Reliable Robotics, a developer of automated flight systems for remotely piloted operations, was awarded an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to retrofit Air Force aircraft with its continuous autopilot system, which is designed to be installed on any model.

The partners will have flexibility under the agreement, which calls for the delivery of an unspecified quantity of services within a fixed window. The Air Force can place orders under the contract, authorizing specific work and the funding that comes with it. The contract will further allow Reliable and AFWERX—the innovation arm of the Air Force—to explore partnerships with other military branches, tailoring the system for additional missions.

According to retired Major General Dr. David O’Brien, senior vice president of government solutions at Reliable, the agreement “signals long-term engagement with the Air Force and provides flexibility for us to further demonstrate our autonomous flight system in operational readiness activities.”

The IDIQ arrangement, which will support the development and deployment of Reliable’s autopilot system, comes less than one week after AFWERX awarded the company $3.6 million under a Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI), tightening a relationship that began in 2021 and has since expanded with a series of small business innovation research (SBIR) contracts.

The TACFI will allow Reliable to perform uncrewed cargo missions for the military, building on a pair of Air Force demonstrations it completed earlier this year.

Reliable’s automation system covers all phases of flight from taxi to takeoff to landing, using hardware and software to automate control surfaces and engine controls. It’s designed to prevent controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and loss of control in flight (LOC-I)—two of the leading causes of aviation accidents.

Detect and avoid and precision navigation systems help the aircraft understand where it is and where it’s going, while voice and data links enable remote communication. Remote supervisors or onboard safety pilots can communicate with air traffic control and redirect the aircraft to an alternate landing site in the case of inclement weather, for example. According to Reliable, the system is just as reliable as crewed flight.

Some within the Air Force believe autonomy systems like Reliable’s can safely support longer duration missions in “contested environments” more cheaply than its own technology while reducing aircrew needs. The partners are particularly focused on the Indo-Pacific region, where tensions between the U.S. and China are strained over relations with Taiwan.

Lieutenant Colonel Josh Fehd, branch chief of AFWERX’s Autonomy Prime division, called the technology a “mission critical capability.” Autonomy Prime was announced in January and greenlit by Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, after officials “recognized a need,” according to AFWERX.

“This IDIQ contract is driven by demand from Air Mobility Command, Air Combat Command, Pacific Air Forces and commands that want to employ advanced aircraft automation in their fleets as soon as possible,” said Fehd.

Reliable’s primary testbed aircraft for its system is the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, which in November completed what the company claims was the first remotely piloted cargo flight of that model. The FAA-approved trial lasted about 12 minutes and was remotely operated from a ground control station.

The Caravan was a loan from potential launch customer FedEx, and Reliable is collaborating with Cessna manufacturer Textron Aviation and Textron eAviation to retrofit additional aircraft. The remotely piloted Caravan could enable same- or next-day shipments to locations currently served by piloted models. The company plans to operate a Part 135 airline subsidiary led by former Ameriflight executives.

Reliable has also shared with the Air Force a blueprint to automate the KC-135 Stratotanker, the military’s core aerial refueling aircraft. But according to the company, under the IDIQ agreement, its aircraft-agnostic system could find its way onto other models such as the Cessna 408 SkyCourier. The system is designed to support cargo aircraft with 3,000-plus-pound payloads.

The FAA in February formally accepted the certification requirements for Reliable’s aircraft navigation and autopilot systems, including a means of compliance for testing and analysis. The company claims its full aircraft automation software is the only system of its kind with an FAA-approved project specific certification plan (PSCP), on which the agency signed off last year.

Another autonomous flight developer working with the Air Force, Xwing—which earlier this year was acquired by electric air taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation—submitted its PSCP in April 2023. Merlin Labs, meanwhile, has a basis for certification with New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority for its Merlin Pilot system.

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As you will have guessed, since you are reading about this in Aftermath and not in I Learned About Flying From That, the flight did not end well. About 25 minutes after takeoff and shortly after crossing the Arkansas border, the 31-year-old pilot, whose in-command time amounted to 75 hours, lost control of the airplane and went down in a remote woodland. All aboard perished.

A few minutes before the impact, as he was climbing to 9,500 feet msl, the pilot contacted ATC and requested flight following. The weather along his route—which, notably, he had last checked with ForeFlight 17 hours earlier—was generally VFR, with a chance of scattered convective activity. There was, however, one patch of rainy weather just to the left of his course, and the controller advised him to turn right to avoid it.

