Avionics News July 2014 - 23

options and opportunities accessible with an avionics upers by aviators young enough to be the aircraft's children.
grade. Another is in helping the owner differentiate between
The older they were, the deeper the story to accompany
equipment that's high in cool, and equipment that improves
each of these elderly aeronautical conveyances. Often, the
the utility or safety of the aircraft. Acknowledged, dependstory involved the aviation equivalent of an end-of-life
ing on the pilot, much equipment may click as both cool
decision for an inanimate object with as much emotional
and practical.
weight as a blood relative for those who owned the old
The customer should be able to clear up this point. Dealbirds.
ers and shops should be able to help them find gear that
With new-aircraft prices beyond the reach of all but
keeps their aircraft viable years into the future.
a few hundred customers each year, sustaining a viable
Thankfully, a host of options exaircraft population depends more on
ist, and some simply improve on
builders of experimental aircraft and
existing functions with more-effiowners of older aircraft opting to keep
T H A N K S TO AV I O N I C S M A K E R S
cient, lighter units to perform those
them flying into the future.
A N D T H E S H O P S T H E Y WO R K
same functions.
The future includes some equipW I T H , G E N E R A L AV I AT I O N
Other options hold the promise
ment-update mandates that, when
A I RC R A F T O W N E R S C A N
of enhancing or otherwise improvannounced, raised questions about the
C O N T I N U E TO U P G R A D E ,
ing operational utility by providing
mandate's potential to accelerate a
use options unavailable before.
fleet decline as owners opted to scrap
E N H A N C E A N D I M P RO V E
Think of the LPV approach capaor retire otherwise viable, airworthy
THEIR DECADES-OLD
bility available from TSO'd WAAS
aircraft because of an early belief that
A I RC R A F T TO O F F E R T H E S A M E
GPS navigators.
meeting the mandate would require
C A PA B I L I T I E S A N D U T I L I T Y
Still, other options deliver imspending more than the aircraft's fair
AS AN ALL-NEW AIRPLANE
proved hazard-avoidance abilities,
market value.
P RO D U C E D L A S T W E E K .
while some allow the delivery
Fortunately, those cost fears are
of satellite- or ground-broadcast
declining with each new advance in
weather graphics, lightning or traftechnology that offers a lower-cost
fic.
option for complying with the Federal
Modern avionics won't make an airplane faster or more
Aviation Administration's 2020 ADS-B Out mandate.
fuel efficient. But an argument can be made that modern
But, this is one narrow area that, in reality, is already
avionics can improve aircraft efficiency by reducing empty
resolvable with the equivalent of a new transponder; a plugweight.
and-play option is in the offing, with a further cost reducIn fact, little of what pilots today covet in avionics even
tion.
existed in the year of manufacture of the average-age priThe issue comes into play every time something major
vate aircraft.
breaks, fails or faces a replacement need. For example, do
For any aircraft with original equipment, the options are
aircraft owners sustain an analog panel or start adding digimore vast than practical. But practical options do exist to
tal equipment to the panel?
give panels a step up, a step ahead, and a step into the 21st
No question, the options for investing in an older aircraft
century.
have seldom been broader, deeper or more confusing for the
owners who don't devote all their spare time to stay abreast
A deep pool of prospects
of advances in avionics upgrade options.
As usual, this year's annual Sun 'n Fun International FlyIn in Lakeland, Florida, attracted more than a few geriatric
aircraft, in some cases flown by pilots of similar age, in othContinued on following page
avionics news

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2014

Avionics News July 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News July 2014