Dynon Skyview Update News
I attended a class at Dynon yesterday taught by Kirk Kleinholz. It was excellent and I thought I would share some of the stuff I learned.
First - my experience with Dynon has been beyond excellent. Before I even settled on the RV-12 or the Skyview, I spent a lot of time on the phone with one of their people. I had downloaded and read both the D-180 and Skyview manuals, and had lots of questions. They made me feel like I was their best customer.
Playing with their simulators for several hours was terrific - worth weeks of studying the manuals.
Some of the most interesting things, besides the hands-on training with their simulators, was the peek into the future of Skyview. It's very impressive how this company continually updates their product, and on a short cycle too.
Skyview version 3.3 is about to be updated again - the new version will be 4.0. It will be released right after Oshkosh is over (so as to not create possible problems for users who will be flying there.)
New features coming beyond Ver 4, but still in the reasonably near-term include:
- Nav charts (Sectionals, etc)
- Airport / taxi disgrams
- Airspeed management
- V Nav (Vertical navigation capabilities)
- Camera inputs (from, for example, an on-board camera that could provide a taxi aid for tail-draggers.
-Video inputs - for example allowing XM weather radar overlays on the map screen.
These are exciting new features!
Some possibles under consideration include:
- Offsets (allowing an offset from say a Victor Airway)
- Data Recording and Dump - this capability is available now, but the readout and analysis of the data stream is only possible by Dynon and is used primarily in accident investigations. Making this user accessible would be a valuable tool for things like flight testing and engine monitoring.
Dynon is also going to shortly release a collision avoidance receiver similar to Zaon that would totally integrate with Skyview. This would extend collision avoidance capabilities to areas outside the current transponder derived info provided mainly in high density ATC traffic areas.
Some other tidbits:
My Skyview arrived with a Test Harness. I have been able to find out nothing about this. I had hoped it might be usable to hookup to a PC and drive the SV using simulator software (similar to what they use in their classroom.) Alas not - it's mostly for test bench use and, for the end user, can allow the ADAHRS to talk to SV as the builder tries to find an optimal location for the ADAHRS - this is of no applicability to the RV-12.
Dynon recommends:
- Track up - for X-C flights
- North-up - for airport and ATC environments (where headings can be expected from ATC or referenced by other pilots.)
- Operating the Autopilot in SYNCH mode for VFR fliers - to prevent, for example, the airplane surprising the pilot by turning to a previously designated fix or waypoint when engaging, when what is expected is, for example, to maintain the current heading. Using this mode basically allows the pilot to stabilize the airplane - if, amongst other things, he inadvertently encounters IFR conditions.
The SV is not TSO certified, and hence, is not qualified for IFR flying (by itself.) However, Dynon feels it offers full IFR accuracy. Kirk suggested that, in an emergency - e.g. caught VFR on-top, or just caught in IFR conditions, by using SYNVIS, it is possible to fly the airplane to a safe landing by ignoring the stick and controlling the airplane by using the SV Autopilot Altitude and Heading knobs, along with the Synthetic Vision. A great safety feature for emergencies. (Be sure to declare the Emergency or file the NASA Safety Report!)
Do not File /U unless you and the airplane are IFR capable. Just tell the controller you have a non-IFR GPS and can go direct.
The Flight Path Projection marker is valuable for several things:
- Understanding the elevation of high terrain ahead.
- Understanding, in event of engine failure, exactly where the airplane is going to go, in the current flight condition, and the ability to glide to a most favorable landing area.
- As an aid in determining the touchdown point on a runway - e.g. hitting the "spots" at Oshkosh, or understanding if you are heading for a long landing.
Dynon has taken on the "big gorilla" - Garmin - and has been quite successful doing it. Garmin has delivered about 8000 glass cockpits - Dynon around 7000. Their people are knowledgeable and energized. I asked about whether they would certify some of their products to go after the T/C market. They said probably not - it's not "their style." Specifically, to get a TSO, they would need to freeze their configuration up to three years prior to the anticipated certification date to allow appropriate testing etc. Three years, in today's fast-moving electronic toy environment is - is forever. As can be seen from the update release history, they are on a very fast track. A certified system would be, like so much of todays electronics world, be ancient in that time span.
All in all - a great session - and glad that Vans went with Dynon and glad I'm a Dynon customer.
