Aspen’s Evolution EFIS: So Simple a Caveman Could Operate It

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EFIS displays are more or less standard equipment in new airplanes, but heres an interesting fact: the vast majority of pilots havent flown them. We see them in the slick ads and in the trade booths at shows like Sun n Fun, but unless you happen to own a new airplane, you fly behind steam gauges. (I certainly do.)And this explains what I call the irritation factor with EFIS. I fly glass panel airplanes periodically to report and write about them and the irritation factor arises when I get into a cockpit and try to make an EFIS I havent seen for several months play right. It can be a frustrating exercise in hopeful button mashing.Why cant they make this stuff simple enough for anyone to operate with little or no training? Aspen Avionics has come close to that paradigm with its new and recently certified Evolution EFIS, a combination glass AI and HSI. I flew this system for the first time at Sun n Fun this week. It was installed in an early model Cirrus SR22 with a pair of Garmin GNS430Ws for nav-side input.Aspens Scott Smith briefed me on the basics, but honestly, I think I could have taught myself how to operate it if I had 30 minutes alone in the cockpit. If you know how to play Garmins 430/530 series navigators, the Evolution is relatively easy to master.As did Avidyne, Aspen resisted the urge to lard the Evolution up with too many high-level features most of us dont use and the control set is both logical and minimal. A pair of push-to-set knobs on the bottom bezel, for instance, control a limited range of options and once youve been around the horn a couple of times with them, theyre easy to remember-were talking about course set knobs, bugs, altimeter setting and so forth.Soft keys along the instruments right side arent immediately intuitive, but a simple press-to-test reveals the function of each one. On our quick flight, I didnt find any blind feedback alleys that I couldnt get myself out of.The display is bright and intense and didnt wash noticeably in direct sunlight. My only complaint is the typography-for some elements on the display, I found it verging on impossibly small. Given that these products will be bought by a universe of presbyopes, Aspen will probably have to address that. Im sure there are other minor quirks, but my first impression of the Evolution is that anyone can learn to operate it with minimal effort.On the surface, the Evolution might look like just another glass display, but the potential game changer for the market is the price/capability ratio. Aspen plans a complete line of glass products specifically intended for the aftermarket, the EFD1000 variant is just the first and, as they say in the used car biz, its priced to sell. At $5995 for the basic unit, Aspen should find legions of buyers among Garmin 430/530 owners. Further, the companys modular approach to aftermarket upgrades-you can add an MFD, weather and traffic capability, for example-means that an owner can get into one of these things without investing half the value of the airframe.Yet to be seen is how well Aspen has crafted the all-important approval and installation process. Its current approved model list covers more than 300 airplanes, but the acid test is how well the first installations wend their way through the approval hoops at the local FSDO. Well be watching this, but from what Ive seen so far, Im favorably impressed.

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