peter

The Aspen 2000 system, when installed with the optional external Emergency Backup Battery, has been FAA approved to remove the mechanical airspeed and altimeter instruments. For now, a mechanical attitude indicator must be retained to mitigate the effect of a pitot blockage from also simultaneously affecting both AHRS solutions. We anticipate FAA approval to remove the mechanical AI later this summer in conjunction with a software release that mitigates the pitot influence on the AHRS during this certification corner case. Some might say I'm a little biased on this subject, but I believe the Aspen 2000 system offers more features, compatibility, redundancy, expandability and value than any competing system. Even better, Aspen is currently offering $2000 is instant savings on the dual AHRS 2000 system through the end of June. This is one of the very best promotions we've ever offered - I suspect it is unlikely you will ever be able to get a better deal than this.

To be fair, they departed at 8:00 pm local from a location where sunset is at 9:00 pm, and they were flying to a destination further north where sunset is 9:45 pm and civil twilight ends at 10:34. They were well over the flatlands when they crashed. RIP.

Quote: Mazerbase Maybe my electrical reserve concern is colored by my two Aspen tube display. On a recent 40 min flight, the alternator went out. Later it was traced to something in the annunciator panel breaker that had popped. Despite having plenty of power in the ship's batteries, the backup battery on the Aspens kept coming on and they only last about 30 min. So, regardless of my total battery capacity, my useful time frame is only around 30 min. I am sure the rest of the plane's systems would operate, and did operate fine on that trip, but it has made me more conscious of the total picture. However, it is nice of you to take me through the exercise to realize my real limitation probably isn't the ship's electrical system and prod me to find out why the Aspens went to backup so soon.

My 530W com performance is consistently worse than my KX155. This was the case before the system was rewired last year for my Aspen upgrade, and persists today.

Quote: Bnicolette I saw a statistic that 83.62% of all statistics are made up on the fly.

Quote: allsmiles Anyone can recite statistics and data to support any given point of view.

Quote: Piloto Peter The Aspen concept of a direct replacement for the old gyros is a great idea. Many of these old gyros are getting to the point that is not worth repairing them. Peter, on your Mooney to what type of TCAS you have the Aspen display connected to? José

Quote: Bnicolette Peter, Does the Aspen system have the capability to run EVS (such as Max-Viz) through it? I don't know if there is an STC for that right now for the Mooney, but surely it has to be in our future if it's not?

Quote: allsmiles Obviously this operator experienced equipment failure. Did the other unfortunate operators, and that is plural, whose units failed on the way home from a fresh install also experiemce equipment failure? I respect Mr. Lyons your opinion. You surely can understand however that the joy of flying requires a large amount of confidence in our airplanes. Having your units fail so frequently does detract from this confidence level in an otherwise solid and dependable airplane. And it isn't the airplane that's at fault! In other words an "upgrade" has to be worthy of the airplane it is going in.

Quote: allsmiles Scott the cost of the three units as shown on Peter Lyon's post IS 25-30K. List price for the Evolution 2500 system in my aircraft is $22,895

Quote: Magnum How do you know they didn't think of that??? They could require an avionics cooling fan that perhaps the shop neglected to install, yet you automatically blame the manufacturer? There are lots of these units in the field performing to spec, and they would not have gotten certified in the first place if there were rampant problems with overheating or other glitches...

Quote: Shadrach I understand that everything is "as is". However, your shop would have done well to at least give some account of the background of the items and the last time the were installed and working. Those are some of the most minimalist auction descriptions I've ever seen.

My shop is selling off various instruments removed from my Mooney last year for my Aspen upgrade. All were in perfect working order on removal. http://motors.shop.ebay.com/santafeaero/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=

Quote: TLSDriver I would really like to have xm weather. At sun and fun the Aspen rep couldn't show me how to pull up a metar. (To be fair he was a tech support guy and not the normal person demonstratating the gear. Still, he was familair with the product and coudn't figure it out. My wife joked as we walked away from the booth by saying," Honey, if he can't figure it out you don't have a chance. Maybe she is right.)

G500 installed price rarely close to a tube two tube Aspen install price. The G500 install labor alone is generally 2x to 3x what it take to put in Aspen equipment. G500 has no means to support a dual/redundant AHRS architecture like the Aspen 2000 and 2500 systems. Admitedly, I've got a bias, but I also fly behind our product in a Mooney and don't think Garmin comes close to offering the capability and flexibility provided by the Aspen.

