Flying_Monkey
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A fellow piper forum board member turned me on to this uni and I thought y'all might be interested:
http://grtavionics.com/mini-ga.html
As per the FAA Policy Statement it qualifies as a portable and is ok to install in certified aircraft. It is NOT approved for primary or backup attitude but is an additional tool for situational awareness.
My avionics tech installed the unit and I have made several flights with it. It is connected to the 430W and receives GPS data and flight plan from the 430W, along with GPS CDI, Localizer and ILS deflections over ARINC429 protocol. The unit also features synthetic vision and terrain warning, highway in the sky boxes, and a flight director function. Nav databases are free and update every 56 days very easily with a USB stick.
The mini-GA accepts automatically the flight plan from the 430W. The synthetic vision with runway and obstacle depictions is nice to have. The MAP page with map selector tool is a super easy and fast way to get airport info- I much prefer it over Garmin's clunky menus and it is nice to not change pages on the 430W when looking up frequencies or runways on the mini-GA. It is an interesting additional tool. Maybe they will follow in Dynon D10A and Garmin G5 footsteps and try to get an STC in cooperation with the EAA for the attitude indicator to be certified for primary or backup....Their larger units for experimental aircraft look very cool. The price seems a bit less than the D10A and you get integration of flight plan, nav database and synthetic vision.
The unit is fairly easy to use and very responsive. The heading bug feature, standard rate turn indicators, and altitude bug are great. The synthetic vision with flight path marker will be useful especially at night.
I have enjoyed flying with it on the last couple flights.
http://grtavionics.com/mini-ga.html
As per the FAA Policy Statement it qualifies as a portable and is ok to install in certified aircraft. It is NOT approved for primary or backup attitude but is an additional tool for situational awareness.
My avionics tech installed the unit and I have made several flights with it. It is connected to the 430W and receives GPS data and flight plan from the 430W, along with GPS CDI, Localizer and ILS deflections over ARINC429 protocol. The unit also features synthetic vision and terrain warning, highway in the sky boxes, and a flight director function. Nav databases are free and update every 56 days very easily with a USB stick.
The mini-GA accepts automatically the flight plan from the 430W. The synthetic vision with runway and obstacle depictions is nice to have. The MAP page with map selector tool is a super easy and fast way to get airport info- I much prefer it over Garmin's clunky menus and it is nice to not change pages on the 430W when looking up frequencies or runways on the mini-GA. It is an interesting additional tool. Maybe they will follow in Dynon D10A and Garmin G5 footsteps and try to get an STC in cooperation with the EAA for the attitude indicator to be certified for primary or backup....Their larger units for experimental aircraft look very cool. The price seems a bit less than the D10A and you get integration of flight plan, nav database and synthetic vision.
The unit is fairly easy to use and very responsive. The heading bug feature, standard rate turn indicators, and altitude bug are great. The synthetic vision with flight path marker will be useful especially at night.
I have enjoyed flying with it on the last couple flights.
