FAA Certifies AeroVonics' Economical Avionics Upgrade for Light General Aviation Aircraft

March 19, 2019

William Kucinski

AeroVonics LLC , an aerospace startup based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has received Federal Aviation Administration  (FAA) certification for its initial launch product: a two-inch, twelve-function flight avionics instrument for light general aviation aircraft. The AV-20-S , approved for installation in CFR Part 23, Class I and Class II, non-pressurized aircraft, connects to the pitot tube and static systems of the aircraft to provides standby attitude, probeless angle-of-attack  (AoA) display, slip/skid indication, G-meter display, clock, outside air temperature, bus voltage, dual user timers, engine-run timer, flight timer, density altitude display, true airspeed display, and audio alerting.

The unit incorporates a full color sunlight readable display, bezel-mounted light sensor for automatic display brightness, and an internal battery for 30 minutes of automatic emergency full-function backup operation in the event of power loss. A base model of the instrument – the AV-20 – does not require connections to a pitot or other static systems, eliminating AoA and true airspeed display.

“We created AeroVonics for pilots in the underserved light general aviation market. New certification policies from the FAA are allowing companies to create significantly lower-cost modern avionics that can serve the certified market at an experimental aircraft price point,” says AeroVonics CEO Bill Shuert. “This is a unique opportunity for legacy aircraft owners who have been hesitant to make large investments in those older airframes.”

William Kucinski  is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include literally anything that has to do with space, past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

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