Greetings COPA members. This is one of those things that’s been on my “To Do” list for quite some time. I believe Avidyne needs to actively engage the COPA community and that starts with me. So I want to introduce myself and discuss a couple things to build some goodwill.
I have been with Avidyne for a little over a year as the VP Sales & Marketing. Today I simply want to address 3 issues that I think will help.
Some Avidyne Guidance on the CMOS Battery issue many of you have voiced concern over with Extant
My discussions with Roger Whittier and establishing a COPA advisory council
Use this forum for more transparency between COPA and Avidyne
I think we can all agree the CMOS Battery issue has been problematic. Please click on the link below for some guidance on how that impacts your EX5000 MFD. Additionally, Avidyne has updated the Preventive Maintenance Manual (PMM) to clearly state it is “optional” to replace a dead CMOS battery.
Second, I’ve committed to Roger Whittier to actively participate in a COPA advisory Council. The details have not all been nailed down but it will be a small group that I’ll let Roger select and discuss issues roughly once a month or as business needs dictate.
Third, create a profile on this forum so that COPA members have a direct voice to Avidyne. We have some exciting products coming that will certainly impact the COPA community and I think we can do a better job listening to your needs and feeling some of your frustrations more directly.
Finally, I would like to add that I enjoy flying Avidyne’s Experimental SR-22. I believe Avidyne can bring a lot of value to the thousands of Entegra installed aircraft flying today.
Welcome aboard. You will find some of the biggest Avidyne fans here on this forum. I had a “Garminectomy” done on my plane, and installed IFD540/440/ADSB/DFC90 alll from Avidyne last year. I could not be happier. Release 10.2 is a game changer.
Please keep working on producing a low cost replacement for the PFD and MFD in legacy planes, and make your users happy. You need to produce a R9 replacement equivalent for those with IFD/DFC setup.
The GA community does not truly understand what we’ve done with 10.2. I’m so glad to hear you see the power of it. Flying an instrument approach with the IFD550 is all the R9 technology packed into one very powerful box. We are only scratching the surface on IFD100 applications as well.
As a company we are getting very serious about the PFD replacement. Honestly, it’s probably 2 years away but it’s on our list and getting more priority with engineering resources.
We are pedaling really hard to deliver ADS-B In to the Entegra/R9 fleets.
I believe you will see a new concept emerge (IFI) In Flight Internet in the GA community. Think about the power of that. Very affordable and will help augment safety in so many ways. I think the obvious gap with ADS-B is the weather products so getting an internet connection in the cockpit will help tremendously.
I’m excited to bounce ideas off the COPA Advisory council that Roger will establish.
Mitch,
Congratulations on your initiative; it will take persistence, perseverance and a thick skin, but as Slim Morgan at Jeppesen will tell you, the positives in the long run well outweigh the negatives.
Many of us love our Entegra systems and look forward to further two-way conversations!
I have not placed any restrictions on the Advisory Council. We can have all grouches. Any yes, I’m aware of past sins. Not trying to re-write history. Simply build a better relationship with an important group of aviators going forward.
I have a long list of “enhancements” as well. We can do a better job of prioritizing what makes the cut. I didn’t realize the Cirrus had rudder pedals… like most good jet jockeys, feet flat on the floor, drop the oxygen max, smoke a cigar and get fixated on the air-to-air radar. By the way, a yaw string is so much more fun, pretty easy install too.
All kidding aside, I welcome all feedback to move the Avidyne and COPA relationship forward.
Welcome aboard, Mitch, and thanks in advance for keeping an open mind. Trust you have a thick skin to match–that’s a shrinking resource these days,
Mike Doody’s sentiments match mine exactly:
“Please don’t get me wrong - I personally love my Avidyne avionics for the most part - it is not a question of the quality of your product. It is customer service and lack of any response from the pilot community when issues have been raised.”
I hope that your ongoing presence here just might bridge that yawning chasm. However, there’s a bigger impediment which has motivated compelled me to purchase my last five avionics upgrades from your competitors (Garmin & L3). Bet you already know what that is: The toxic Avidyne service-plan indemnity agreement.
Asking–yes, I know, not *requiring–*your (formerly) loyal customers to place their family and fortune like human shields between you and legal hazard is, politely, unconscionable.
