N402RH

N402RH

Well Known Member
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Just finished upgrading the panel in my RV-10 with two AF-5600’s, AF-5500, Pma9000ex, Vertical Power VPX Pro and AeroSport Products panel.

Rob Hickman
N402RH RV-10
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
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Really, Really Nice

I can't wait to upgrade mine now:D

The never ending project. How many years until you change this panel;)

The best hobby ever!
 
Look out Garmin!

Nice job Rob! I'm flying behind your 3500 and I love it- can't image how the 5000 series would be!
Keep upnthe great work!!
 
N401RH said:
Just finished upgrading the panel in my RV-10 with two AF-5600?s, AF-5500, Vertical Power VPX Pro and AeroSport Products panel.

Rob Hickman
N402RH RV-10
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
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Yep Rob, looks great. Can you please advise when AFS plans to ship the first production batch of the 5600 to satisfy current back orders. Are we now close.
 
Af-5000%252520Testing.jpg


I am really enjoying the new RV-10 panel and the new EFIS screens are working great, over five hours flying so far this weekend.

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
RV 10 panel upgrade

That is some serious glass in that cockpit, I wonder what the cost may be? Must have been a fortune, but then I guess you can go anywhere.
 
Captain Avgas said:
Uh oh, no response on projected date of first shipment. Hmmmm.
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We had been test flying the new AF-5600 tethered to my existing AF-4500s based panel in the RV-10. I would not let any ship until we had completely converted the RV-10 to the new AF-5000 units and we had all the features working (XM Weather, ADS-B WX and traffic, approach plates, Vertical Power and multi-leg flight plans).

Now that we have the new units flying in the RV-10 I feel confident that we can start shipping the first units. We plan to ship the first ten units to beta customers next week. We have everything on order for the large production run and we expect to start shipping these in a few weeks after that.

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
lammers4699 said:
That is some serious glass in that cockpit, I wonder what the cost may be? Must have been a fortune, but then I guess you can go anywhere.
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We have had a team of engineers working on it for over two years, it cost way more than you could imagine. The good news is that you can have one for a fraction of what mine cost :)

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
Wow

Well done Rob. I can't wait, my panel will be almost exactly 2/3 of yours, missing only the right efis (for now). Great motivation at this stage for me...
 
Rob,
How much modification of the panel substructure did you have to make for this panel? Do you have any photos of the install?

Shannon
 
civengpe said:
Rob,
How much modification of the panel substructure did you have to make for this panel? Do you have any photos of the install?

Shannon
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While I can't speak for Rob's installation, I would suspect that the standard rib modification that most of us have done to support using an EFIS is just fine.

My build site, as well as many others, show the mod to reinforce the rib to allow an EFIS to slide in. Vic Syracuse pioneered the mod, but there are many that have duplicated it in their RV-10s. The good news is that I believe the 5000 series isn't as deep as the 4500s.

The Aerosport Products panel mounts directly to the Van's mounting holes, so that process is straight forward. The throttle quadrant is not the standard Van's throttle quadrant. Look for more information on Aerosport Products web site in the next few weeks.

bob
 
Maybe none

I haven't received my AFS boxes, but I have seen them (and they are thin), and I have my Aerosport symmetrical panel in place. I'll wait to hear from Rob, but I am half sure that no rib modification will be required. The left 5600 sits well below the left rib, the center 5500 sits high but in a portion of the panel that is bumped out so I'm guessing it will clear the center rib fine. I'm not installing the right EFIS (for now), but it would sit in the same situation as the left. I'm hoping this is the case but would like to hear from Rob. If true, it would make a pretty good selling point for the AFS5600/5500 and symmetrical panel combo - as if they needed another.
 
EFIS Demo Opportunities

There will be a number of opportunities to see the new EFIS screens in our RV-10 in the next couple of months:

Sep 13 Puyallup Washington; EAA Chapter 326 Meeting

October 7 SunRiver Oregon; Synergy Air Aircraft Wiring class. We will be making a presentation to the class on Friday and have the RV-10 available for demo flights.

Oct 20-22 Casa Grande AZ ; Copperstate Fly-In. We will have a booth at the show displaying all of our current systems: AF-3400s, AF-4500s, AF-5500, AF-5600 and the RV-10 on display.




Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
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Open ended???

N401RH said:
Now that we have the new units flying in the RV-10 I feel confident that we can start shipping the first units. We plan to ship the first ten units to beta customers next week. We have everything on order for the large production run and we expect to start shipping these in a few weeks after that.

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
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Rob, if I'm reading you correctly no field beta testing of the 5000 series has yet been undertaken and the product will not be released until that is completed. However, is it possible that supply, installation, and testing of beta units might take months?.
 
Captain Avgas said:
Rob, if I'm reading you correctly no field beta testing of the 5000 series has yet been undertaken and the product will not be released until that is completed. However, is it possible that supply, installation, and testing of beta units might take months?.
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It is not going to take months, we already have all the features working in the AF-4500s and this is really a software port to the new AF-5000 series units. We have the ideal situation for doing our own beta testing in the RV-10. Our RV-10 is equipped with two AF-5600?s, AF-5500, 430W, SL30, ADS-B, XM-Weather, GTX-330, CO Guardian, Vertical Power VPX Pro, 496, and an AF-GPS for testing. I live on the airpark OR40 with the RV-10 and our office is only 2 miles away. We are test flying the RV-10 with the new systems every day and we have only some small software bugs, we have not had any hardware problems.

I should have used the term ?early adopters? for the first units.


Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
Thanks!

Rob,
I hope you don't mind a public "thank you" but I thought folks should know my first experience with you and your company. Long story short, I've been eyeing your products since the beginning of my -10 build. This past week, I had some questions regarding some specifics of your EFIS systems and Trevor returned my call immediately. He answered my questions and said "you should see Rob's new panel if he makes it to the EAA breakfast this weekend". A day later, a friend told me "you should talk to Rob" and my tech counselor agreed. I called you a day later to see if you would attend the breakfast and you returned my call the same day...left your cell phone, and told me you would most likely come to the breakfast. A day later, I found myself flying right seat with you absolutely amazed by your panel, your product, your tech support, and your generosity. So, I thought a "thank you" was in order. I am making it a public thank you for the benefit of others.




N401RH said:
DSC_5241.JPG


Just finished upgrading the panel in my RV-10 with two AF-5600?s, AF-5500, Pma9000ex, Vertical Power VPX Pro and AeroSport Products panel.

Rob Hickman
N402RH RV-10
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
Click to expand...
 
Rib Mods

In response to earlier posts, I received my AFS 5500 and 5600 just after Christmas and test fit them in the same panel that Rob has. Rob had modified his ribs behind the panel for the previous EFIS, which were deeper than the 5000 series, so he couldn't advise as to the extent of rib mods with the new ones - they easily fit with the old rib mods.

I test fit the 5600 and 5500 and found that, with the location of the 5600 on the pilot side, no rib mod is required. The location of the 5500 in the center does require a small rib mod. However, since the Aerosport panel center section is bumped out (aft) about 1.5", I only had to cut about 2-3" off the center rib. Took me about an hour to cut and reinforce it with angle. I won't have the right side 5600 (for a while, anyway), but I'm sure it would not require any rib mod either.

Hope this helps someone. Sure makes installing these AFS EFIS' easy. I can email pictures if someone wants to email me a request.
 
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