On the controller’s display, the target of the Cirrus crept eastward just below the edge of the weather. Radar paints rain, however, not cloud. The flight was over a remote area with few ground lights and the harvest moon had not yet risen, but its hidden glow may have faintly defined an eastern horizon. In the inspissated blackness of the night, the pilot, whose instrument experience was limited to what little was required for the private certificate, probably could not tell clear air from cloud.

As the Cirrus reached 9,500 feet, it began to turn to the left toward the area of weather. Perhaps the tasks of trimming and setting the mixture for cruise distracted the pilot from his heading. The controller noticed the change and pointed it out to the pilot, who replied he intended to return to Muskogee. He now began a turn to the right. Rather than reverse course, however, he continued the turn until he was heading northward back into the weather. The controller, who by now sensed trouble, said to the pilot that he showed him on a heading of 340 degrees and asked whether he concurred. The pilot, whose voice until this point had betrayed no sense of unease, replied somewhat incoherently that “the wind caught me, [but now] I’m out of it.”

With a tone of increasing urgency, the controller instructed the pilot to turn left to a heading of 270. The pilot acknowledged the instruction, but he did not comply. Instead, he continued turning to the right. At the same time, he was descending at an increasing rate and was now at 6,000 feet. “I show you losing serious altitude,” the controller said. “Level your wings if able and fly directly southbound…Add power if you can.”

It was already too late. In a turning dive, its speed increasing past 220 knots, the Cirrus continued downward. Moments later, its radar target disappeared.

In its discussion of the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) focused upon the pilot’s preparedness—in the broadest sense—for the flight. A former Marine, he should have been semper paratus—always ready—but his history suggested a headstrong personality with a certain tendency to ignore loose ends as he plunged ahead.

He had failed his first private pilot test on questions related to airplane systems; he passed on a retest the following week. But this little glitch tells us nothing about his airmanship. His instructor reported he responded calmly and reasonably to turbulence, and was “good” at simulated instrument flight. He had enrolled in Cirrus Embark transition training shortly before acquiring the airplane. He completed all of the flight training lessons, but—again, a hint of impatience with tiresome minutiae—may not have completed the online self-study lessons. The flight training was strictly VFR and did not include night or instrument components.

The airplane was extremely well equipped for instrument flying, but it was a 2001 model, and its avionics were, according to the Cirrus Embark instructors, “old technology” and “not easy to use.” In other words, it did not have a glass panel, and its classical instruments, which included a flight director, were sophisticated and possibly confusing to a novice. The airplane was equipped with an autopilot, and the pilot had been trained in at least the elements of its use.

The airplane was also equipped with an airframe parachute, but it was not deployed during the loss of control. In any case, its use is limited to indicated speeds below 133 kias, and it might not have functioned properly in a spiral dive.

• READ MORE: Dissecting a Tragedy in the Third Dimension

An instructor familiar with the pilot and his airplane—whether this was the same instructor as the one whom he called on the night of the fatal flight is not clear—wrote to the NTSB that the pilot had made the night flight to South Carolina at least once before, and he had called her at midnight before departing to come help him fix a flat tire. She declined and urged him to get some sleep and make the trip in the morning.

“I told him he was starting down the ‘accident chain,’” she wrote. “New pilot, new plane, late start, nighttime, bad terrain, etc….To me, he seemed a little overly self-confident in his piloting skills, but he didn’t know enough to know what he didn’t know.”

He fixed the tire himself and made the trip safely that night. Undoubtedly, that success encouraged him to go again.

We have seen over and over how capable pilots, including ones with much more experience than this pilot, fail to perform at their usual level when they encounter weather emergencies. A sudden, unexpected plunge into IMC—which, on a dark night, can happen very easily—opens the door to a Pandora’s box of fear, confusion, and disorientation for which training cannot prepare you.

There are two clear avenues of escape. One is the autopilot. Switch it on, take your hands off the controls, breathe, and count to 20. The fact the pilot did not take this step suggests how paralyzed his mental faculties may have become.

The other is the attitude indicator. It’s a simple mechanical game. Put the toy airplane on the horizon line and align the wings with it. That’s all. It’s so simple. Yet in a crisis, apparently, it’s terribly hard to do. The fact that so many pilots have lost control of their airplanes in IMC should be a warning to every noninstrument-rated pilot to treat clouds—and, above all, clouds in darkness—with extreme respect.

