A Different Take On TAWS
With the opening of AirVenture tomorrow, expect new electronics goodies to pad your panel, including some interesting variations on GPS. For instance, recently formed Aspen Avionics has come out with a panel-mounted (experimental only) terrain-awareness display that fits in the hole vacated by your VSI. The AT300 plugs into your GPS, shows aircraft position and “offers a high-resolution color LCD moving map display that includes both top-view and side-view terrain presentations” — plus vertical speed information supplied by the aircraft’s air-pressure line to the old VSI. Aspen Avionics is marketing the product to the general aviation experimental driver as a cost-effective alternative to a full TAWS system.
With the opening of AirVenture tomorrow, expect new electronics goodies to pad your panel, including some interesting variations on GPS. For instance, recently formed Aspen Avionics has come out with a panel-mounted (experimental only) terrain-awareness display that fits in the hole vacated by your VSI. The AT300 plugs into your GPS shows aircraft position and "offers a high-resolution color LCD moving map display that includes both top-view and side-view terrain presentations" -- plus vertical speed information supplied by the aircraft's air-pressure line to the old VSI. Aspen President Peter Lyons told New Mexico Business Weekly that keeping the two systems separate "enhances the capability of onboard GPS because it lets the pilot use that equipment for what it was designed for -- navigation and navigational situation awareness." The company is marketing the product to the general aviation pilot as a cost-effective alternative to a full TAWS system.