uAvionix ADS-B out solution

[Steve]

Months away would be OK, years, not so much...

A small plastic mounting plate with an encapsulated rear-facing white LED would do the trick.

I hope they see the potential market - lots of DA-40s and Cirrus SR-20s have that style of light.

[Rich]

Couple of interesting interesting things in here:

https://uavionix.com/downloads/skybeaco ... -Rev-B.pdf

[Rich]

Looks like the TSO is now in place for this unit. Not suitable for DA40's but useful for many others.

There is a non-critical feature in this unit totally useless for low-wing aircraft.

[Colin]

There is a non-critical feature in this unit totally useless for low-wing aircraft.

What is that? And would it matter if the plane were composite vs. metal?

[Rich]

There is a non-critical feature in this unit totally useless for low-wing aircraft.

What is that? And would it matter if the plane were composite vs. metal?

Thought I'd make y'all look for it. Composite or metal no factor in any of this that I'm aware. If no one gets it I'll reveal in a couple of hours (bwa-ha-ha)

[Steve]

Red annunciation light in downward-facing antenna wouldn't be visible from cockpit in low wing aircraft.

[Rich]

Red annunciation light in downward-facing antenna wouldn't be visible from cockpit in low wing aircraft.

We have a winna!

[rbickford]

I've been going back and for with the product folks a uAvionix. I explained the interest from the Diamond community, and they responded positively. They said they could get a TSO going for DA40s and 20s pretty quickly. I asked how many they would need to sell to make the TSO worth their development time and money. The answer was 100. That could include Cirrus owners. We agreed that it would make sense to put up a 'no commitment' sign up page on their Web site to get a feel for demand. Will post it here as soon as that is set up and then keep the channel open with them to get the TSO going. Will also let you know if it veers off track somehow.

[Rich]

Diamonds and Cirri aren't the only possible customers for another revision (with rear position light). I find it hard to believe that Whelen only came up with the A600 (and Orion update) for just these aircraft.

Many folks will be surprised that it isn't as easy an install as one would think from the marketing materials. While it still should be less expensive than many of the other solutions, one still must:

- Schlepp the plane to where the transponder will receive interrogations on the ground to complete the setup.
- For those with wingtip strobes, bypass/remove the strobe power supply, which for some planes may be buried somewhere in the fuselage.

And, of course, there's the unique requirement for this approach that your aircraft must now be operated at all times with nav lights and transponder on. This has implications for longevity of your other position lights, which could be incandescent.

Still, I'm all for more airplanes to be ADS-B out equipped, however it's done.

[rbickford]

Will be interesting to see how many people respond to the sign up. They thought it would add about $1K to the current price, but still not bad if 'out only' floats your boat. Hopefully uAvionix would source the same strobe so it would be plug and play for that. Ive worked on my Whalen lights and it is pretty easy to replace any of the components. No way of avoiding having to have the Nav lights on all the time with this design. Will see where this goes.