This column first appeared in the November 2023/Issue 943 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post A Night Flight Leads a Pilot to a Tragic End appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Leonardo Helicopters’ AW109 Trekker is the first model to use the system with the new capabilities. The company said the enhanced version helps improve overall mission effectiveness by decreasing the pilot’s workload.

• READ MORE: Auto Flight for Rotorcraft

“We are very excited to now offer a four-axis, IFR flight control system for the helicopter market,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “This technology will provide IFR operators with advanced automated flight capabilities and bring added protections to one of the most challenging flight categories in aviation. We’re confident AW109 Trekker operators will be impressed with the performance of GFC 600H.”

The GFC 600H includes a console-mounted, push-button mode controller and display compatible with night vision goggles. High-performance digital servos and new linear actuators that Garmin developed provide crisper, more powerful responses than previous systems, resulting in smooth handling in all phases of flight.

• READ MORE: Garmin Receives GI 275 STC for Airbus Helicopters

The new system supports a range of autopilot modes, including altitude acquire, altitude hold, heading select, attitude hold, approach auto-level, radar height hold, vertical speed, and indicated airspeed. The system also can fly approaches using inputs from navigation systems.

Garmin said its system’s smart servos eliminate the need for two linear actuators and flight control computers for each axis. The result is a lighter, cost-effective system that retains the redundancy needed for IFR flight.

The IFR configuration of the GFC 600H has received European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approval on the AW109 Trekker helicopter. Garmin said it expects FAA approval later.

The post Garmin Offers IFR Flight Control System for Helicopters appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

When equipped with SkyView HDX and the autopilot, Baron aircraft also will benefit from a yaw damper and approach capability when the autopilot is coupled with a compatible third-party IFR navigation instrument.

• READ MORE: Dynon Continues Progress on SkyView Installations in Certified Aircraft

When added to a SkyView HDX system, the three-axis autopilot starts at a list price of $11,192 for Baron aircraft, including all required hardware and servo harnesses. Other options that pilots frequently choose include the SkyView autopilot control panel ($664), which provides autoflight controls for the pilot, and the knob control panel ($335), which gives pilots the ability to adjust the values modified the most when flying with the autopilot, such as altitude, heading, track, and altimeter setting.

“We’re excited to expand the SkyView HDX and Dynon’s autopilot approval into the Beechcraft Baron series,” said Michael Schofield, Dynon’s director of marketing.

Dynon Certified products, including this autopilot approval, can be purchased and installed by any Dynon-authorized center. Dynon said additional autopilot approvals are in progress for select Mooney M20 and Beechcraft Debonair 33 aircraft. Electric trim and autopilot auto-trim are also widely available for Dynon autopilot-equipped aircraft.

The company said trim motor control and autopilot auto-trim are now available for most Dynon Certified autopilot installations with electric trim motors installed. In the past this feature was restricted to a select few trim systems, Dynon said. Now the restriction has been removed, so auto-trim can be used in all Dynon autopilot-equipped Cessna 182, Beechcraft 35 and 36 series, Piper Seneca, and Beechcraft Baron 58 series aircraft.

The post Dynon Certified Announces New FAA Approvals for SkyView HDX Avionics System and Autopilot appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Available as a retrofit for Airbus AS350 and H125 helicopters, StableLight is based on Thales’ previously certified Compact Autopilot system for light and medium helicopters. Thales credits “a recent revolution in actuator design” by its engineers for allowing it to create a “true” autopilot light enough and cost-effective enough for light helicopters. The system was developed in partnership with StandardAero.

• READ MORE: Auto Flight for Rotorcraft

“We are excited to bring this state-of-the-art autopilot to market in partnership with Thales,” said StandardAero Military, Helicopter, and Energy Sector president Marc Drobny. “The features offered by StableLight will be a major game changer for pilots and operators alike—it provides unparalleled performance, taking the already capable AS350 and H125 aircraft to the next level.”

Offering stability augmentation, attitude retention, and auto trim, StableLight’s feature set includes stabilized climb flight attitude recovery, auto hover, go-around mode, and a terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS) with auto-pull up functions. According to Thales, the system has been tested by “pilots representing numerous operators and industry experts” over the last year. Thales noted that it has also applied for EASA and Transport Canada validations of the StableLight STC.

Base price for the StableLight kit, which weighs in at 40 pounds fully installed, is $150,000. StandardAero estimates that installation time will average 2 to 3 weeks. The launch customer for StableLight is Illinois-based MacNeil Aviation LLC. 

