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Trio Avionics / Trutrak autopilot - possible FAA STC (but no EASA STC) & no ILS no HDG no pitch trim

There is a thread here which on my re-read appears inconclusive but it may contain clues.

We also have another thread which right now I can’t find which explains how another piece of avionics was certified… IIRC the approval was for that specific aircraft type only, based on a demonstrated equivalence of performance, and was not a useful precedent for a general installation of that item. IOW, one could not install that item using the usual FAA process e.g. a Major Alteration via a Field Approval.

Maybe the “PMA” comment is exactly this? The article doesn’t have much detail. I don’t think a PMA part has to be itself TSOd. It merely needs to be built by a facility with a documented QA system and somehow provably be a substitute for the original. But I am not sure. I wonder if anyone who knows the FAA system can illuminate this?

All this was happening in the USA. EASA doesn’t have a PMA process, but FAA-PMA parts are acceptable.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

More in this US AOPA article. There are STCs for C172 and C182.

It says the installation kits are available for $2,000, and the Trio Pro Pilot autopilot kit is $5,000, so presumably this is $7k, plus VAT and import duty.

I wonder if installers get a discount… otherwise most people won’t be able to get these installed (or you free issue and the parts are marked up by the installer by c. 25%).

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

“or you free issue and the parts are marked up by the installer by c. 25%)”

What installer ever makes as much as a 25% margin on avionics? This isn’t consumer electronics or vehicle maintenance!

Avionics geek.
Somewhere remote in Devon, UK.

Maybe some bigger companies do? On the other hand, I know at least one installer who does it the other way round, passing his discounts on to his customers.

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic

So, will any of these (Trio, Garmin) be applicable to EASA planes in any reasonable future?

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

What installer ever makes as much as a 25% margin on avionics?

Just checked with one Garmin+Avidyne dealer. Answer: 25-30%. More is possible on large orders.

That 25% figure I posted originally was given to me by one UK shop for installing free issue avionics. The rationale, a reasonable one, was that

  • they take on the warranty on the whole job, which has to be funded somehow
  • they would not make a living just on the quoted installation cost; they need the dealer margin also, hence the uplift on free issue parts

It is not surprising that if the bottom falls out of the avionics market due to “homebuilt” avionics getting STCd for certified aircraft, there will be some unhappy people out there. For every winner there is a loser.

With a freelance avionics installer, there is more flexibility because

  • he doesn’t want to get involved in buying the hardware because it would take him over the mandatory VAT registration threshold (£80k or so in the UK)
  • he has to be cheaper than the big boys otherwise not many would use him
  • he doesn’t offer any meaningful warranty
  • he works in your hangar so has minimal overheads
  • mostly, he doesn’t understand certification paperwork
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Just heard from Paul O. they got the STCs and now are working on the 200 series Cessnas.

KHTO, LHTL
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Is importing a suitably equipped N-reg and hoping to get the STC grandfathered in the only way to get these in EASA-reg planes? Or is there reasonable hope for EASA to recognize this, and similar, STC, in the near future?

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

EASA accept FAA approved data so an EASA STC becomes a simple paperwork exercise. A few recently developed autopilots got EASA STCs that directly implement the FAA STC. One example is the Avidyne DFC90 which was STC’ed for the Cessna 182 and only 2 months later in EASA.

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