Chronicle 004

SEE VIDEO DEMO BELOW … Continuing to improve the product. Aspen releases another free software update.

At the end of the year my last Chronicle outlined a software upgrade from Aspen Avionics for the EFD family of products.  Well, another has just been released, and it’s one all owners will want to have – and those who don’t own an ASPEN product may have greater incentive to “go glass” with this added functionality.

These upgrades are a result of ASPEN listening to customer input, something many companies don’t do in today’s world.  As pilots we are certainly the best group to comment on enhancements that will add safety and operational ease to our primary and secondary flight instruments. Plus, the unique nature of the ASPEN EFD product line allows these changes to be made as easy as it is to update a database. Since they do change the operating system they have to be signed off by an avionics technician, but with three tubes to update and the paperwork, my shop has less than an hour’s labor.

Unlike many companies, and software manufacturers, these updates from ASPEN are free – not much in general aviation today can boast that price!

The ASPEN product is so visual that I have made a 13 minute video to demonstrate the capabilities you get on a single PFD or a multi-tube system. Pass along this Chronicle link to  other owner/pilots who have ASPEN on board.  I am surprised at how many owners don’t do these upgrades when available.

Expand the video when you start viewing by passing your mouse over the video screen and then clicking on the “expand” icon next to the Vimeo logo on the bottom right of the screen.  This will provide full screen access to the detail I am showing.

Chronicle 003

Pilots eyes age. Aspen listens.

Over the years, like most people, my eyes have had a harder time reading printed material. In the airplane this has manifest itself as needing reading glasses to interpret instrument charts at night, and a host of other reading abilities at short distances in the cockpit. With the panel fixed there is a limit (like still being able to have your feet on the rudder pedals) to how far back your pilot seat can be to read the smaller type faces on a panel. I will be the first to admit that when flying with the Evolution PFD one important setting has been right at the end of my uncorrected eyesight range: The altitude pre-select box in the upper right corner.

Others have commented on this and other PFD display functions, so an Aspen software upgrade has just been released (version 2.2.3) that remedies these issues and enhances a few other features. As with past Evolution software upgrades this one is free, and only requires the labor for your avionics shop (an hour or less) to install and properly document.

Usually a picture says a thousand words, but it was difficult for me to capture the old versus new type font. All I can say is that I no longer find myself straining to set this altitude box.

Click on the image below to open it in a new window -as an animated gif it will toggle between the version 2.x fonts and the new larger 2.2.3 fonts. Depending on the information block, each of the new fonts is at least 20% larger.

 

Larger font comparison (animated gif). Click to open in a new window and the image will toggle between old and new font.

Plus, you should also notice that besides the altitude bug (upper right), there are also larger and more readable fonts for the airspeed bug (upper left), the selected heading and course (bottom center), the air data block (TAS, GS, OAT, WIND, and BARO PRESSURE), minimums bug field, the airspeed and altitude drums, and on the numerical values shown on the airspeed and altitude tapes.

PFD owners asked Aspen to remedy the dropping out of TRFC menu selection every time the unit was shutdown.  This is such a vital feature why not just leave it activated if it was on before shutdown. Aspen responded, so if you have a traffic avoidance system and want to always have it on – it is much easier.

Traffic indicator

In today’s computer age, the ability to make minor, but important, changes to displays on our airplane panel is an added benefit to those who have made the Evolution to glass cockpit devices.

Chronicle 002 – August Bonanza Trip

Over the past two decades at AOPA I had little time for general aviation flying without a specific mission, every minute filled, and a detailed busy schedule. So, 18 months into retirement, I asked my wife if she would be up for a 3 week plane trip in our BONANZA A-36 with no schedules, no reservations, and a chance to spend time at some of the favorite spots we never got a chance to enjoy fully when on AOPA travel. We identified some destinations that were favorites. Just to name a few these included the Oregon Coast, Sunriver, OR, San Francisco, Chicago, seeing friends near Minneapolis, and others. Like most pilots, the destinations would be nice, but I would also get in lots of great flying and have a really good chance to use the 3-tube Aspen Evolution system that was installed less than a year ago.

Aspen system in flight

We had agreed to not have any firm appointments or people meeting us at the airports, allowing us to fly in good weather, and go off plan anytime. That commitment the day of departure, when our friends at RARE AIRCRAFT, the restorer of my bi-plane, were planning a barbeque for us at their home in Minnesota. So, looking forward to what the coming weeks would bring we excitedly launched with great weather on our first leg on Sunday morning, August 8. Just as the gear came up, and I was settling into a climb airspeed, I was surprised by the center Aspen Primary Flight Display (PFD) suddenly going dark.

I later learned from the Aspen technicians that this was a known manufacturing problem, and all the units with this problem had been replaced, except mine. In any other situation this would have had us turning back to the airport, landing and delaying our trip for a minimum of at least two days while a new unit was shipped overnight on Monday and, hopefully installed and checked on Tuesday. I am also sure this delay would have diminished my wife’s enthusiasm for the trip, something many of us know is important. Within 2 seconds I depressed the red REV (reversion) switch in the upper right corner of the MFD1000, and the display replaced the PFD information completely.