The post StableLight Helicopter Autopilot Earns FAA STC appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The Pilot 100i has recently impacted the flight training sphere, becoming a top choice among flight schools of varying sizes. The aircraft features a full Garmin avionics suite, including the GFC 500 digital autopilot, GNX 375 transponder, G5 standby display, and G3X touch-screen PFD/MFD. It optimizes the trusted PA-28-181 for the demands of flight schools.

• READ MORE: Piper Certifies Pilot 100 and 100i Trainers

Skyborne has gained recognition for training career-focused pilots from around the world and within the U.S. Its emphasis on professional training programs has elevated its reputation, and earlier this year, it joined forces with Delta Air Lines to establish Propel Flight Academy. This strategic partnership offers students a pathway to a career with Delta, complete with financial support options. Skyborne’s outstanding industry reputation and strategic location played a pivotal role in securing this exclusive designation.

Skyborne operates a fleet of more than 50 Piper Warriors, Arrows, and Seminoles. The addition of the Pilot 100i fleet signifies its entrance into the Piper Flight School Alliance. This initiative spotlights leading training programs operating new-production Piper aircraft. Deliveries of the school’s Pilot 100i aircraft commenced last week, with the distribution schedule extending into 2025.

“Piper Aircraft is proud to partner with Skyborne, our neighbors just down the taxiway from Piper headquarters,” said Ron Gunnarson, vice president of sales, marketing, and customer support at Piper, in a release. “Skyborne has an impressive history of training professional and competent pilots using Piper fleet products, and now with the addition of the Pilot 100i, we look forward to continuing to support that legacy.”

Said Dan Peterson, Skyborne’s managing director: “We are incredibly excited to add 11 Piper Pilot 100is to our fleet of 52 Piper aircraft, With these new Pilot 100is, we will be able to continue delivering world-class training to our student pilots. Piper being our neighbor and partner has been extremely beneficial to us both, as we train the next generation of pilots, and Piper continues to provide top-of-the-line aircraft.”

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on planeandpilotmag.com.

The post Skyborne Signs Deal with Piper for 11 Pilot 100i Aircraft appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to Garmin, the GFC 600 can reduce pilot workload by offering new operational capabilities such as vertical navigation, automatic course deviation indicator (CDI) switching—when paired with a GTN Series navigator—plus enhanced go-around capabilities, including missed approach sequencing.

The autopilot controller incorporates backlit keys and a display that can be read in sunlight. A built-in control wheel allows the pilot to adjust aircraft pitch, airspeed, and vertical speed modes.

“When the level button is selected, the aircraft automatically returns to straight-and-level flight,” according to Garmin. “Environmentally hardened autopilot servos designed for harsh operating conditions contain brushless DC motors offering improved performance and reducing maintenance requirements when compared to decades-old servo designs on the market today. In addition, these servos offer more torque to help pilots better respond to demands required of turbine aircraft.”

The GFC 600 can be integrated with the G600 and G600 TXi flight displays, and the GI 275 electronic flight instrument, as well as the GTN and GTN Xi series of navigators. The GFC 600 offers altitude preselect and indicated airspeed hold mode, along with the ability to select, couple, and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC, and back-course approaches.

Safety Features

As a standard feature, pilots receive Garmin’s electronic stability and protection (ESP) with the GFC 600 digital autopilot. Garmin ESP functions independently of the autopilot and helps pilots avoid inadvertent flight attitudes or bank angles and provides airspeed protection while the pilot is hand flying the aircraft.

There is also a “level mode” button, which automatically engages the autopilot to restore the aircraft to straight-and-level flight. This comes in addition to underspeed and overspeed protection and emergency descent mode that, in the event an aircraft loses cabin pressurization, is capable of automatically descending the aircraft to a preset altitude without pilot intervention to help avert hypoxic situations.

The GFC 600 digital autopilot for the Beechcraft King Air F90 will be available in early September through select Garmin authorized dealers.

The post Garmin Receives STC for Beechcraft King Air Autopilot appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

As part of that effort, the agency recently hosted a weeklong series of trials of Mountain View, California-based Reliable Robotics’ continuous autopilot solution. The testing and simulation regimen included three flights of the company’s modified Cessna 208 Caravan, which lasted several hours. The demonstrations should give the FAA insight into the integration of remotely piloted aircraft in congested airspace.

