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Plane Talk MAXIMIZING YOUR INVESTMENT
Glass Upgrade: Retrofitting Your Airplane
Having a glass cockpit is going to be a little less expensive thanks to moves by two of the top makers of flight displays for general aviation aircraft.
Garmin, makers of the G1000 glass panel that is found in Cessna and Mooney aircraft, announced last year that it planned to roll out its G600 glass panel by mid 2007, but then pushed the release date back. No new release date has been announced.
Avidyne, which makes the Entegra display used in Cirrus and Piper aircraft, recently unveiled its Envision glass panel system.
Both systems are designed to fit in older aircraft, and both are designed to meet the
demands of pilots who want the increased situational awareness of a PFD over the traditional six-pack instrument panel.
Avidyne's Tom Harper says that of the 150,000 or so airplanes in the general aviation fleet, about half are candidates for glass panel upgrades.
Criteria to consider when deciding on an upgrade include the value of the airplane the equipment is being added to, as well as whether the equipment will fit into the panel.
Older aircraft that were designed around traditional gauges need modification to support the larger glass displays, especially in the case of Avidyne, which uses two, 10.4-inch diagonal glass displays. Modifications also need to be made to allow for backup instruments in the panel.
Both systems provide primary flight information and are designed to replace the traditional six-pack instrument layout with internal Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRS), and both require a separate GPS unit to power the mapping features in the multi-function display.
The G600 is a pair of 6.5-inch diagonal LCD screens that function in a manner similar to the G1000 system installed on newer aircraft.
The G600 is priced at $29,772 for the two screens. The Avidyne Envision is essentially the same system as the Entegra that is installed in Cirrus and Piper aircraft, offering two, 10.4-inch LCD screens. The Envision (PFD) display is priced at $29,995, while the MFD display is priced separately at $13,995. The smaller EX500 MFD can be substituted for $8,995.
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Left: Single or Dual EXP5000 CCS Primary Flight Displays
with Cross-Compare System (CCS), Right: EX500 or
EX5000 Multi-Function Display with XM WX & CMax.
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Both systems provide moving map, traffic and weather on their multifunction displays, and both require external autopilots and GPS systems to collect information and manage the airplane.
While both Avidyne and Garmin are going after the general aviation market, the two differ in their approaches.
Garmin is seeking an FAA Approved Model List for the G600, meaning that the FAA will certify the system to work in a broad class of as many as 400 different airplanes. Avidyne is using Southern Star Avionics, a well-known avionics integrator from Mobile, Alabama to secure certification for the Envision system.
Envision has been initially certified for installation in Cessna 300 and 400 series twin-engine aircraft, as well as on older Cirrus SR-20 and SR-22 airplanes that were delivered before Cirrus switched to the Avidyne Entegra system in 2003.
Harper says Avidyne is working with Southern Star to secure an AML for the Envision system as well. Given the cost of both systems, the question becomes when is a glass upgrade a viable addition to your airplane.
Jessica Myers of Garmin believes any aircraft equipped with traditional instruments can benefit from a glass upgrade, giving the pilot better situational awareness and higher resale value.
But Harper notes that some aircraft may be too old or in too poor a condition to warrant such modern equipment. He said users will need to consider the aircraft's existing and potential resale values when determining whether it makes sense to add a glass panel to an older airplane, in which the cost of the upgrade might well be half or a third the cost of the airplane itself.
Easy targets for glass upgrades include recent Cessna, Piper or Cirrus aircraft, many of which have a clear demarcation in resale value between those with older instruments, and the glass-cockpit models that have been coming on the market since 2003.
This is one of the reasons behind Avidyne/Southern Star's initial certification efforts. The Cessna twins have a high enough hull value to where the addition of new avionics will be reflected in the airplane's resale value. Cirrus airplanes suffer a value gap between models made with the Avidyne glass displays system and those without.
All things being equal, owners of "older" (meaning 2002 and 2003) airplanes would see a nice boost in value after being upgraded to the new technology.
Also potentially broadening the mix is a panel from Op Technologies, which currently has a 10.4-inch diagonal PFD/MFD combination serving the experimental market. Op has been working on certification for more than a year, but has not made an announcement as of yet.
—Sean Fulton
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