Companies Celebrate Part 141 FITS Approval

Symphony Aircraft Industries (SAI) announced Tuesday that -- as part of its partnership with Skyline Aeronautics, a leader in the development and delivery of FAA Industry Training Standards and Technically Advanced Aircraft programs -- its SA160 two-place aircraft has been approved for FITS and Part 141 acceptance for the two Symphony/Avidyne TAA Transition Training Programs.

"The Avidyne Entegra-equipped Symphony SA 160 is the most advanced two-seat aircraft on the market, and with this technology comes the need for education on how to safely maximize its use," says Jeremy Keninger, National Sales Director, Symphony Aircraft Industries. "It is of the utmost importance to Symphony Aircraft to provide qualified training to ensure the highest level of comfort and safety to our customers. When it comes to TAA aircraft training we have a lot of confidence in Skyline’s abilities."

"Thanks to a joint effort between Skyline Aeronautics, Avidyne, the FAA and Symphony, we now have this coursework in place to provide free of charge to the growing list of customers ordering the Avidyne Entegra-equipped Symphony," added Keninger.

As Aero-News reported, the partnership between Symphony and Skyline took flight last November, when SAI first selected Skyline Aeronautics as its exclusive training developer and provider for its 141 FITS Avidyne Glass Cockpit transition course -- a course that recently received FITS approval.

"This program will truly benefit Symphony Aircraft customers flying the Avidyne Entegra integrated instrument panel," says Michael G. Gaffney, President and Director of Flight Operations and Training, Skyline Aeronautics. "It provides a professional scenario-based and student-centric training program that will lead to a safe and enjoyable flight experience for pilots taking advantage of this fantastic combination of aircraft and panel technology."

"Skyline was one of the first non-university pilot training schools to recognize the advantages, in both safety and efficiency, of the FITS tenets of flight training," says Tom Glista, the FAA’s FITS Program Manager in Washington, DC. "We appreciate the hard work Mr. Gaffney and his team has done with the FITS program. The FAA and the entire FITS Team looks forward to a continued partnership with Symphony Aircraft and Skyline Aeronautics developing high quality training programs that meet the needs of their customers."

The Symphony SA 160’s optional Avidyne Entegra flight deck features large-format, flat panel liquid-crystal displays that integrating virtually all instruments and gauges from today’s panels. The Entegra EXP5000 Primary Flight Display (PFD) presents standard flight instrumentation including attitude direction indicator (EADI), horizontal situation indicator (EHSI), altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, moving map, weather, terrain, and traffic on large 10.4-inch diagonal, high-resolution, sunlight-readable full color displays, while also conveying a pilot-selectable moving map presentation of flight plan data and an RMI pointer, all within the primary field of view, reducing pilot workload.

The large screen Entegra EX5000 MFD displays navigation data, XM data link weather, lightning, color radar, traffic, obstacles, terrain, and CMax™ approach plates with an intuitive user interface.

"Avidyne applauds Skyline Aeronautics for its initiative and leadership in producing FITS training for Symphony Aircraft," said Mark Sandeen, Avidyne Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "With the structured training program and the intuitive, easy-to-use Avidyne Entegra flight deck, pilots can quickly learn the capabilities and performance of the Symphony SA 160 and state-of-the-art avionics. They’ll not only learn how to fly safely and proficiently, they’ll learn how much fun the Symphony is to fly."

The Symphony SA 160 is a two-seat, single-engine, high-wing, Normal Category, FAA-certified VFR/IFR aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear. It is powered by the Lycoming 0-320-D2A engine with a fixed-blade MT propeller, and is designed to offer an affordable and easy flying experience for even the most inexperienced student or private pilot.

FMI: www.symphonyaircraft.com, www.skylineaero.com, www.avidyne.com