“Collaborating with the FAA on demonstrations like this will help enable the future of mobility and the evolution of our airspace to accommodate new aircraft systems,” said Davis Hackenberg, vice president of government partnerships at Reliable. “Watching our system successfully operate in a live test environment is exciting, and we are proud to help pave the way for future integration of large uncrewed aircraft.”

The series of flight tests and simulations demonstrated Reliable’s ability to reroute the aircraft, change speeds on a dime, and fly under simulated weather conditions by updating flight plan routing. An onboard test pilot observed each flight. The system was also tested in simulated Class B airspace, typically defined as airspace surrounding the nation’s “busiest” airports.

Reliable shared aircraft telemetry from the company’s control center through third-party service provider OneSky, which transmitted the data to the FAA’s NextGen Integration and Evaluation Capability (NIEC) research lab. 

FAA air traffic controllers also participated in the testing, soaking up valuable insights to bring back to the NextGen program office as it develops its Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Concept of Operations 2.0. The living document is essentially a blueprint for future UAM services.

The demonstrations were part of the FAA’s UAM Airspace Management Demonstration (UAMD), which aims to showcase emerging urban and advanced air mobility (AAM) concepts to plot future operations. Trials were funded by the agency through Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and took place at Reliable’s control center in Mountain View.

“The flight tests conducted by Reliable highlighted the ability for new aircraft systems to interact with third-party service providers and seamlessly integrate into future airspace environments, and provided critical data for future operations,” said Diana Liang, enterprise portfolio manager at the FAA.

The agency formally accepted Reliable’s Project-Specific Certification Plan (PSCP) for its continuous autopilot engagement system in June. That makes it one of a handful of firms that have made material progress toward type certification of a fully automated flight control system, though it will have a few more significant hoops to jump through before it gets there.

The Flight Path Ahead

Reliable’s autopilot system automates all phases of flight, from taxi to takeoff and landing. It uses redundant hardware and software to automate flight control surfaces and engine controls, as well as redundant voice and data networks for secure air-to-ground connectivity, which enables remote aircraft command and radio management.

The solution includes electromechanically actuated brakes with autoland capability. It also integrates aircraft with airborne detection technology for traffic and terrain avoidance. A precision navigation system, meanwhile, uses sensor fusion techniques common in spacecraft design to bring together inputs from multiple sensors and create a single, unified model.

An advanced autopilot flight management system ties everything together with a simplified user interface, enabling remote supervision of all phases of flight in all operating conditions.

The system is designed and will be certified for a wide variety of aircraft and applications. But the company intends to start by retrofitting Cessna Caravans and launching automated air cargo operations in the U.S.

So far, Reliable conducted flight demonstrations in May for the Air Force through a contract to study the automation of large, multiengine jets. It also has a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) agreement to demonstrate the performance of remotely piloted aircraft for the department.

That campaign followed prior flights with NASA as part of the agency’s AAM National Campaign. These included detect-and-avoid encounter flights of Cessna 172 and Cessna 208 aircraft to help NASA validate the use of existing FAA primary surveillance radars.

Reliable is working to commercialize its technology for Part 23 cargo and Part 25 passenger aircraft. It’s currently going through the process defined in Part 21 and FAA Order 8110.4C for certifying new aircraft, engines, and propellers and is seeking Part 23 supplemental type certification. That means it will certify to well-known airworthiness requirements for normal category airplanes. This is similar to the process used currently for autothrottle and autoland STC development in piloted aircraft.

Notably, the company’s design certification plan will not require special conditions or exemptions. Its solution will not be treated as a new type design—instead, it will leverage existing regulations for normal and transport category aircraft, modifying them slightly.

Reliable is seeking approval for operations across the entire coterminous U.S. plus Alaska, with no exemptions, special conditions, or equivalent level of safety findings. Recently, it’s made a few key executive appointments to improve its chances.

Hackenberg joined the company in May after nearly two decades with NASA. There, he served as AAM Mission Manager and spent many years leading a project to integrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system, among other tasks.

Reliable also brought on Lee Moak and Steve Alterman as strategic advisors in December. Moak served on the Department of Transportation’s Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee and the Postal Service Board of Governors; Alterman led the Cargo Airline Association for four decades as president.

Another important addition was Scott O’Brien as vice president of legislative affairs in October. O’Brien was previously senior director of public policy and advocacy for the National Business Aviation Association and worked on legislative strategy for the organization’s AAM Roundtable.

