Looking for Advice

Hey everyone,
Well I am well into my IR and am really enjoying it, I have decided that a panel upgrade will be in order.
As of now I am thinking a AFS Flight Deck and a 430W with a SL30, What do you experienced IFR guys think?
Thanks so much

Panel Upgrade

I don't think you need both a 430W and an SL30. I would get the SL40 instead. You might also consider the new Grand Rapids Horizon HX with synthatic vision. If you haven't seen Paul Dye's Video of flying into Big Bear with the GRT Synthatic Vision and Highway in the Sky boxes you should really check it out.

KirkGrovesRV8 said:

Hey everyone,
Well I am well into my IR and am really enjoying it, I have decided that a panel upgrade will be in order.
As of now I am thinking a AFS Flight Deck and a 430W with a SL30, What do you experienced IFR guys think?
Thanks so much

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply,
Actually after digging into it a little more today, I already have a D-100 and a SL40, I might just add a 430W and add a two axis autopilot and away I go. A much cheaper way to go

I have

almost the same setup..i.e the 430W and the mechanical G106..The SL30 will give you glideslope on the D100 but the 430W won't.

certainly if you have a 106 with the SL30 and the 430W you have full glideslope redundancy as it will be displayed on the D100 and the 106.

As for me I am comfortable with the 430W and 106 only for precision approaches...at least until one of them croaks at an inopportune time I am..

Frank 7a

I like the GNS 430 linked to my Dynon D100 if you connect it using the HS34 Arinc 429 interface, I believe that you'll get the glide slope as well as all the other information and stuff that gets shared, like wind arrows that will show on both the D100 and 430W display. and of course the Waas approach will show up beautifully on the d100 hsi screen. If you add the auto pilot option later, then that will someday couple to the ILS, but as for now it only works for the GPS approach, lateral only, no vertical yet and is still not claimed to be functional by dynon, but the lateral GPS approach does seem to work on my ship

frankh said:

almost the same setup..i.e the 430W and the mechanical G106..The SL30 will give you glideslope on the D100 but the 430W won't.

certainly if you have a 106 with the SL30 and the 430W you have full glideslope redundancy as it will be displayed on the D100 and the 106.

As for me I am comfortable with the 430W and 106 only for precision approaches...at least until one of them croaks at an inopportune time I am..

Frank 7a

Click to expand...

All right, now you've got my attention.

I'm planning my panel in my head - though I'm at least a year away from check-writing. Current thought is a D100/D180, 430W, HS34, and AP74. Will the 430W send the GS to the Dynon screen using the HS34? Or do I have to use the SL30? I'd like to avoid having to put a G106 GS receiver in the panel if possible, but I most certainly do want ILS/GS capability.

***Edit***

Ok - followup question - in looking deeper at the functionality and pricing of different pieces, it looks like I would be required to have the GDL69 remote receiver to get XM WX with the 430W, at a cost of about $4k for the hardware. OR I could kill the 430W, install a SL30/G106 and G496 in the panel in place of the 430W, and get essentially the same functionality (without approved GPS approaches, I realize that) for about $4k less in equipment cost. The 496 will still feed steering to AP via the HS34, the only thing I've lost is the panel-mount GPS with it's approved IFR approaches, and the ability to fly a coupled approach, correct? So the question then becomes - is a fully coupled approach worth $4k? If the next software edition from Dynon really will allow the SL30 to couple the ILS to the AP as advertised, then I've only lost the coupled GPS approaches, and that seems like a good trade for saving $4k...

Greg,

Yes, The GNS430W will send the Glide slope information to the Dynon
HS34 / D100 via the ARINC 429 in both ILS and GPS waas approach modes.

If you connect the GNS430W to the Dynon via a serial connection, then you won't get any glide slope information.

I don't know much about the other equipment. I only have installed the equipment I mentioned above, and fly it regularly so I assure you it works

One change

Several are talking about the Dynon, which he didn't ask about. Definitely go for 430 but I'd go with the SL40. I have this combo and love it. I put all of my ATIS frequencies in the 40 and talkies on the 430.

I love the AFS stuff and will have this in my new project. The Flight Deck looks perfect and will have HITS and synthetic vision soon. How can you go wrong?

Good luck. Keep us updated.

If you go with the AFS (either 3500 or Flight Deck) with the ARINC adapter, adding a 430W makes almost complete IFR ready system. Unless you already have an SL-30, save your money and put it toward a Tru-Trak autopilot. Street price for a SL-30 is about $4K, street price for a $430W is about $7K. $4K for a VHF Nav/Com ONLY is not good value.

-AFS (either 3500 or Flight Deck) since you have limited panel space go with the 3500 then upgrade processor and joystick later. An upgraded 3500 is essentially the same as the Advanced Deck except for the packaging. 3500 take less space but is rear mounted.
-AFS ARINC adapter
-GNS-430W
-SL-40 (or iCOM A210) as backup comm
-Tru-Trak 2 axis autopilot (II VSG-do you really need GV?)
-whatever backups you feel comfortable with (ADI, AS, ALT, etc)

A couple of point to ponder....

Four years ago I bought the BMA EFIS/AP system. They were promising coupled AP approaches with SL30. They are still working on the software and it has yet to work. Don't buy anything is hasn't been shown to work.

A couple of times my EFIS has gone down and needed to be rebooted in flight. Keep in mind that these thinks are computers so not to unexpected and I have two EFIS in my panel to keep me safe. But the problem with the AP software residing in the EFIS is that when it crashes the AP can get strange. I have had mine try to dump me on my head and so I would never take it IMC.

I have AFS engine monitor and AOA units in my plane and have never had any problem with either one. Knowing how Rob supports the AFS products, if I were starting over that is the way I would go. Add to that the TT AP which is independent of the EFIS (keeps flying if the EFIS goes down) and I think that I could trust that setup. AFS EFIS was not available when I designed my panel.

Kent