Piper Says It's The Most Extensive Use Of Glass Ever Seen In GA

New Piper Aircraft says it will offer Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck as standard equipment on its top-of-the line piston aircraft, the Malibu Mirage, continuing to make Piper's deployment of the Entegra system what it calls "the most extensive application of advanced glass avionics in general aviation."

By adding Avidyne's state-of-the-art Entegra system in the Mirage, Piper says it's continuing its strategy of integrating advanced glass avionics throughout the model line. The Mirage joins with Piper's flagship aircraft, the Piper Meridian; the PA-28 family of aircraft (the Warrior III, Archer III and Arrow); and the PA-32 family of aircraft (the Saratoga II HP, the Saratoga II TC, the Piper 6X and the Piper 6XT) in offering Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra.

"The addition of advanced glass cockpit technology in the Mirage continues Piper's commitment to providing our customers with cutting-edge technological improvements and the best quality general aviation has to offer," New Piper Vice Chairman Chuck Suma said during a sneak preview held at the annual meeting of the Malibu-Mirage Owners & Pilots Association this past weekend.

Said Avidyne President Dan Schwinn: "The Mirage implementation of FlightMax Entegra shows the way forward for general aviation glass cockpits. The redundancy and pilot-friendly access to such a wide range of flight management and situational awareness tools set a performance standard for small aircraft operation."

The FlightMax Entegra system for the Mirage consists of three 10.4-inch diagonal, high-resolution, sunlight-readable displays, including dual redundant EXP5000 primary flight displays (PFDs) with dual integrated solid-state Air Data Attitude Heading Reference Systems (ADAHRS), primary engine instruments and flight director. The EX5000 PFD presents standard flight instrumentation, including an electronic attitude direction indicator (EADI), altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, coupled with an electronic horizontal situation indicator (EHSI).

Cross-comparators for the PFDs constantly monitor both displays and ADAHRS and provide visual alerting in the event of any discrepancy. Each PFD is driven by its own independent ADAHRS, though a single ADAHRS may drive both displays for failover operation. A "Pilot Priority" switch also allows the pilot to prevent input from the co-pilot's PFD when a non-pilot occupies the right seat. The PFDs in the Mirage can present both standard flight instrumentation and pilot-selectable moving-map flight plan data and a RMI pointer in the primary field of view.

The EX5000 multi-function display (MFD) is installed in the center of the panel in the Mirage and provides a large, full-featured moving map with optional Stormscope and the Skywatch traffic advisory service and Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) display. Primary engine instrument capability displays and monitors manifold pressure, RPM, oil pressure and fuel flow on the PFD.  A fuel totalizer is standard on the MFD, showing fuel flow, fuel used, fuel remaining, time remaining (endurance) and economy in NMPG. Options include Avidyne's exclusive MultiLink datalink graphical weather featuring XM WX Satellite Weather, flight tracking and two-way air-to-ground text messaging, and CMax Jeppesen JeppView electronic chart display.

"The Piper Mirage has been a trend-setting aircraft since the day it was introduced," said Molly Martin Pearce, New Piper's Director of Dealer Relations & Sales. "In a class by itself, the Mirage delivers speeds greater than 200 knots, at 21 gallons-per-hour and at 25,000 feet, and it does it day-after-day and year-after-year. Now, with the Entegra system, this aircraft has moved on to a new and higher level of performance and capability."

FMI: www.newpiper.com