initial Bonanza STC for the DFC90.  In a parallel thread on this forum ( http://avidynelive.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=275&title=dfc90-stc-for-bonanzas-granted-today" rel="nofollow - http://avidynelive.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=275&title=dfc90-stc-for-bonanzas-granted-today ) I pasted the models that are covered by the initial STC.

As a general rule, the FAA will not typically accept multiple TCDS on a single STC and as an absolute rule to date, the FAA will not recognize an AML STC for autopilots.  So, adding the G-35 and earlier is an entirely new STC effort.  It is not currently an active STC project for us but it's on the list to get to.

I know you can't commit to any dates, but realistically how far off is the DFC90 for King servos.

I assume that is the same as asking, when till Avidyne servos be done.

Again, I know you can't commit to dates, but is this a priority for Avidyne? are there other higher priority tasks etc?

I really want to get my DFC90 into me A36TC replacing my KFC200

We're sorry the initial STC didn't cover your model - adding the extra TCDS models would have extended the already lengthy effort even more and did not make sense to do at the time.  We understand your disappointment and still intend to add the models.   To be very clear, we view there to be a big difference between "it's not currently an active STC project" and "have no plans at this time".    Adding the extra Bonanza TCDS is still on the to-do list and we have not backed away from that plan.

I know it won't mitigate Tom's disappointment but for anyone else considering the DFC90, please ask on this forum or send a direct email to me at sjacobson@avidyne.com for any specific model or configuration inclusions/questions.   As a reminder, the current plan of record for models and configurations are still current on this sheet:   http://www.avidyne.com/downloads/products/dfc90/DFC90-Bonanza.pdf" rel="nofollow - http://www.avidyne.com/downloads/products/dfc90/DFC90-Bonanza.pdf

Please see the note on the bottom of that page:  "Due to the large number of configurations represented here, there will be some, as yet to be identified, combinations that will

take longer to certify."

The "as yet to be identified" phrase is the one that I'm thinking might generate those extra forum questions and emails and we'll answer any of those we can.

Our plan (and I have pretty high confidence it will play out this way) is that we'll use the long term loan F33A as the cert platform for the Avidyne servos.  If that ends up being the case, then that also means it'll work and be simultaneously certified for 33, 35 and 36 Bonanza models, both retrofit and clean sheet install.

There are a number of things that have the potential to throw a wrench in those plans but past performance says we'll find a way to tackle each one of them.

Will you be updating the certification schedule on the website soon? Hoping to see the Baron series next.

Chick

Should I expect that the servos will be available for my Skylane (standard airworthiness, not experimental) at the same time, or should I add a minimum of 6 months to that?

It has been awhile (about a year) since I last posted.  I and my partners have an A-36 with an Aspen, GNS530, and  Century III Autopilot.  And we just had all of our (Century III) servos rebuilt last winter!  You can imagine my next question!  Is the plan still to get the DFC90 certified to use existing Century servos?  If so, hazard a guess as to when?  (6 months, 2 years, maybe never?)

 

Thanks,

A36 Kevin

 

We'll be working on improving communication above/beyond this online forum.

If you want to take it offline, email me at sjacobson@avidyne.com.

 

 

Any updates on the next certification aircraft? Baron? Century autopilots?

 

Thx

 

Chick