I am contemplating getting a plane of my own, in order to take longer trips at will with local fellow pilots, maybe join in on the EuroGA FlyIns or COPA migrations, take the family to some corners of Europe etc… I have about 100h on my PPL and working on my CB-IR.
One candidate plane right now is a fairly priced 2006 Cirrus SR20 G2. Very typical with Entegra deck and dual 430s non-WAAS. At some point I will want to upgrade to WAAS (I have used a GTN650 in a DA40 and found it very user-friendly, compared to a 430 the screen is gigantic) to be able to fly LPV approaches. France is shutting down a lot of ILS’es, Sweden will probably start soon.
Can I upgrade only one of the 430s or I would need to swap both boxes at once?
I did read somewhere here and there that Release 7 is necessary to get LPV approach guidance. That plane’s PFD is running R6.0, the MFD R8.1. Does it mean I would not get the GS on the PFD? Would I get it only on the GTN or only to the A/P or not at all? Or I cannot get down to LPV minima?
I am thankful for any advice/knowledge/feedback.
In terms of radio swaps in your case the best route would be to swap the 430s with 440s from Avidyne. You will have to also change the gps antennae but that’s not a major issue. The 440s are plug and play and fit directly into the existing Garmin trays. I have a dual Avidyne combo and love it.
I have no answer to your other questions but would presume that Avidyne to Avidyne communication should yield the best results.
Hi
(i have a 2006 SR22 with WAAS/EGNOS and LPV certification)
- You need the “Mod55” modification for the PFD which is a hardware and software upgrade by Avidyne. The PFD has to be sent to Avidyne
- You need WAAS antennas which should (best) not be under the glareshield as the existing ones
- There is an SB by Cirrus how to install the second WAAS antenna on the rear part of the fuselage. Since 2006 planes do not have EMS shielding back there this has to be installed which is expensive. I did not do that but went for a combined WAAS-GPS-COM antenna for #2 which replaces the COM antenna.
- If you really want the touchscreen navigators i would recommend the IFD440, which is plug and play with the GNS430/W
I sold my two 430s and bought two newish 430Ws with only 200 hours for a difference of +5000 Euros.
I installed the DFC90 autopilot as well, and Avidyne offered a complete solution for that, called “Panel Makeover”. It includes completeley overhauled PFD+MFD including the HW and SW and new glass screens (instead of plastic) and the DFC90 autopilot. A very good deal for $ 12.990 (2013 price), because the Mod55 upgrade alone is ca. $ 5000 ….
My opinion is that the solution is only complete and good with the DFC90 autopilot, which is not only much more precise than the S-TEX55X but has many additional features like envelope protection, IAS mode for climb, straight and level button etc etc
I already had a new PFD and MFD and DFC90, so the WAAS upgrade was easy to do, cost was around € 9000 …
Yes, you could only upgrade one navigator too. Then you would put one antenna on the roof, and leave #2 antenna under the glareshield. You will not have the crossfill capability anymore and you would need two seperate Jeppesen subscriptions. The W uses different datacards too (16 MB instead of 4 MB)
Hi Arne,
My name is Steve and I am the International Sales Manager for Avidyne. Please feel free to call and discuss or send me a message. There are a couple of scenerios we can go through for you.
My number is +44 782 5953727 sorry forgot that.