Bob Bogash
N737G
I attended a class at Dynon yesterday taught by Kirk Kleinholz. It was excellent and I thought I would share some of the stuff I learned.
First - my experience with Dynon has been beyond excellent. Before I even settled on the RV-12 or the Skyview, I spent a lot of time on the phone with one of their people. I had downloaded and read both the D-180 and Skyview manuals, and had lots of questions. They made me feel like I was their best customer.
Playing with their simulators for several hours was terrific - worth weeks of studying the manuals.
Some of the most interesting things, besides the hands-on training with their simulators, was the peek into the future of Skyview. It's very impressive how this company continually updates their product, and on a short cycle too.
Skyview version 3.3 is about to be updated again - the new version will be 4.0. It will be released right after Oshkosh is over (so as to not create possible problems for users who will be flying there.)
New features coming beyond Ver 4, but still in the reasonably near-term include:
- Nav charts (Sectionals, etc)
- Airport / taxi disgrams
- Airspeed management
- V Nav (Vertical navigation capabilities)
- Camera inputs (from, for example, an on-board camera that could provide a taxi aid for tail-draggers.
-Video inputs - for example allowing XM weather radar overlays on the map screen.
These are exciting new features!
Some possibles under consideration include:
- Offsets (allowing an offset from say a Victor Airway)
- Data Recording and Dump - this capability is available now, but the readout and analysis of the data stream is only possible by Dynon and is used primarily in accident investigations. Making this user accessible would be a valuable tool for things like flight testing and engine monitoring.
Dynon is also going to shortly release a collision avoidance receiver similar to Zaon that would totally integrate with Skyview. This would extend collision avoidance capabilities to areas outside the current transponder derived info provided mainly in high density ATC traffic areas.
Some other tidbits:
My Skyview arrived with a Test Harness. I have been able to find out nothing about this. I had hoped it might be usable to hookup to a PC and drive the SV using simulator software (similar to what they use in their classroom.) Alas not - it's mostly for test bench use and, for the end user, can allow the ADAHRS to talk to SV as the builder tries to find an optimal location for the ADAHRS - this is of no applicability to the RV-12.
Dynon recommends:
- Track up - for X-C flights
- North-up - for airport and ATC environments (where headings can be expected from ATC or referenced by other pilots.)
- Operating the Autopilot in SYNCH mode for VFR fliers - to prevent, for example, the airplane surprising the pilot by turning to a previously designated fix or waypoint when engaging, when what is expected is, for example, to maintain the current heading. Using this mode basically allows the pilot to stabilize the airplane - if, amongst other things, he inadvertently encounters IFR conditions.
The SV is not TSO certified, and hence, is not qualified for IFR flying (by itself.) However, Dynon feels it offers full IFR accuracy. Kirk suggested that, in an emergency - e.g. caught VFR on-top, or just caught in IFR conditions, by using SYNVIS, it is possible to fly the airplane to a safe landing by ignoring the stick and controlling the airplane by using the SV Autopilot Altitude and Heading knobs, along with the Synthetic Vision. A great safety feature for emergencies. (Be sure to declare the Emergency or file the NASA Safety Report!)
Do not File /U unless you and the airplane are IFR capable. Just tell the controller you have a non-IFR GPS and can go direct.
The Flight Path Projection marker is valuable for several things:
- Understanding the elevation of high terrain ahead.
- Understanding, in event of engine failure, exactly where the airplane is going to go, in the current flight condition, and the ability to glide to a most favorable landing area.
- As an aid in determining the touchdown point on a runway - e.g. hitting the "spots" at Oshkosh, or understanding if you are heading for a long landing.
Dynon has taken on the "big gorilla" - Garmin - and has been quite successful doing it. Garmin has delivered about 8000 glass cockpits - Dynon around 7000. Their people are knowledgeable and energized. I asked about whether they would certify some of their products to go after the T/C market. They said probably not - it's not "their style." Specifically, to get a TSO, they would need to freeze their configuration up to three years prior to the anticipated certification date to allow appropriate testing etc. Three years, in today's fast-moving electronic toy environment is - is forever. As can be seen from the update release history, they are on a very fast track. A certified system would be, like so much of todays electronics world, be ancient in that time span.
All in all - a great session - and glad that Vans went with Dynon and glad I'm a Dynon customer.
Bob Bogash
N737G
