ortac wrote:
Which is the only thing I don’t like about the DA42.
Diamond offers a mount that goes on the canopy frame.
Peter wrote:
one could say the same about 1 × KLN94
Before the 650, I had this:
That did the job (driving the autopilot, HSI) as well. The reason to upgrade was mainly:
Contributory reasons:
I used this during the initial IR exam, and the way I used this device apparently made a favourable impression on the IRE…
Martin wrote:
airport diagram on a GTN-650?
That’s actually surprisingly usable. You just have to hit the screen a few times (to get rid of the unsuspend dialog, and to zoom in). Taxiway labels are then clearly legible, even though they’re a bit pixellated (it seems garmin stores the airport charts in a bitmap format).
Yoke mounted tablet, Bluetooth audio, that’s it. Very simple and way more capable than something like an ancient 496.
Peter often talks about messing things up by accidentally touching the screen, but this is just not an issue either. It will only happen if you have:
1) Poorly designed software interface (this includes SkyDemon IMO)
2) Poorly mounted tablet
3) Poor understanding of how the software behaves such that you don’t know how to quickly cancel a (rare/never) accidental touch.
For me it’s just not an issue.
If you have a centre/side stick then admittedly it is a bit more messy as then you need a kneeboard style solution. Which is the only thing I don’t like about the DA42.
Why would you need audio? In ForeFlight (which is the only tablet-based product I know and use) the red terrain warning definitely gets your attention. Frankly, if you overlook that then something’s seriously going wrong in the cockpit. Also I find the fear of inadvertently making a mistake on the touchscreen vastly overblown. In three years flying with the iPad and ForeFlight I have yet to make a ‘fat finger’ mistake. What you DO have to worry about is the battery life. I recently changed from a cable-connected to a Bluetooth GPS and the battery life is seriously impacted by that. I now carry a power pack that keeps charging the iPad in flight. Works a treat, as a recent six-hour nonstop run showed. At least in the US you can also get wx on the tablet if you buy something like the Stratus ADS-B unit. And for redundancy, you can buy a whole bag of iPads for a fraction of the price of the installed stuff! Where I do agree is space. In many airplanes there isn’t enough space to properly mount a tablet.
Edited to add that my iPad now is around three years old and the battery obviously is not holding the charge anymore like it did when new. With a new iPad the battery issue probably goes away.
The problem with this “tablet stuff” is that the cockpit fills up with junk, chargers, cables, cigar lighter plugs, most of the tablet apps don’t support disabling of the touch screens (it’s generically possible only on Android, not IOS) so you have to be careful to not touch the things, and some planes (e.g. mine) simply don’t have room for fixing a tablet somewhere.
One should be able to have all the functionality in the instrument panel.
A tablet is good for terminal charts, because
And coupling the tablet audio is a good use case for the bluetooth enabled headsets / an additional 3.5mm cable (if we’re talking about doing stuff as cheaply as reasonable).
In the simplest terms, GPWS, also called TAWS, extrapolates your track for say 2 minutes and if there is terrain in the way, it warns you, with the warnings getting more urgent as you get nearer.
The warnings need to be audible, not just something appearing on a map, otherwise you could miss them. Most portable products don’t do the audio version; some years ago the Garmin 496 was the most basic unit which did the audio, and I installed one mainly for that purpose.
The warnings are disabled on the final approach track to a known airport.
A more proper GPWS system takes into account aircraft performance and modifies the triggers for the warnings according to what the aircraft is doing on the instrument approach, etc. These cost a lot more.
All these systems contain a terrain database (produced by a Shuttle radar mapping mission some 20 years ago) and they have their own GPS receiver.
It can be done with a tablet but you need to couple the tablet’s audio output to the aircraft’s intercom.
achimha wrote:
Why should that be on a super expensive and old tech MFD instead of a cheap and modern tablet?
I’m not saying it has to be, just that you might want something larger (tomjnx didn’t mention a tablet, unless I missed it). Not everything might be available on a tablet. For example, getting stormscope or weather radar output on that tablet might prove to be difficult.
achimha wrote:
They are only available from aircraft vendors.
G950, which is essentially the old G1000 (G1000 minus the GFC700) AIUI, is available for retrofit just like G500/ 600 AFAIK.
The retrofit MFDs that we’re talking about here don’t offer all the features either.
I think at least some do. But those are more aimed at retrofitting older heavier aircraft (the things that might have been sold with Collins EFIS-85 or whatever).
The terrain page on Garmin Pilot, for example, is pretty much identical to the equivalent pages on G1000 and GTN.
Yes! That’s true, but that is not what a “$ 50 tablet” can provide for flight safety. I must say that the EGPWS in the Cirrus (although ridiculously expensive, but that doesn’t matter when you buy the plane used) works very well.
But what specifically does “EGPWS” provide that you don’t get on a suitable tablet application?
Colored terrain depiction, arc/circle modes, AGL data, obstacle display, visual/audio warnings, fade in/out on take-off/landing, what else is there beyond this? I don’t get it.
The terrain page on Garmin Pilot, for example, is pretty much identical to the equivalent pages on G1000 and GTN. And uses an official Garmin database source which auto updates every X days.
