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TT EFIS with FD & AP

B25Flyer

Well Known Member
All,

I was flying home from TX and stopped into Springdale to upgrade my DF-II to the include WAAS GS tracking. (WOW! see AP thread)

While I was there, Jim took me for a flight in the RV-10 with the retail Version of the EFIS with FD and AP.

What ever you think about the Interface that TT has chosen for their new EFIS, it is incredibly easy to fly, works wonderfully, and has some very neat features.

The first thing is the Flight Director. It is a simple single que flight director and it nearly makes the autopilot uneeded, because even a non-pilot could put the airplane in the flight director que and the airplane will end up at the desired destination.

One thing that is evident is the flight director is stuck to the pitch portion of the display because the pitch display is Velocity vector, not true pitch. This smooths out most of the chasing in pitch, and makes it much easier to fly.

The autopilot works like all TT A/Ps and flies a GPS WAAS GS directly to the paint without hunting or chasing anything.

Younkin has encorporated another "Get out of Trouble" feature. It is kind of a VFR emergency approach mode. It is really simple, Select the airport desired in the GPS, Nearest airport if need be, select the runway heading with the course button and push the approach button. The EFIS then calculates a 3 waypoints. One 3 miles out on the centerline, and one 3miles out 30 degress offset left and right of centerline. The EFIS then decides which one is best and proceeds directly to it, then fashions a smooth turn to a straight in approach.

For a VFR airplane, This is a really slick system. The TT EFIS/AP/FD clearly provides the easiest and safest route out of the clouds for an inadvertant IMC encounter by a VFR pilot.

For an IFR airplane, there is no interface with standard VOR/LOC/GS. Younkin and I have argued about this for hours and he says VOR/LOC/GS is the past. He maybe correct, but I am still struggling with that concept a little bit.

Make no mistake, his system makes instrument flying as easy as VFR flying and that is a huge improvement. He says the rest of us have to move out of the dark ages into the light....... Yes, with a CDI nothing prevents flying an ILS or VOR, and Younkin is correct, once you, or your A/P, flies a WAAS GS you will not want to fly ILS GS unless you must.....

It's just hard for me to move backward in terms of features.......But I do wish my TT would integrate with my Dynon...... Would I give up VOR GS integration for a fully integrated AP solution with Alt preselect and heading bug track? I dunno,,,,,,

Younkin is a brilliant guy. He has invented much of the AP technology that is in most of the GA fleet today. For those who don't know, the Turn Coordinators that look like an ADI instead of moving opposite the horizion is his invention and should be the only way Turn Coordinators are ever built. He is a legend and I always listen to what he says even when I don't agree. Sometimes he changes my mind...

Tailwinds,
Doug Rozendaal
F1 EVO Dynon D-100 w/HS-34, TT D-II VSVG
 
TT EFIS Cost

The Basic model with out the autopilot retails for $3800. According to Jim that price does have the Flight Director feature, and there are plans to have the "get out of trouble" feature also for the same price.
I have not gotten the price list from Trutrak with the cost of the EFIS with autopilot integrated.

Alex D
 
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