Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1588118
This is a typical screen shot of the synthetic vision, taken pointing at Snowdon from a slightly unhealthy height, hence the yellow terrain.



Iceman 8)
By GAFlyer4Fun
#1588137
Tim Dawson wrote:I don't think so. I've just checked with colleagues, and we have a few dozen requests logged.

I'd be surprised if there were hundreds of those Avidyne units even in circulation in Europe, but happy to be corrected.


Hi Tim

It is not as simple as that. Some aircraft with a unit fitted could be rented by how many pilots that could be SD users? For example there is at least one UK flying school with an Avidyne equipped fleet.

How many requests do you need for any other new SD feature before you will implement it? Or do you just take a guess at what might be a useful feature or improvement for someone?

Just curious, as the GA pilot population is ageing and many are from a generation not used to making requests to improve their IT. Some of the younger generation like all the modern bells and whistles they can get their hands on. ...

I use SD and the IFD100 App on the same Ipad Mini. The IFD unit's integration with the Ipad is a game changer.

Please can you get the SD route transferred to the IFD unit over Wifi.
By G MacDonald
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1588174
I have had a 750 in my Bonanza since 2012. The first 750 suffered a frozen screen on me in at 3 years. It's repair was a failure and had to be replaced with a refurbished unit.
The new unit is now starting to do it sometimes as well. I have a KFD 840 PFD. One avionics engineer suggested this might be causing the problems,. Also it only ever fails when IMC in cloud!
By GAFlyer4Fun
#1588288
That is one reason we chose the Avidyne IFD440 unit over a GTN650.
If the screen ever fails (IFR or VFR), can still use the Avidyne unit via the Ipad IFD100 app.

Also the Ipad App offers IFD functionality on the bigger screen of an Ipad or Ipad mini compared to the screen size of a IFD440/GTN650.

The Avidyne bluetooth keyboard also supports some of the functionality.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1591967
Tim Dawson wrote:I don't think so. I've just checked with colleagues, and we have a few dozen requests logged.


Where does one go to log the request, just make a post on the SD forum or something else?

There's a thread starting on the Facebook GA forum for see what interest there is for this.
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By terryp
#1591971
I know of Tattenhill and I think Blackpool have switched their fleets over to Avidyne IFD units, I'm sure there are more. It is a very valid point made in this thread that SD should be factoring number of pilots and therefore subscriptions not number of installations. We have IFD's installed and there are 6 of us around our aircraft and we all use SD.

Given Avidyne have already provided the software to make the calls, the integration would be relatively simple, granted, the testing is likely more hefty.
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By T67M
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1592034
Tim Dawson wrote:I don't think so. I've just checked with colleagues, and we have a few dozen requests logged.


11 SkyDemon users have shares in our IFD440, and the plane is also occasionally hired out through a flying club.
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By Tim Dawson
SkyDemon developer
#1592075
Call or email our support, simple as that.

The notion that we should include support for a third party product just because that company is willing to provide free software (which could do anything, think malware) for us to integrate inside our own software makes no sense. Including that software could negatively impact ALL SkyDemon users, as does any inclusion of extra code in SkyDemon.

If we develop support for this particular product it’ll be because we see a strong demand AND we determine that the company’s software is appropriate for inclusion in our own.
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By Lefty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1592290
GAFlyer4Fun wrote:
I thought SD was about innovation and making life easier for pilots.
It is not Avidyne blocking this innovation with the IFD units.


If you will excuse the interruption, slinging insults at someone, is rarely the way to get them to do what you want. Especially someone who has a prize winning track record for innovation and responding to customer requests.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1592310
I think the insult comes earlier, but I think Tim's talking in general rather than Avidyne specifically.

If you're asking about his last sentence, he said:

If we develop support for this particular product it’ll be because we see a strong demand AND we determine that the company’s software is appropriate for inclusion in our own.

Which is quite right. I think the demand is there, in just a few days several flying clubs and several large groups in this country alone have made themselves known on here and Facebook, let alone the rest of Europe. That leaves how easy and appropriate it would be to include Avidyne's module, and Tim would have to look at it. If it isn't appropriate, then Tim might need to write his own interface code, which may need some time and some testing.
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By GrahamB
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1592327
Just because Tim isn’t doing what -you-want, when -you- want it, doesn’t mean he doesn’t listen to his customers.

He has tens of thousands of users across Europe, of whom the Avidyne using population probably remains a small proportion, although of course it will grow. He heads a small, boutique, software house with limited resources and a to-do list that probably spans tens of pages. He has to weigh up the effort and risk of including features against the perceived benefit at that point in time.

You are making a blind assumption that incorporating this feature is trivial. Well, it may be, but equally could be quite the opposite and require substantial reengineering and regression testing, with all the cost and risk that that brings. We don’t know.

Those of us on the Beta programme know that Tim is currently putting a lot of effort into features which will benefit a great many more users to a greater degree than what is currently a niche 440/540 requirement.
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