Letter to Dynon, we need a zoom meeting about Auto Pilot.

[Brent Dana]

To whom it may concern:

Illl pay twice the price of the AP for my E-35 BONANZA, I will develop the brackets, and ill jump thru faa hoops. I want to be the test plane.. There is soo much interest of the dynon product here in Las vegas, as my installer is using my plane to show other owners what they could have. I need auto pilot, can you tell?

Im sure you are seeing the posts on the forum from people unhappy with the delay or shelving of the ap system.. I think we need to have a zoom meeting as we did 6 months ago and learn exactly what are the issues with the FAA. A lot of us would be willing to assist in getting this done. Money, time, etc.

We are attorneys, sales people, biz owners, electronic shops and mechanics. Between us all, there is a multiple ways and resources.. 10 people at Dynon are not as powerful as 10,000 professionals, who have a desire and ability to get this done. We may also have contacts of people willing to help us in government and at the FAA.

I am of course discussing all the auto pilots for all the planes. Let us in, let us help You, help us!


Thank you Sincerely,

Brent Dana

 

[JohnAJohnson]

Well said Brent. I would also pay a lot more for the Dynon autopilot than what is being asked presently. The other option for my 177RG, a Bendix/King (Trutrak), doesn't have the features of the Dynon, but costs quite a bit more and would require a lot more labor to install.

I've seen a change in the United States over the last 10 years that I don't like at all. Sometimes goods and services just aren't available no matter how much you are willing to pay, because there are unfilled jobs. I suspect Dynon cannot find the labor it needs to meet the demand, and your suggestion, soliciting help from the customer base, could help tremendously.

 

[PYoder]

I agree with Brent’s comments!

 

[chriscalandro]

Mooooonnnnnneeeeyyyyy

 

[Leonard]

J35 waiting for Autopilot!!!! Willing to assist!

 

[Spert]

I think the important thing here is to shift focus to the PA-32 line.

 

[Leonard]

I think the important thing here is to shift focus to the PA-32 line.

 

[M20Driver]

Mooney.. The Mooney lineup is what needs the attention. No really, there's no reason several airframes cant be going at a time. It is mind boggling to me that the faa (assuming) makes certification of a safety enhancing device so hard to get.

 

[Brent Dana]

Beech built 26000 bonanzas. 13700 still registered more than 1/2 of those are the ole vtails. A little over 8000. We need ap

 

[Leonard]

Beech built 26000 bonanzas. 13700 still registered more than 1/2 of those are the ole vtails. A little over 8000. We need ap

In their fight against the G giant.. I sense they are missing a huge opportunity here! Bonanzas although old, are very high profile aircraft. They attract a lot of attention on the airfield. The ability to dominate the V tail Bonanza market will significantly change their market position. Could be a strategic bo-bo in their market development planning.

 

[N42AH]

What about this Bonanza aircraft that Dynon is sponsoring which has an autopilot installed?

Dynon Certified | Adrian Eichhorn's 2021 Polar Flight

Adrian Eichhorn and shinji Maeda fly their V-Tail Bonanzas over the North Pole.

www.dynoncertified.com

BTW, yesterday he completed his flight from Iceland to Fairbanks

 

[PYoder]

V-tail ! Not a straight tail.

 

[Leonard]

Those are the later V tails.

 

[VIFlyer]

Grumman Tiger, panel is all set up with cut-out for AP..... Test Plane, you bet, pay as much as my other options, you bet. As you can tell DYNON your customers want your autopilot to integrate with the systems they have installed.

 

[Brent Dana]

The v-tails approved, are only the last 4 yrs, they were made. The other 18 yrs or 5,000- 6,000 planes do not have approval.

 

[Brent Dana]

The pilot flying around iceland is one of the newer models.

