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retrofits. Is that what you’re seeing in today’s market? Fymat: Yes, indeed, we are seeing this too. The ADS-B mandate is the catalyst for operators to also address issues with the obsolescence of other avionics equipment in their aircraft. These operators figure that if they’re going to open-up their instrument panel, they might as well do it once instead of twice, installing ADS-B and upgrading their other avionics at the same time. This is exactly what one European operator I know of is doing. He’s upgrading his entire fleet of 12 aircraft from a mixture of analog gauges and EFIS systems using old CRT display technology to BendixKing’s AeroVue. So, in addition to ADS-B compliance this operator will get synthetic vision, airport moving maps, interactive graphical flight planning, a flight management system with flight director and coupled vertical navigation, a new all-digital threeaxis autopilot, and heads-up display symbology right on the primary flight display. All of this will reduce pilot workload, increase safety and reduce maintenance costs and aircraft downtime. Advertising Enquiries see Page 12
AvBuyer: What stands out to you about the way today’s glass cockpit panels have evolved? Where do you see them heading into the future? Fymat: Today’s glass cockpit panels have been an integrating force in avionics, as avionics designers continue to add capabilities into one screen, while removing the panoply of separate physical components from the panel. However, as that has occurred, glass panels have become more and more complicated, which can lead to pilots being overloaded with data – not all of it actionable information, and not necessarily increasing safety. If you think about it, today’s student pilot sees the same panel as a high-time instrument-rated pilot. The student pilot doesn’t need all of this information. It actually hinders learning basic airmanship such as “looking out the window”. I am of course fully in favor of glass cockpits, but I think they will evolve in the future to have more intuitive interfaces that hide unnecessary complexity and are more natural for the pilot to interact with them. Speaking for BendixKing, you can begin to see that with our new xVue Touch primary flight display,
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September 2018 – AVBUYER MAGAZINE
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