WFC Avionics
Our aircraft are equipped with what most would consider to be fairly advanced avionics. While legacy “steam gauges” certainly remain across the fleet, all aircraft are equipped with WAAS enabled GPS units and maintain up-to-date databases for IFR flight capability. To whatever degree possible, we attempt to maintain standardized equipment across the fleet; however that of course may not always be immediately possible as upgrades may be paced according to budget and time concerns regarding aircraft availability and major upgrade scheduling. In any case, this section includes information regarding some of the equipment that is available within our fleet; most often across multiple and perhaps all aircraft. You can see the Aircraft section for details on the equipment installed in particular planes.
Dynon Skyview HDX System
As of this initial writing, (Mid August, 2020), we have not yet fully worked out all details of best practices for training with or using this new system recently installed in 275BM. However, in the interests of basic familiarization, the following documents and links have been gathered by varioius club mambers. So we’re making them available here in one place for easy refernece. Please expect that this page may change significantly over the course of late August thorugh September as we learn more and determine what the best leanring and reference resources may be.
Skyview HDX Introduction (from Manufacturer)
Dynon Training Page – Note: This is for older versions of Skyview, so not a direct match to our HDX system.
Full Video Menu for HDX Introduction
SkyView_HDX_Pilots_User_Guide-Rev_A_v15_0v2 (link to manufactuer .pdf file… too big for our server.)
Unofficial Resources (posted by other pilots, etc.)
Dynon Skyview in a Cherokee| HDX FULL REVIEW in flight and w/approach
Dynon SkyView HDX Affordable FULL Glass Panel | Overview | Mooney
Aspen EFD 1000 PFD
Operating Manual for Aspen EFD 1000 PFD Primary Flight Display (installed in 644 and 03S) can be found here:
Avidyne 550
Garmin GNS-480 Pilot's Guide
Garmin SL30 NAV/COM
Century 2000 Autopilot POH
FS-450 Fuel Scan Guide
Attached PDF file contains Pilot Guide for JP Instruments FS-450 Fuel Scan device installed in several of our airplanes.
Comm Panels General Information
Although every panel may be different, many share a general failsafe mode.
- While modern equipment is fairly reliable, a stuck mic/microphone is somewhat common. It can occur at a variety of places in the system from the Push to Talk (PTT) switch through the wiring. (Including a headset with damaged wiring.)
- Most VHF Com radios will show when a unit is transmitting with some kind of display. Most often this is a small T or Xmit light on the unit. And many will also automatically ‘unkey’ after a long period of continuous PTT input. If a mic is stuck, there are some things you can try.
- repeatedly press the PTT to see if it’s a simple stuck button.
- try a different headset or at least try unplugging and re-seating the headset plugs.
- If you have a separate mic, try using that, even with the headphones still plugged in, otherwise go to the speaker.
- Try “rebooting” by switching audio/intercom off and back on.
- The moment you realize you have a stuck mic, if you can’t solve it quickly you should turn off your radio as your jamming the frequency. This can be somewhat problematic if your primary Com radio is also your navigator, but this will have to be a personal safety decision. A possible sub-optimal option here, (for example if in IMC and you absolutely need the Navigator), might be to select another frequency on that radio that is ideally not being used locally; though there’s maybe no way to know that and perhaps using the Multicom frequency of 122.9 would be the least worst option if this would be considered an emergency. (Perhaps most would argue that risking loss of a primary navigator in IMC would be an emergency and better off not done if there’s another option.)
- Another option though, is to try turning off just the audio panel in case there’s a wire there that’s that problem. The failsafe should still pass through your transmit and receive signals, however, you won’t hear the usual sidetone when you’re talking.
- It’s also possible that if the problem is in an actual yoke switch or it’s wires alone, (and not a issue in the panel or radio), you may be able to eliminate one of the PTT switches as primary. On some panels, pressing down both Com1 and Com2 Xmit buttons at once can possibly switch the PTT master from pilot to the co-pilot yoke. (And doing it again can switch them back.)