In the News

R9 TRIPLE THREAT

We take a closer look at Avidyne’s “G1000 killer” in three hot performers.

Flying Magazine – May 2011
By Stephen Pope

(Read the original article in it’s entirety (with photos) – click here.)

Climbing into a Cirrus SR22 equipped with Avidyne’s Entegra Release 9 avionics system after spending three hours flying in the left seat of a Diamond DA40 fitted with Garmin’s G1000 cockpit felt like stepping onto the surface of another planet.

Arrayed before me in the Cirrus were two large flat-panel displays presenting all the usual flight-related information as well as various knobs and buttons but that’s about where the similarities between the system ended.  I may as well have been on Pluto.

For most of our time aloft, I marveled over the fact that the Avidyne Entegra R9 cockpit really seems as easy to use as Avidyne claims, while still managing to be a highly capable system that can do pretty much anything a pilot could ask.  Avidyne’s Geofill technology made entering way-points a breeze as the system correctly guessed where I wanted to go.  The rocker-style soft keys were a welcome addition as well, and I was able to zip around the system’s various menu pages with ease.  By no means am I an R9 pro, but with more practice I could imagine becoming proficient with the system without too much hassle.

A TALE OF THREE AIRPLANES
The R9, a long-awaited Entegra makeover shares almost nothing in common with its predecessor.  The new system incorporates entirely new hardware, new software and a completely different operating system  That Avidyne has succeeded in bringing so many new pieces together and making them function so well is no small accomplishment.  Creating an avionics system that in many ways is superior to G1000 was a masterstroke.

Besides the Cirrus, I also took a closer look at the newly redone front offices of a fresh-from-the-factory Piper PA-46 Matrix and a 1982 vintage PA-32 Saratoga, both upgraded by Nexair (Avionics) of Mansfield, Massachusetts.  All three airplanes would have benefited greatly from the DFC100 autopilot – all three soon will. Now that the STC’s are approved, installations have started.

The Saratoga was an older model equipped with a basic instrument six-pack. That meant the transformation in this airplane would be the most dramatic and potentially the most interesting.  Unfortunately, it also turned out this was the most difficult of the three to marshal through the FAA certification process, and as of this writing the airplane remains in a Florida hangar with its R9 components pulled out of the panel as Avidyne and NexAir (Avionics) seek to document the installation work performed so far and wrap up the certification effort.”

NEXAIR’S R9 PIPERS
If going from a G1000-equipped DiamondStar to the Cirrus was like visiting another planet, settling into the front seat of a piper PA-46 Matrix with the Entegra R9 cockpit was akin to traveling to another galaxy.  It might have had a piston engine underneath the cowl, but nearly everything else about the Matrix said turbine-class.  First, the entry procedure: you climb aboard the Matrix through an aft air-stair door and walk through the cabin to the cockpit.  Settling into the front seats, you’d swear you were at the controls of a new very light jet or turboprop instead of a piston single.  The R9 system’s integration in the Piper Matrix is close to flawless, with an uncluttered panel that looks as good as it operates.

In addition to the Matrix, NexAir (Avionics) is working on an STC for an R9 upgrade in the PA-32 Saratoga.  Although flying the Nexair Saratoga proved impossible due to the bumps in the certification path, this program is worth mentioning if only for its potential to transform a sizable portion of the 5, 000-plus PA-32 Saratogas built since 1975 into true 21st century performers.  For $400,000, Nexair (Avionics) will recondition an older Saratoga with a zero-time factory re-manufactured engine, new paint, LoPresti speed modifications, new leather interior and additional sound proofing along with the R9 cockpit, including digital charts and maps, satellite weather receiver, the DFC100 autopilot and SVS.

If you’re already a Saratoga owner, Nexair (Avionics) can perform the full list of upgrades on your airplane for around $250,000.  A typical R9 panel upgrade in an airplane equipped with the earlier version of Entegra should take about three to four weeks.  As demonstrated by the difficulty in obtaining the STC covering the PA-32, replacing all the electromechanical instruments and rewiring the panel in a Saratoga to accept R9 will take longer – how much longer is the big unknown.”

End

Source:
Flying Magazine , May 2011
Pgs. 66-71
By Stephen Pope

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