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Aspen Pro Plus


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2 minutes ago, Bryan said:

Great, what about altitude select or bug setting in the Aspen? (eg: stop and level at 12,000)

When you say "bug setting" you talking about the heading bug? If so, yes. It is on the Aspen. For the KFC 200 altitude pre-select, you will need this add-on: https://www.aspenavionics.com/products/aps4a-altitude-preselect

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9 minutes ago, Godfather said:

Only to replace the AI...it will drive the AP steering without it. 

I don't know if the GPSS will work on the Aspen if the King AI is still driving the AP. Bryan -- I am slated to speak with my avionics shop tomorrow morning about my plane. I can ask about this if you are interested. The shop does a lot of Aspen installs and am sure they have installed them with the King APs.

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I'd be interested but I've blown most of my budget this year on GTN 750 (love) and ADS-B.  My KFC 200 works great with Altitude Hold, Glideslope capture, and HDG mode.  The "Nav" mode need the OBS setting set in the HSI to drive the AP computer for intercept.  I am told that GPSS is what I should want and understand what that means but don't really want to spend $1500+ to get the DAC (GDC31) to give me GPSS when I can save for a Garmin G5 or an Aspen Pro with it already built-in.  With those, it sounds like I can get altitude select.

For now, I can rotate the OBS in the HSI to track my GPS course in Nav mode.  Yes, I have to reset the OBS at every waypoint but I do that for situational awareness anyway - working on my IFR ticket.

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The Aspen with the APS4 altitude hold, is probably not nearly as good as what you have now. As far as I know, and I did a fair amount of research into it, there is no vertical speed option or control. You would manually establish and maintain a climb, the APS4 will just activate the altitude hold function when you reach your target altitude. And it works the same on the decent.

I have the KFC150, which isn't supported anyway, but even so, I'll be keeping my Altitude pre-select component with my KFC150. It gives me the ability to select both vertical speed and a target altitude.

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I'd be interested but I've blown most of my budget this year on GTN 750 (love) and ADS-B.  My KFC 200 works great with Altitude Hold, Glideslope capture, and HDG mode.  The "Nav" mode need the OBS setting set in the HSI to drive the AP computer for intercept.  I am told that GPSS is what I should want and understand what that means but don't really want to spend $1500+ to get the DAC (GDC31) to give me GPSS when I can save for a Garmin G5 or an Aspen Pro with it already built-in.  With those, it sounds like I can get altitude select.
For now, I can rotate the OBS in the HSI to track my GPS course in Nav mode.  Yes, I have to reset the OBS at every waypoint but I do that for situational awareness anyway - working on my IFR ticket.


Once you fly with GPSS, you'll appreciate the feature. It is a great addition to an autopilot and for me, the best upgrade I have done.


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An observation on the term "altitude preselect." It is not a generic term and there are very critical differences.

The Aspen altitude pre-select with KFC200 AP is via the APS4A which is 3rd party box they sell that will capture the selected altitude. It is only a "dumb" button pusher in the sense that it's totally oblivious of vertical speed and does no calculations to anticipate. It does nothing more than hit the ALT key for you after you reach the preset altitude. If left on its own it overshoots before returning to level capture. It chimes to remind the pilot to watch for preset altitude. Since it requires pilot intervention to prevent overshoots I don't see how it's useful in reducing pilot workload if you will. You can push the alt button yourself a lot better with no overshoots. It should really be called "altitude preset" or "altitude reminder" and not "alt preselect."

This in contrast with the KFC200/GAD43E which has true altitude preselect and vertical speed selection. It calculates and adjusts vertical speed leveling off at the preselect altitude with precision and no overshoots.

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Hi.  I know you might not know the answer to this, but will the altitude pre select work woth. Kfc150 rather than a 200. Not quite sure of the difference between the two autos tbh.
Andrew


Andrew - I don't see any reference to the KFC 150. The company that has designed this system for Aspen is located in Germany. Maybe contacting them they could tell you more :

STC Contact Information:
Avionik Straubing GmbH
Flugplatz Straubing-Wallmühle
Flugplatzstraße 5
94348 Atting Germany

Phone: +49 9429 9424 0
Fax: +49 9429 9424 24
Email: entwicklung@avionik.de
Website: www.avionik.de


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I tried to determine what the hardware costs would be from the list...

one screen, two screens, or three screens...

I couldn't get the math to make sense.

Three screens At 20AMU, that sounds interesting.  I assumed I had a math problem... :)

Best regards,

-a-

 

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15 hours ago, Marauder said:

I don't know if the GPSS will work on the Aspen if the King AI is still driving the AP. Bryan -- I am slated to speak with my avionics shop tomorrow morning about my plane. I can ask about this if you are interested. The shop does a lot of Aspen installs and am sure they have installed them with the King APs.

I do, the Aspen GPSS will drive the AP via the "fine swiss watch that needs repair all the time" KI256

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4 hours ago, Hyett6420 said:

Hi.  I know you might not know the answer to this, but will the altitude pre select work woth. Kfc150 rather than a 200. Not quite sure of the difference between the two autos tbh.

No, it will not.  I have the KFC 150 and looked into this in detail.

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42 minutes ago, gsengle said:


Do you know if the Garmin G500 offers a better solution in this regard?
 

 

Keep in mind the g500 43e adapter with unlock code is 5-6 amu and the svt is another 5 amu upgrade...I've always looked at the g500 as being twice the price as a single Aspen by the time you dump the 256.

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