Much as I’d be delighted by a successful Entegra replacement project, it’ll fail (for me) until your policies stop abusing your patrons.
Please forgive my sour introduction, Mitch. Thank you for your intentions.
Ain’t that the truth about the slip/skid indicator. I rely on the backup TC/ball. The CSIP I fly with tries to get me to use the indicator on the PFD so I’m not looking all over the place in my scan, but I can’t discern any movement in the slip/skid on the PFD when the physical ball is pretty significantly off to one side.
In general, though, I love the IFD 540 - to be upgraded next week to 10.2 - and the DFC90. Thanks for reaching out to the Cirrus community.
I’m willing to volunteer as well. I’ve been advocating for this kind of interaction for years, starting with the attempt to help Avidyne fix egregious errors in its documentation for the DFC90, which I and several others pointed out to the company years ago, were acknowledged to be an issue, and then never addressed, even after making it clear we wanted to help, not just complain.
The pre-Perspective Cirrus community is one of the largest groups of aircraft with primarily Avidyne gear. We all want viable avionics for our aircraft to continue to be available, and many of us are more than willing to spend money to improve our planes over time.
I’d also recommend at least one person from the R9 community. They have been long suffering but again could be turned into happy customers with the development of a viable roadmap for ADS-B and other missing capabilities.
I too am favorably biased toward the design and interface of Avidyne avionics compared to their competitors. I think it is nearly undisputed that they are more intuitive, easier to learn, harder to get confused.
So far, two issues have been highlighted. Unfriendly customer service policies and unconsionable warranty policies. To those two, I willl add a third. Credibility.
Avidyne has a self-inflicted reputation as a company that is not trustworthy. From R-9 SynVis to 440 certification and etc., there have been deadlines that have been missed not by months but by years. When the deadlines come and go, there has been no regular updates. The updates that occasionally came later vaporized, without any explanation.
Like the others, I want to be constructive. If we are starting over and rethinking this stuff, credibility is a third cultural issue that should be addressed. If Avidyne’s supporters can’t trust them, what is there to build upon?
Welcome aboard! Appreciate your willingness to interface with the COPA community. DFC90 was a big deal to me - what an improvement over its replacement - the STEC 55X, Thet got my attention. I think the PFD/MFD replacement would be a big hit as well and much needed after 10+ years (I have a 2006 SR22 GTS).
I have the Avidyne Dream panel and could not be happier.
When my DFC 90 was installed there were some issues which Avidyne worked very hard to resolve. It turned out the problem was not with the DFC 90 but was from bad adjustment of the aileron bungee by the SC. My MFD and PFD have been rock solid. My experience with Avidyne personnel and support has been superb. My experience with getting my SIU repaired not so much as Avidyne has outsourced this to Radiant.
One of the earliest cases I remember from Business School was about a manufacturer trying to decide what to do about supporting old, no longer sold or manufactured industrial equipment. As I recall the choices were;
Quit supporting the stuff. It is a pain in the neck. Sell or give the support rights to someone else and don’t look back. Concentrate on your core business and new products.
Keep supporting internally but charge a lot so as to make it a profit center.
Keep supporting internally, charge a fair price and emphasise rush delivery.
After much discussion the concensus was #1 and #2 just alientated customers and probably pushed them to a more service oriented competitor for their next purcahse.
It seems that Avidyne has taken approach #1 with the SIUs.
The consensus was that approach #3 ended up with more satisfied and loyal customers.
Welcome Mitch. I love my R9 and couldn’t be happier with the move from my Entegra panel. However, please share what Avidyne is doing to address the imminent obsolescence of our MLB700 satellite weather with the WSI fiasco? Our weather service goes black at the end of the year. What’s the plan?
Thank you very much for taking this initiative. Some of us who have recently upgraded to an all Avidyne avionics package certainly feel at ease knowing that we have a direct communication line with Avidyne exec management. Avidyne’s new product line up (specifically the IFDs) have been fantastic and the 10.2 upgrade (even though it was delayed more than expected) just happened to be the icing on that cake. Thank you for that.
As for the Entegra series that are legacy products, we would most certainly benefit from having our voices heard on legacy issues similar to the CMOS battery that you have rightly addressed.