Avidyne Announces Third-party App Play, IFD Training Program

At AirVenture 2016, Avidyne announced a growing list of third-party tablet apps that can communicate wirelessly with the IFD-series navigators. It also announced a flight training partner for the IFD navigators.

In response to customer demand, Avidyne announced a growing list of third-party navigation apps that will work with its IFD550/540/440 GPS navigators. The current list of apps now includes ForeFlight Mobile, Seattle Avionics FlyQ, Jeppesen Mobile Flight Deck, AVPlan EFB, Cloud Ahoy and AeroGlass.

This connectivity is the result of Avidyne's wireless SDK (software developer kit), an open architecture concept that appears to be working. Introduced one year ago, Avidyne's SDK provides two tiers of connectivity between Avidyne's panel-mounted avionics and portable devices running iOS, Android and the Windows operating system. Avidyne previously announced its own iPad app—the IFD100—which serves as a mirrored display of the IFD540/550, including AHARS data self-contained in the IFD550. Avidyne says the app should be available in the coming months.

Avidyne also announced Master Flight Instructor Gary Reeves and pilotsafety.org as a training partner for its IFD-series GPS systems. "Avidyne will be the first major avionics company to provide training resources for owners," Reeves said. By using an inflight video-based curriculum, IFD owners and prospects get real-world exposure to the products.

The training will include both free and paid curriculums, and will include a three-day one-on-one intensive master training program in the owner's aircraft at their home airport.

Visit www.avidyne.com for more.