I just got an email from Tom Bergeron today regarding a number of issues.
First on Arnav, he writes:
“(Arnav) got their smaller 5200 series certification for engine analizer and up link weather system two month ago and will let us know when it is received on the larger unit in the SR22. They are in process of certifying the BFGoodrich Skywatch unit for the 5200 series and will proceed on to the larger unit afterwards, as planned. We will let you know when that has occurred.”
“I do not know of any plans to display computed air data but there may be this provision when the engine and fuel management system makes it’s appearance. Nothing has been released thus far”
On the STec 40 and 50 autopilots, he writes:
There has been no news yet on the status of the STec 40 and 50 autopilots. Be assured that we will let you know when we find out."
On my question regarding mounting a 2" back up artificial horizion on the upper left of the left hand side panel of the SR22 and move the Davtron clock/OAT/voltmeter to the upper right portion of the right panel, he writes:
"At this stage, we can’t say what space may remain for you to mount additional devices in the SR22 panel. Once the final product has been completed, then, one can began to evaluate the remaining real estate for stc considerations. There are no plans that I am aware of to include a back up ah. The dual altinator and dual battery system is ample backup according to the faa.
In summary, it looks like BFGoodrich Skywatch may be the system that will interface with the Arnav, no decision yet on the STec autopilot certification issue, no word yet on whether any air data will be displayed on the Arnav.
For information on the fuel/air data computer, see www.shadin.com. They make a remote mounted air data computer. The fuel endurance and fuel remaining calculations will display through the Garmin 430, and fuel added can be imput through the Garmin 430. There is currently no way to dispaly the computed air data (winds aloft, headwind component, etc.) in the Cirrus.
One possibility is certification by Arnav of an air data interface for the Shadin air data computer.
Another possibility is an additional device from Icarus Instruments. Icarus has a current product called NavAlertII which will display navigation data on a small instrument which mounts between the AH and the HSI. Icarus is looking at the possibility of an additional instrument that would display the 4 alpha character “data tag” and the 4 numeric character air data. This instrument could mount either between the altimeter and the rate of climb or between the airspeed and rate of turn, and would show air data from the Shadin computer (winds aloft, headwind, endurance, etc.). See www.icarusinstruments.com. The person at Icarus is Stephen Silverman and his email address is icarusinst@aol.com.
One final piece of information: I received an email today from Sandel regarding the display of TCAS information on the EHSI for the SR22. They are looking at both the Ryan system and the BFGoodrich system. They have been in contact with both Ryan and BFGoodrich regarding the data format involved. They indicate that there is “a hardware issue” involved in that the Ryan system would require an additional RS232 port and the BFGoodrich system would require an additional ARINC 429 port.
They are also looking at the manner data would be displayed on the Saldel EHSI. They are concerned about how to display the data “given the wealth of information displayed” on the Sandel unit. If anyone is interested, the Sandel contact is Ken Kochi and his email is kkochi@sandel.com.
In a real sense, I am happy that my delivery date on the SR22 does not come up before November 2001. Hopefully all of these issues will be worked out by then!