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To Dynon or Not to Dynon?

gdafoe

gdafoe

FRIEND
Castle Well Airpark SE of Wickenburg AZ
I'm wondering what your thoughts are on putting the Dynon EFIS and or EMS systems in an experimental as opposed to conventional instruments. Some day I've got to decide on which to do. I'm getting the wings about ready to cover and need to put the pitot mount in. If I go with the Dynon I'll used their AOA sensor pitot. Other wise just 1/4 in tube pitot.

Looks like costs are fairly close to the same depending on what all you put in the panel. Computers crash and you don't have anything, individual instruments go out one at a time unless you have electrical or vac system fail.

My be this has been hashed over before but I don't remember it and can't find it. What do you all think?
 
Flown both types--a lot. Prefer separate instruments by far. I like also separate systems (e.g., vac AH/DG, electric T&B). Just my 2C.
 
Your the one it's got to please, so whatever you feel like looking at.

Me, I'd rather the steam driven stuff and only minimum, just the four..............Aispeed, Altitude, Tacho and oil combination with a mag compass around there somewhere, and of coarse a GPS and VHF?
 
I will be doing Dynon. They're awesome. Legend Aircraft and CC Sport Cub have Dynon.
 
Gerald

I plan to go Dynon. Tough call but here is my logic.

I would like to be able to night fly. I may not do it often but I want to be able to. All the dynon stuff is backlit so you don't have to worry about post lights, ring lights or whatever.

It is lighter.

Although I don't plan to fly IFR, I have been in enough situations where the wx was not as forecast and things got bad fast. It is nice to have that back up. It is not certified and all that, but if you are about to kill yourself scud running you could pull up, confess, beg for help and walk away.

Does not require vacuum systems.

Easy install

Did I mention it is light?

I have found that I spend very little time looking at the instruments in a Cub. I tend to be mostly outside. I prefer round dials but I spend so little time inside I am willing to compromise that for all the other advantages.

Just my 2 cents

Bill

Just my opinion
 
To Dynon or not...

I have a Dynon in my Smith Kit, and I really like it. There is a downside, however, and that is setting the internal or remote compass. One needs to be a serious computer geek, and a lap top computer is also necessary. As a side note, Dynon's instructions to set the compass is a seriously complicated thing. The Dynon people will try to help, but the instructions are soooo complicated, they really can't help much.
As far as the unit, the airspeed, artificial horizon and altimeter are accurate, and the colors are wonderful as well. I think it is well worth its cost, and seriously saves weight too. If you want to see one in operation, come see me.

Mike
 
I have purchased a Blue Mt Avionics EFIS but have not installed it yet. Hopefully it is good as the most expensive ones. Does anyone have any experience with Blue Mountain Avionics?
 
Very interesting, keep it coming, Thanks. Has anybody come up with an estimate on weight savings? Has to be several lbs but how much?
 
For a while, it looked like some of the Alaska maintenance types in FAA were going to let these in certified aircraft. I'd have gone there in a heartbeat if they had. It's a LOT of information and capability for not much money and very little weight.

I don't think I'd want to be flying IFR with this as my sole reference, but for VFR, and the potential to get into scuzzy VFR, these would be great..

And, they have two sizes of these things, by the way. The standard one fits in a 3 inch instrument hole. The big one is somewhat larger, but has a great screen.

MTV
 
dynon

I have looked at both the dynon & blue mountain for a few of my customers, & I found that the blue mountain unit is more user friendly for the set up / install, mike , as for the feds the consensus in the ANC FSDO is its not a primary gauge placard it as reference only & log book entry.
 
Two topics:

1. A friend built a Zenair 4 place with the Blue Mountain stuff. It appears to work well so far and it is very intuitive and easy to use. If you want his e-mail, I can get it.

2. I have a Legend Cub with "steam gauges". I'm an old fashioned kind of guy, and I like them, but I have to tell you when I flew the Legend prototype with the small Dynon (they use the bigger one now) I was really impressed. I wanted to go find a cloud and get inside it. :D

Rich
 
Cubscull,

Yep, that was the guidance we got from the MRL side. Installed two or three via that mode.

Then, someone from Region saw it, and hissy time.

Last I heard, Region made us placard them as inop, and disconnect them. Don't know if anyone actually did, but.....

Last I heard the "official" FAA line is that you cannot install them, cause they aren't tso'd or......don't cost fifty thousand bucks.

I'd still do it, if I could get an FAA guy to sign, but with just a mechanic's signature, any FAA guy in another region/district could hang a tag, and probably make it stick plus make trouble for the mechanic.

If you've got a better answer, please let me know, cause I am flat serious, I'd install one in the 170 tomorrow.

MTV
 
dynon

mike, just got off the horn With my PMI thee straight poop is there hands are tied from outside not regional for field approval. it seems ramp nazis in the lower 48 got their panties in a wad over efis/ pfd's somewhere they lost the translation, anyway install it & logbook it as what it is & placard as " VFR reference only", remember to do a pitot /static cert. again, & thats as legal as it gets! the local federalies are working to right yet another wrong to general aviation Ill try & post a few pics of my two rebuilds ALASKAN STYLE
 
Problem for me is I'm now in one of those "other jurisdictions". I'm totally with you on the logic, though. I say placard it "Pilot entertainment only", and go on about our business.

I still have the placard the FAA forced me to install on the instrument panel of one of the first small civil aircraft to have a panel mount GPS. The FAA grudginly allowed us to install it, as long as we placarded it as "GPS not to be used for Navigation".

If that's all it takes, I'm for it.

Unfortunately, some of the FAA types aren't willing to accept that, and they do have the power to ground you, and maybe go after the mechanic who installed it.

Bummer.

MTV
 
Gerald
If you chose to use the D100 , D120 or the D180 you will need a remote compass box , I think it's called a EDC -10. It has to be installed away from ferrous metal and electrical interference. We chose out in the wing, but only after they were finished. Installing them before covering would have been much easier , better and faster. Also running the wires would have been the same as above. Something more to think about.
Ron
 
I put in a KN 53 GS and a KI 208, along with a vacuum horizon and DG. Over to one side I have a portable Garmin 295. I no longer fly serious IFR, but I have lots of experience with very expensive avionics including the French kind. The Garmin, properly programmed, has a horizontal flight director and a vertical guidance bar that is so easy to fly that you simply do not need steam gauge one, except for maybe the airspeed and altimeter. The glide slope drops off at about 600' AGL, and at that point the gaze goes to the KI 208, which is centered perfectly!

This is of course not legal for instrument flight, or even VFR navigation, but it gives you almost everything you need for an emergency. The 296 is even better if you have young eyes; it has a full-on flight instrument page. My opinion.
 
Sam, I'm sure none us of will tell. Do you, or anybody else here have the AOA set up working. Does it work well?

Sam do you have both units EMS and EFIS?
 
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