Sender: <marv@lancaironline.net>
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:05:40 -0400
Message-ID: <redirect-2281062@logan.com>
Received-SPF: pass
 receiver=logan.com; client-ip=198.36.178.142; envelope-from=JJHALLE@stoel.com
Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Subject: New Avionics
In-Reply-To: <list-2279899@logan.com>
Thread-Topic: New Avionics
Thread-Index: AcflbPU0aAvBzGNoSUu5lXQJ+q+fnAANTT9Q
From: "Halle, John" <JJHALLE@stoel.com>

In the avalanche of criticisim of this or that avionics manufacturer,
one point seems to have been lost: think back 10, or even 5 years ago.
A good deal of what homebuilders are routinely putting in their aircraft
for all-in panel prices in the $40-100K range was not available at all,
anywhere, for any aircraft, at any price.  Most of the rest was
available in high-end business aircraft for prices in the millions
(that's for the panel, not the airplane.)  There is a revolution going
on in avionics and a great deal of it is being led (for the first time
in history) by the experimental market, i.e. by individuals or small
groups of individuals with some knowledge, very little money and a dream
that they are willing to work 18 hour days, 7 days a week to realize.
Many of them have left well-paying, secure, "normal" jobs to pursue that
dream and we are the beneficiaries of their efforts.

Having gone through the installation of two complete panels in the last
six years, I have had an opportunity both to witness and to benefit from
this revolution.  What my small airplane is now capable of is quite
simply amazing.  It equals or exceeds the capability of the most
advanced airliners in service (in terms of features if not reliability)
and costs a miniscule fraction of what the airline systems cost.

We have come to expect (and for the most part have been delivered)
performance just short of miraculous at prices that, compared to
comparable certified products, are laughable.  The price we pay (and it
is a small one compared to the benefit) is that the cutting edge
products that we get with the latest revs available are effectively
"beta" products.  While the basic system generally works, the latest
features often have "glitches" that require tweaking.  The small
companies that make these products encounter (not surprisingly)
unexpected issues that sometimes delay the deployment of some
incredible, whizbang feature for a few weeks.  The excruciating,
expensive and time-consuming testing that goes into a certified product
is replaced by the actual, in-use experience of pilots who elect to buy
and install these sytems.  In the end, everything works but it is a
process, not a plug-and-play event.

For those who expect everying to work as advertized, there is a simple
solution:  Go see Honeywell.  They will sell you, for several million
dollars, an FMS system that works to spec from day one (at least
following acceptance tests.)  Of course it won't fit in your RV or
Lancair or Glassair of whatever so you will have to shell out another
$40-60 million to get a G-5 and you will have a really awesome system,
just like the one Phil Knight has in the hangar next to mine.

For the rest of us, for whom this is neither a viable nor an attractive
alternative, we owe an immense debt of gratitude to all of the small
avionics manaufacturere (yes, all of them) who have done so much to make
possible what, only a few years ago, we could not even have dreamed of.

(But I still don't agree with you about the AOA, Rob.)