There may be some misconceptions here. Smart Glide does not do anything without pilot input. The pilot has to choose to activate it. It does not change trim and does not fly the plane beyond using the autopilot to pitch for best glide speed if the pilot chooses to, which is a simple override if desired. It provides Highway in the Sky depiction to the nearest airport for the pilot to follow if he chooses, and it offers other options as well. It does't automatically pilot or navigate the aircraft. As far as I can see, it also doesn't change any frequencies unless the pilot chooses to use the recommended airport. The proposal here, automatic actions during engine failure and such, is a conglomeration of Smart Glide, Autoland and wishful thinking. It doesn't really exist as described. The reaction opposing an automatic takeover of aircraft functions is also unfounded. Smart Glide doesn't do that. Activation is entirely in the hands of the pilot, and the system doesn't take over the plane or commit significant action without pilot input. In essence, it simply provides options to the pilot that he'd normally find on his own, but without the distraction and delay involved with doing everything manually. It's an excellent idea to save time and prevent pilot distraction from increased workload. It should not automatically affect flight controls or navigation input, but Smart Glide doesn't do that now. Even if Dynon did not implement the automatic actions such as the pitch function of Smart Glide, the options provided by the system could still be very helpful in the event of an emergency. However, any development effort involves resource utilization that eventually makes it's way to the customer in the form of increased price. One advantage of Dynon over certified competitors is reduced price. So the question for me becomes, is this needed enough to justify a possible increase in cost? The answer is complicated, and is going to be different for each pilot. The expected benefit will vary greatly based on how, when and where they fly. For my simple plane and simple type of flying the benefit would be far smaller than it would be for an IFR pilot in a complicated aircraft. Then comes the problem with trying to assign value based on simply a perception of future danger or damage, which is impossible to do accurately or consistently. I think the possibility is certainly worth investigating, but I'm not yet convinced the outcome would be worth the expenditure at this point.
