Tag Archives: avidyne r9

Learning New Tricks In Hilton Head

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After 300+ hours flying behind the R9 screens, I thought I knew everything there was to know about R9.  But at the risk of sounding like an “old dog”, yesterday at the R9 User Group Meeting in Hilton Head, I learned a couple of cool new tricks!

The weather was excellent and Hilton Head is only 270 miles away… So the plan was for an early morning journey, which would get me there in time for the 08:30 planned start.  The trip there was a rather uneventful flight.  A direct climb to 17k FT using the IAS climb feature of DFC100, followed by a totally peaceful IFR flight.  In fact, the skies were so empty at that hour, that I was making “excuses” to talk to ATC just to ensure that my radio was working properly!

When I got closer to Hilton Head Airport, I checked out the charts and found something unusual.  Instead of the typical cadre of precision approaches,  they had something called the “Broad Creek Visual Approach” procedure.

I had never heard of a “Visual Approach Procedure”.  But it looked rather simple and I was eager to try it.  I asked ATC for a descent and a clearance for this funky approach.  They cleared me “as requested” and told me to “Report when I had the lighthouse in sight”.  Moments later, I saw the infamous lighthouse and proceeded to follow the approach course at 1500 FT along the water.   It was quite a sight following a river at such a low altitude.

I found it quite ironic that in order to get to a user group for a very high tech product, I flew a very old fashioned (and low tech) flight along a river using a lighthouse as a landmark!

After the meeting, I was so excited about the tips, tricks and “gems” that were discussed and was eager to try them myself in flight.

The one “gem” that intrigued me the most, was the idea of a “Pseudo Approach”.  The basic idea is that when flying to any runway (regardless airport ground equipment), you can use R9 altitudes constraints / course offsets in conjunction with the DFC100 Vertical Navigation features to create a simulated GPS approach with a glideslope.  Obviously, this is not a legal FAA sanctioned procedure.  Nor is it as accurate as a real published instrument procedure.  However, when the real thing is not available, it is certainly much better and safer than having nothing. Here is a short video clip that shows my first attempt doing this:

Now after learning a few R9 tricks, I can’t wait till next months’ CPPP training course in Atlanta so I can hopefully learn some cool Cirrus tricks!

Cheers,

== T.J.==

Avidyne R9 Upgrade Process

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Many people have asked me about what was involved in doing my Avidyne R9 retrofit.  So I have finally gotten around to describing it.
First a little background/context….
Last year, I was the happy, proud owner of N-514TJ, which is a Cirrus SR-20, well equipped with the Avidyne R7 avionics suite. This was the first plane I owned and I was EXTREMELY happy with it.  However, it was missing a couple of features that got me thinking about upgrading.
My SR20 had dual Garmin 430s (but NO WAAS).  Being an IT guy this was perhaps the primary motivation for me to start to explore.  Since, upgrading to WAAS is a significant expense, I also considered “trading up” on the plane itself.

Here is a pic of the old plane

When I started to look for the “next” plane, I naturally looked at a new Cirrus SR22 w/perspective.   When I first took a demo flight in this plane, my initial reaction was WOW! … This plane is amazing.  (I didn’t really understand everything on the screen.  But the demo pilot/salesman that accompanied me assured me that was “normal” and with a little training, I would become proficient very quickly.)  At that point, I had heard of the Avidyne R9.  However, I had not seen it in person.  Then, by pure luck, Avidyne had a sales presentation at my home airport.  The salesman was a very charismatic guy, who showed me how to fly a typical FL flight, that is to say with DPs/STARs, enroute diversions, holds, etc on R9.  I was sooo impressed, I decided that day that R9 was for me.  I left a sizable deposit on R9, even though I didn’t have a plane that I wanted to put it in!
In my opinion, the R9 blows away the Garmin Perspective because it is so intuitive that after my demo flight, I felt like I knew how to use 75% of the system.  In contrast, after my demo flight with Perspective, I felt like I knew how to use 25% of the system.  Being a private pilot who typically flies once a week, this really appealed to me!
So I decided, I wouldn’t upgrade the SR20 with WAAS.  Instead, I would “find” an SR22 w/ WAAS and then do an R9 upgrade.
Then, with the help of the Jeff Ellston @ Leading Edge in Tampa, I found N-914AL.  This plane was the “perfect” canvas to put R9 onto.  It was a GTS Turbo with Air (a must in FL) + WAAS + Deice + Built in Oxygen, etc
Here is what I looked like when I bought it:

Here is the before picture before R9 and Tail Number change.

This is the “before” picture of the cockpit

Then the R9 upgrade began… Perhaps I was a bit naive… I had envisioned 2 screens come out ; 2 bigger better screens go in … Poof it is done.
The reality is not quite that easy.  In fact, it is major surgery.  The pix below show some of the work in progress.

This is the “during surgery” view

This is the “almost done” view

The entire process takes 4-6 weeks and it is one that you do NOT want to rush. I visited the work in progress several times a week.  In my opinion, the folks at Leading Edge Aviation and Sarasota Avionics, really went out of their way to do a gr8 job.  (I am extremely pleased with the finished product)
Here is what it looks like now:

I couldn’t resist the vanity and “had” to change the tail number to N346TJ

This is the “after” view of the cockpit

The finished product has totally exceeded my expectations!  Now that I have over 100 hours on R9, I plan to write some other posts soon that demonstrate what I love about this system .  But perhaps the “big picture win” for me is that I have a plane that is “better” than what comes off of the Cirrus production line for ~ $100k less.
Cheers,
== T.J.==