Aspen system in reversion mode

I contacted ASPEN and they suggested having the replacement shipped and installed at Flightcraft in Portland, Oregon. This is my hometown, and while we were not going to stop there, we were planning on visiting Lincoln City, OR on the Coast, a mere 80 miles away. This was my real-time chance to experience ASPEN technical support, and as promised, the replacement PFD was at Flightcraft when we arrived. Flightcraft’s Dan Rice, their Customer Support Rep, was expecting us. So we wouldn’t miss a beat, we rented a car at the Flightcraft FBO and were eating dinner at one of our favorite spots on the Coast that same evening.

It’s been over 30 years since I have flown a single engine airplane over high terrain, as we experienced over the northern Rockies from Billings, MT to Portland. The backup display with a completely independent AHRS and systems allowed our trip to continue without a hitch. Some of my scarce IMC and an ILS approach into Portland all were done with this unit.

Map of our trip (click for bigger image)

Slightly under three weeks we landed back at our home airport in Cincinnati.  As I put the airplane away, I realized how the start of our “adventure” could really have been marred in the days prior to this modern display technology.

Back at home

Chronicle 001

Almost three years ago at this writing I made my annual trek to AIRVENTURE at Oshkosh. With all the heavy lifting at AOPA I rarely had more than 24 hours to take in the many displays and demonstrations of products and airplanes. I have always referred Oshkosh as the “Woodstock” of aviation. With limited time, I always would get some guidance from AOPA PILOT writers as to what new and innovative displays to see. At the 2007 event they all pointed me towards a fledgling young company and their glass cockpit solution which could be fitted to almost any light aircraft. I knew this must be a “hot” product when I could hardly get through the crowd to look at their displays. While similar glass cockpit units had been shown for years at AIRVENTURE, this new company wasn’t targeting experimental aircraft. Aspen was promising, and later delivered, a fully FAA approved system that could be installed in certified airplanes owned by pilots who might not have the resources to upgrade to a glass cockpit by buying a new plane.

Fast forward almost a year and with retirement from my AOPA job approaching, I was offered a position on the Board of this innovative company. Those who know me as the geek who loves to fly with technology were not surprised when I accepted the post. It’s been exciting for me to see the growth of this company during tough economic times, all because they have offered the more than a quarter million owners of older general aviation aircraft worldwide an affordable upgrade path to the safety and reliability of flying with electronic rather than mechanical gauges.

Near the end of my first retirement year, and acquiring a 2002 Beech A-36 Bonanza as a retirement gift to myself, I elected to replace what was a fairly new and pristine factory panel with a 3-display Aspen installation.

The work was done at my new home airport, Clermont County, OH (I69) and SPORTY’s owned Cincinnati Avionics.  I learned they had done several installs before my “precious” Bonanza would go through major panel surgery, allaying my fears of taking a perfectly good panel apart and putting in very new technology.

Since this was the first major modification on my relatively new airplane, I opted for a flush mount installation, rather than the less time and dollar consuming “steam gauge” replacement with Aspen’s patented design that fits right into the older gauge cutouts.

The process took less than two weeks, and since I live on the airport I was at the avionics shop everyday, much to installers Scott, Greg and Mike’s chagrin. With more than 30 years of aircraft ownership, I am a pretty tough customer when it comes to avionics.  I must say everything went extremely well and the airplane is “better than new”, a title I gave the first AOPA sweepstakes 172 in the early 90’s.

You can’t possibly do this much work on a plane and not have a few bugs, but none of them were the fault of the Aspen product, and none of them were detrimental to safety or immediate use of the airplane.  While I made a total of three flights before entering solid, hard IFR, it was more for me to familiarize myself with the equipment than the Aspen units themselves.

My first impression: Three displays were almost “overkill”, since I had an older MFD on the co-pilot side and the displays on the Beech factory installed 530/430 GPS/NAV/COM.  However, In the first 5 hours after flying the units, I found myself rarely looking across the panel at any of the other equipment. Everything, I mean everything, needed for flight is directly in front of me, so my eyes are always straight ahead – either over or under the glare shield directly in front of the pilot.  I tell my wife to do anything with the co-pilot located MFD, since all the information, even charts, are on the pilot side.  In the AOPA corporate jet the high priced MFD and charts were on a center display, rather than in front of the pilot – and the controls were a stretch for accessing the MFD information.

As a pilot and owner I feel real fortunate to have airplanes at both ends of the “tech” spectrum.  The Aspen panel has brought more dependability, reliability, safety and IFR capability to my Bonanza than when it was delivered from the factory – just a few short years ago.  And, on Spring, Summer and Fall days I can always return to yesterday and bare bones fun flying with my bi-plane.

In coming weeks and months, I plan to chronicle my experiences with the 3 tube Aspen Evolution system in this column. The transition to glass for “steam gauge” pilots, working through complex airspace VFR using the Aspen features, Back Course approaches, etc. will be some of my upcoming topics.  And, as always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

-Phil Boyer