Other appointments include a veteran engineer of Virgin Orbit, Lockheed Martin, and Paragon Labs as chief engineer, and the former leader of remotely piloted aircraft system integration efforts for General Atomics as vice president of UAS integration.

Reliable recently provided input on the House FAA Reauthorization Bill, lauding the legislation for giving the FAA more authority and resources to advance certification of autonomous flight systems. The bill calls for the creation of an FAA Office of Innovation that will work directly with agency leadership to support innovation, as well as incentives for broader ADS-B usage to prevent midair collisions.

We will see if these provisions remain in the legislation by September 30, the deadline for FAA reauthorization. But if they do, Reliable’s credibility will be on the rise.

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The post Reliable Robotics Demos Automated Flight System in FAA Trials appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Aspen Avionics and Trio Avionics (The STC Group LLC) have released the integration of Trio Pro Pilot autopilot and Aspen display packages for more than 12 aircraft models.

The combined packages feature the Aspen Evolution E5 flight display and Trio Pro Pilot autopilot, starting at $10,750 when acquired from Aspen Avionics and Trio authorized dealers.

The baseline Evolution E5 consolidates an attitude indicator plus a horizontal situation indicator (HSI) into a single display and protects it with a rechargeable backup battery. The installation of the Evolution E5 enables owners to remove their vacuum system and does not require a backup attitude indicator.

The Evolution E5 also includes Global Position System Steering (GPSS), air data computer, and attitude heading reference system (ADAHRS).

According to Aspen, the Trio Pro Pilot encompasses the performance and safety features of Trio’s other systems, packaging it in a single panel-mounted instrument. The functionality for the E5 and Pro MAX PFD includes selected heading and course, corrected barometric altitude, selected altitude, GPSS, and GPS LPV approaches.

“Trio Avionics is pleased to offer our autopilot integration with the Aspen Avionics flight display system to the general aviation community,” said Jeff Odum, managing director and sales manager of STC Group. “Like Aspen, we firmly adopt the concept of offering affordable avionics alternatives. Aspen Avionics systems are by far the most intuitive interface we will develop. We look to add more functionality as the relationship progresses.”

“Aspen welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with Trio Avionics to provide an affordable digital autopilot/electronic flight display (EFIS) system for aircraft owners seeking an alternative option beyond a single manufacturer,” said Mark Ferrari, vice president of sales and customer support for Aspen Avionics.

The Pro Pilot autopilot pricing starts at $5,995. The autopilot enablement software, when integrated with the Aspen display(s), can be purchased for an additional $200.

Customers with existing Trio Avionics autopilots can return their control head to the company to complete the integration for $400.

The post Aspen Avionics, Trio Avionics Release Integrated Autopilot Packages appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

So when Garmin flight test engineer—and experienced rotorcraft instructor—Jack Loflin gestures me into the right seat, I don’t hesitate. Then I do.

He’s putting me on. Is this wise?

But as it turns out, I’m not only ready for my first AS350 lesson, I am going to have the best assistant I could possibly have. The GFC 600H turned me—for a couple of amazing hours—into a helicopter pilot.

I’m not saying this is its intended application—or even a good one—but it’s an indication of just how incredible the advances in autoflight have come to the rotorcraft world, that I can even fathom what I’mabout to see and do in the AStar.

Takeoff—And a Cross-Country

The AS350 is also equipped with the Garmin G500 TXi flight display system for rotorcraft, along with the GTN 750 Xi and GTN 650 Xi, allowing for a host of other features—including H-TWAS—to supplementour short cross-country flight. Loflin has planned for us to fly from the Salem Municipal Airport (KSLE) up to the Portland Downtown Heliport (61J)—a gem in that it is one of the few public heliports located in a major metro area in the U.S. We’ll utilize it—it sits on the top of a multistory public parking lot—to pop in for lunch at Loflin’s favorite Lebanese place downtown.

From there, we’ll take off and head back southwest towards the Willamette Valley, dropping in to practice hovering and other spot landings both on-airport and off, on a sandbar in the Willamette River.

From the briefing, I know what to expect of the GFC 600H—now it’s time for Loflin to give me dual on our departure after leading me through the engine start and initial rotation from the pad outside Garmin AT’s flight ops hangar.