 

[VIFlyer]

To Whom It may concern;​

​

I reread Mr. Dana's comments from his first post.​

I copied and pasted the comments from the G companies website about its autopilot for GA aircraft. This autopilot was announced in 2017. They have many aircraft certified for installation(including almost every type that has written in this post).... I understand that they are a deep pocketed company but even they reach out to their customers for help in expediting the rollouts.

"Aircraft Not Listed?​

This list will be updated regularly as Company continues expanding *** availability to a wide range of single-engine piston aircraft. If you are interested in **** for an aircraft model not listed above, please express your interest to us.

Can We Use Your Aircraft For Certification?​

If you may be willing to allow us to use your aircraft in a certification program for ****, please let us know."

Dynon you have many customers that are willing to help in any way needed to speed up this process... Let us help you help us. A Zoom meeting would be a great start... I for one am willing to let you use my plane to help in the certification process and you may find many more willing to help in various ways. I made my decision to go with your products and am very happy with the results but I would like to complete the package.

Eric

 

[dominikos]

I started on IFR training a few months back. I cannot imagine safe IFR one pilot flying in IMC without AP. It’s must have to take off the load to set plane, brief the plates. You all know that. Where I’m going with this is that I have Mooney M20J ‘78. Good plane, basic setup with GNS 4530W. I want to add engine monitor and remove dependency on vacuum pump. So, I’m at crossroads. I can get JPI 900 + 2 G275s and keep my current Century IIB. And then eventually add GFC 500 or can go Dynon route. Garmin is here for me now, yes, it will be $30K more than Dynon for the installation I want. But their product is here/now and there is a good path forward. For Dynon, there is a elusive drifting timeline. And lack of communication.
I want to be safe and as a result, will most likely head G route as I don’t think Dynon takes me seriously - participated in every survey, feedback path offered. I’m very likely not the only one. On mooneyspace forum, Dynon AP falls in the same category as Trutrak, by now subject of jokes and wishful thinking. Hope this perspective will help to get some answer from Dynon - how hard is it to be transparent on what’s going on and how issues are being addressed?

 

[Brent Dana]

I wont have a garmin anything. Its like an android phone vs an iphone. Tried the droid for 2 days, thru that junk away. Garmins work Great. I have had them. They work with their products, you can only go to their dealers who rip you! You just pay and pay and pay. Wont have it, and no the gfc 500 is not set up for an e-35 bonanza. With a dynon panel. You will have to buy more! I have flown about 10 hours is all on the dynon, and its easy and functional. Only reason i kept my gns430-w, is because i can now program it with the ipad and foreflight. Before that it was a pain in the butt! But spend away, I do agree IFR without auto pilot is stupid. Good thing I live in the desert of sunny Las Vegas.

 

[Corefile]

I started on IFR training a few months back. I cannot imagine safe IFR one pilot flying in IMC without AP. It’s must have to take off the load to set plane, brief the plates. You all know that. Where I’m going with this is that I have Mooney M20J ‘78. Good plane, basic setup with GNS 4530W. I want to add engine monitor and remove dependency on vacuum pump. So, I’m at crossroads. I can get JPI 900 + 2 G275s and keep my current Century IIB. And then eventually add GFC 500 or can go Dynon route. Garmin is here for me now, yes, it will be $30K more than Dynon for the installation I want. But their product is here/now and there is a good path forward. For Dynon, there is a elusive drifting timeline. And lack of communication.
I want to be safe and as a result, will most likely head G route as I don’t think Dynon takes me seriously - participated in every survey, feedback path offered. I’m very likely not the only one. On mooneyspace forum, Dynon AP falls in the same category as Trutrak, by now subject of jokes and wishful thinking. Hope this perspective will help to get some answer from Dynon - how hard is it to be transparent on what’s going on and how issues are being addressed?

If the 30k and more expensive yearly subscriptions are not prohibitive for you - then based on the rest of your post, I would say Garmin is the way to go. Dynon has really not done well with their certified efforts - certified code is over 2 years behind their current software release, and the way they have handled the Auto Pilot has been terrible.