Audio here: http://nycaviation.com/2011/04/air-traffic-control-audio-air-france-airbus-a380-hits-delta-crj-700/

Quote: mooniac58 The Aspen displays *just* your IAS, TAS, Ground Speed, Altitude, artificial horizon, Magnetic Heading, ground track (MFD only), Previous Waypoint, Next Waypoint, Waypoint after that, time to next waypoint, OAT, and Wind Direction & Wind Speed. It only has granular CDI indications for ILS loc/gs or WAAS approaches. Enroute you just have the HSI, which I think is fine for enroute course tracking...but as you said the 430W can always give you refined course deviation data.

SAF Aero also did my install. I'm actually a little jealous of Craig's panel - he has a very nice airplane!

I have a friend who just purchased the GNS 5870 for use with his iPad and he has been unable to get his iPad to recognize the GPS. He states that he initially received a password message which he ignored (incorrectly) and now the password message no longer appears. Any suggestions or advice?

We drained both tanks on our231 last year and created a graph showing indicated quantities on the wing guage, panel guage, and low fuel light vs useable fuel quantity in the tanks. Before we did this we thought the wing guages were all wet, but afterwards we discovered they are probably the most accurate thing in the airplane (at least when sitting on the ground). Below 10 gallons the wing guages will under read the fuel on board, but they were spot on above that amount. My SN is above 25-0447, which picked up a few extra gallons useable by relocating the fuel pick up. I've emailed you a copy of the spreadsheet. If anyone else wants a copy, send me a pm with your email address and I'll be happy to oblige.

Quote: Vref I thought Aspen (according Peter here on the Forum)was going to solve this issue the next coming months by having a heading bootstrap output (synchro output)....As well as having an ADF input .to accommodate European customers.?

Quote: ToddDPT We purchased our 201 with the Aspen already installed. When flying the Aspen on GPSS it seems to have excessive hunting for the desired course and never really flies wings level. It is much worse when cruising in crosswinds. We have the Century IIB AP. I have flown in a turbo arrow that also has the Aspen and Century IIB and it did not hunt anywhere near what our plane is doing. I've been looking into this and heard it can be improved by increasing the "gain" on the Aspen, but I think that can only be done by an Aspen certified installer. There was a new update to the Aspen in December and we have yet to do that, but I don't if that would help. Has anyone had this problem with their Aspen and what did you do to improve it? Thanks again for everyone's help.

Quote: TLSDriver I took the aircraft back to the shop today. I was told that they did 6 EA-100 installs and all had the same issue that I had to lesser or greater degree. He also said that it was his opignion that the faster the aircraft the more pronounced it was. In each and every case the fix was to reduce the pitch gain. He adjusted mine 1 unit. I was suspect that such a minor change could make a difference. He said put a few hours on the plane and give him some feedback. I can say that the auto pilot is substantially better. Almost a night-and-day change. It wasn't perfect but it was a whole differnt plane when I got it back. Short story is the shop wants to lower the pitch gain one more unit. The shop is telling me that in each case when the gain is 'fine tuned' the results will be very impressive. I told him I was hoping to get it flying like it had the KI-256 in it and he told me that I was shooting to low. He claims the EA-100 will outperform once it is 'dialed-in.' He agrees with you that Aspen is still new to this game and so are they. In each install they are learning. For whatever reason the 'factory' numbers are not working as well as expected.

Quote: flight2000 IMHO, This can potentially hurt many smaller outfits (avionics shops in particular) in general that can't afford to carry a massive inventory of stuff. I use one such shop and fronted the purchase of the avionics (STEC autopilot in my case).

Quote: 201-FLYER Peter/or anyone- I've been considering the Aspen/Garmin brand glass panels and have a couple of questions...My previous post didnt seem to post (if it shows up later this will be the second) In any event; If one should opt for the Aspen system 1000 PFD/1000MFD then 1)How much would one of these batteries which provide 2 or 3 hours of power set you back (AMU's?) in order to take advantge of not having to have an airspeed indicator and altimeter? 2) Even if you opt to remove the enitre vaccum system your still required to maintain a seperate electric Attitude Indicator regardless of the type of Aspen set up you have correct?