Garmin sales manager Pat Coleman has joined us—on our way out to the helicopter, he showed us a few projects inside the Garmin skunkworks in the hangar. Originally certificated in the AS350 in 2019, additions to the GFC 600H’s supplemental type certificate approved model list (STC AML) loom ahead. You can already find the autoflight system in the Bell 505 under a Garmin-owned STC, which came out in mid-2021. 

As we lift off and Loflin hands the controls over to me, I feel a sense of low-level anxiety, reflecting on my minimal time in the category. But that quickly melts away as I test out the three axes of flight in small increments as I follow the magenta line that leads us up to Portland proper.

Along our initial flight path, I feel only the barest sense that the autoflight system’s silent hand carries me in the background. It monitors the envelope, speeds, and other parameters to stabilize my relatively level flight. I come down to 500 feet msl to track into the city; we’re indicating about 95 knots.

We are approaching from the south-southeast—the city lies along the Willamette, making for a pleasingly situated downtown, with the heliport we’re aiming for on the western bank. Loflin points out several key obstacles as we approach—at this altitude, nearly everything becomes an obstruction, but the TXi highlights only the most critical at the moment on the multifunction display. The screen shows normal terrain shading with a yellow “obstacle” annunciation as we come up on a series of bridges.

The same obstruction shows on the Garmin GI 275 electronic flight instrument located in the center stack. It has many of the same functions available as those brethren STCed for airplanes—a PFD with attitude, airspeed, altitude, and vertical speed, plus MFD, traffic, terrain, and engine information.

A web of red lines depicts the location of powerlines and other high wires that threaten a helicopter’s path. In order to get the most out of the aircraft’s capabilities, you need to take it into confined areas that would be fatal to fixed wings. It’s a whole different way of looking at the world—and the obstruction data on the MFD goes from towers popping up during an otherwise uneventful flight to an entire maze to navigate down low.

Loflin coaches me so that I take us within about a quarter mile and 100 feet of the landing pad, then takes over to position the AS350 into the relatively confined space. I say “relatively” because there’s plenty of room on the heliport to accommodate at least three helicopters, maybe four, depending on how well they are parked.

He slows us to 35 kias on short approach, bleeding down to hover over the space we’ll leave the AS350 parked in while we grab lunch. It feels surreal—yet just like another one of those “only with GA moments” as the four of us take the elevator down to the street and walk out onto the rather quiet city streets.

Hover Test

We remember the code to get back to the fifth floor of the parking garage—the heliport restricts access to pilots and their guests or customers for clear reasons. It’s time to fire up again and head out to play—and really test the GFC 600H’s mettle against the best amateur rotorcraft pilot moves I can throw at it.

We follow the river out of town, over connecting lakes, and into the valley which is world-renowned for its pinot noir and chardonnay. It’s the very best view of the vines as we pass over them at a neighborly altitude. Often helicopters a reused for frost protection and other agricultural ops over the vineyards—but that is not our mission today.

Our first stop has us joining the traffic pattern at the McMinnville Municipal Airport (KMMV). To me, the airport is famous because it’s home to the Evergreen Aviation Museum—and home to the famous Spruce Goose, the Hughes Hercules eight-engined mammoth that sits barely encased in glass so its enormity can be appreciated even if you never step foot in the museum. We don’t make a stop there today—but both the Gooseand the Boeing 747 in Evergreen livery out front create easy landmarks for me to follow in the pattern.

After the approach, Loflin instructs me through slowing the AS350 down into a hover over a far reach of the taxiway. We have plenty of ramp space here to give me the leeway I need to perform my first AS350 hovering—at first highly assisted by the GFC 600H, in both attitude and yaw hold modes. Then, Loflin turns the magic off. And all of a sudden, the work that the autopilot has been performing behind the scenes becomes dramatically apparent. He takes back the controls periodically to help me along.

We step taxi over to a field northwest of the runway, an open area where we can play a little more. I get to test with and without the GFC 600H and see again just how much it is assisting me as a newb. Now, the benefit to the seasoned pilot lies in the dramatically reduced workload—just like any autopilot—taking the physical work of flying the aircraft from the pilot’s hands so they can focus on something else. And if you think about it, that’s a big change for a helicopter pilot who nearly always has to have both hands engaged with the flight controls during a flight,with only momentary transitions to change radio frequencies or manage checklists.

ESP, Rotor Style

The envelope stability protection that we enjoy in the fixed-wing versions of Garmin’s autoflight systems takes on a new cast in the GFC 600H. H-ESP, as it’s called here, provides both low speed and overspeed protection, as well as limit cueing to help the pilot keep the helicopter upright.

