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KFC230 / Aerocruze

EuroFlyer wrote:

Which is a good thing, no ?

Yes, but they could’ve manufactured something to replace KFC225 and KAP140.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

This PDF states

The AeroCruze provides legacy KFC 150, KFC 200 and KFC
250 autopilot owners the simplest and most cost effective way
to upgrade their autopilot. Using sophisticated algorithms, the
AeroCruze is able to utilize your existing servos and associated
hardware; signifi cantly reducing installation cost and down
time. As part of the upgrade, your existing servos will covered
with a two year factory warranty to ensure the continued reliability you have come to expect. Installation on aircraft without
an existing BendixKing legacy autopilot are also available.

yet the video in the link says KFC150 only and no new installations.

Hard to know what to make of it. One possibility is that money is running out for certification of additional interfaces. The salesman in the video is embarrassing, like a bishop caught in a whorehouse.

The best autopilot from HBK is the KFC225 – if you ignore the frequently failing servos, or find a solution for them. That is the system they should fix, by doing a freshly designed autopilot computer. The 225 is as good as any current “digital” autopilot from anybody else (actually the 225 is “digital”) and it is a huge waste to just waste it, while selling replacement servos for 3k a pop. Hmmm, perhaps that is the answer why they aren’t doing it; they have sold ~10k of these servos so far

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

The best autopilot from HBK is the KFC225

Isn’t KFC325 the best one they produced?

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

The 325 has an airspeed input and is used in the early TBMs. I don’t know much about it – except that when I was hangared in a TBM service shop, they were required (per Socata MM) to extract all the servos annually and check the clutch torques, to make sure the pilot could override it if it went haywire. I have a feeling it is an old model (before the 225) but can ask.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

This is from the US:

I spoke to a tech support person at BK this morning. He confirmed that right now, the Aerocruze 230 is STC’d only as a replacement for the KFC-150, and retains the KI-256. He said that the only reason it needs a KI-256 is for the Aerocruze to drive the FD display, that it doesn’t get any input FROM the KI-256 (it uses an ADAHRS instead). BK is apparently working on several projects from here. One would allow the Aerocruze to replace the KAP-150, omitting the need for a flight director (it would retain the KAP-150 servos). Another is integration with the KI-300 (interestingly, there would be no need for the KA-310 adapter in that case due to the ADAHRS). As for timeline, he clearly didn’t want to give one but eventually said they’re targeting “by end of 2020” with the hope of having something to announce for Oshkosh.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I am amazed they are not on Instagram also

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I am amazed they are not on Instagram also

Different kind of models, Peter

EBST, Belgium

I am still not able to reconcile these announcements with the info posted further back which limits the applicability of this product to quite narrow scenarios.

It is as if King had two departments, isolated from each other. One is doing R&D and every 10 years comes up with something (usually something they bought in) and then discontinue the product soon afterwards, and the other department is very good at getting stuff certified.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

If its marketed as a slide-in KFC150 replacement, why does installation still take a week, according to their website?

EIMH, Ireland
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