When the pilot maintains f light with the rotor blade plane tilted less than 10 degrees from level, the ESP system sits in the background, monitoring the flight dynamics. When it first senses the rotor plane approaching the beginning of the limit arc either up or down, ESP engages and applies the nudge that’s familiar to those of us accustomed to flying with ESP in other aircraft. If the pilot powers through that nudge and continues to tilt the rotor plane towards the upper limit of the arc, the GFC 600H applies up to a maximum level of force, opposing the pilot’s action and striving to return the rotor plane to a level state.

In the case of a low speed limit approaching, the yellow “LOWSPD” annunciation appears on the pilot’s primary flight display. Similarly, if a maximum speed limit is anticipated, the yellow “MAXSPD” highlights. A LVL mode returns the helicopter to a zero fpm vertical and zero bank angle lateral attitude when actuated.

Flying the Approach

Coming back into Salem, we opt for another one of the system’s enormous safety benefits—the ability to fly a coupled approach. The AS350 we’re in is placarded “VFR Only,” and many helicopter pilots do not possess an instrument rating. It’s not that they wouldn’t ever need the skill, but it comes up less often than it does for airplane pilots.

That is, until it takes on critical importance. Recalling the accident that took Kobe Bryant’s life and those of his family and friends in January 2020, it’s sobering to contemplate what would have been different if the pilot had been able to maintain situational awareness.

The GFC 600H, when integrated with the NXi, allows even a non-rated pilot to engage an approach as a safety tool in lowering visibility. We had set up the RNAV (GPS) approach to Runway 31 at KSLE and I engaged the AP through a similar mode controller as other Garmin autoflight systems in the series. Though I cannot tell you how many times I’ve watched the approach proceedings unfold on an MFD over the course of my career, it’s wild to see it happen in a helicopter. Our speed on the approach isn’t too slow—though it’s slower than what most of us are accustomed to—but the outcome is the same. We’ve returned to a safe position from which to hover-taxi to our final landing point on the airport.

That’s when it really hits me—the GFC 600H makes the helicopter as easy to keep in level flight or a stabilized approach as an airplane. I mean, Coleman had said it in our initial conversations, but it turns out not to be just a marketing line. The autopilot shadowing me allowed me to manipulate the controls in a way more akin to my ingrained skill controlling an airplane. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my rotorcraft lessons before, but flying a helicopter without this felt like pirouetting on the head of a pin—a delicate balancing act full of nuance and retraining my muscle memory.

While this isn’t a panacea—what happens to the pilot who flies with it on all the time when it breaks, and they suddenly have to hand-fly? But that’s a question we ask in the fixed-wing world too—and we make sure to train both VFR and IFR flight without the automation as a result, to keep those skills sharp.

The other piece is that it made the rotorcraft rating feel approachable—and one less barrier to entry, perhaps. But most of all, the real capability of the GFC 600H changes the game for safety.

This article was originally published in the March 2023 Issue 935 of FLYING

Genesys Autoflight for Helicopters

Genesys helicopter’s speed range, with altitude-command and altitude-hold functions. Fly-through system engagement is available in all flight regimes, from startup to shutdown, and the system features rugged, redundant flight control computers. Total weight installed is less than 35 pounds, and it operates in a fail-operable manner. The GRC 3000 is currently certificated on the Airbus EC-145e and the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.

Aerosystems (formerly S-TEC) entered the autoflight arena in 2014 with its HeliSAS two-axis VFR autopilot and stability augmentation system for light rotorcraft on the AS350 as well as the EC 130, followed by the Bell 206B/L and 407, and the Robinson R44 and R66. A three-axis option is available for the Bell 505. The company has delivered more than 1,000 units to date.

The HeliSAS incorporates the ability to track heading and nav functions (VOR, LOC, GPS), with course intercept capability, and manage forward speed, vertical speed, and altitude.

With units weighing less than 15 pounds, the HeliSAS also features an auto-recovery mode to return the helicopter to a neutral attitude when the pilot loses situational awareness. And according to the company, its system has also allowed pilots with no prior rotorcraft experience to maintain the helicopter in a hover “with very little practice.”

Genesys also makes an IFR autoflight system, the GRC 3000. The two- or three-axis autopilot includes auto-recovery to near-level flight attitude throughout the

This sidebar was originally published in the March 2023 Issue 935 of FLYING.

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