I think it depends what you term as GA. They claim any legacy autopilot airplane or helicopter.
As Badin Crouzet now exists under the Thales banner I have asked a direct question ie "can you upgrade legacy Badin Crouzet autopilots such as can be found on MS Rallye aircraft or Robins?
I received very quick answers to my previous questions but the response to this question is taking longer. Maybe no one has asked it before and they are looking for somebody who can answer it.🙂 Always look on the bright side.
greg_mp wrote:
this AP may be compact for a a320 size plane…
That is what I thought. They do think big.
Maybe we should organize a research trip to them for interested GA folks… the guys I knew there were in a very different department though…
gallois wrote:
Maybe no one has asked it before and they are looking for somebody who can answer it.🙂 Always look on the bright side.
Maybe they just realized what “any legacy plane” actually means in that context 
I’d certainly be willing to talk to them about it on site, maybe over one of their legendary “cote de boef garni” . That alone is worth a trip there. And an invitation to that place was usually the result of someone asking a question they needed time figuring out during that project.
In their blurb they tamk about integrating 4 axis APs into light helicopters. As they were already supplying APs to A109s and Sea Kings they must be taliking about something lighter than those IMO.
They also write about making APs for drones.
I am assuming they mean something the size of the Reaper. So IMO its not.so wild a thing to think that maybe they retrofit light aircraft.
I look forward to the response to my question.
gallois wrote:
I look forward to the response to my question.
Me too. Having enjoyed some of the perks the Airbus AP has I’d love to finally get something like that for GA. Same functionality but scaled down to GA, would be too good to be true.
Airbus are hardly going to be making avionics for GA, let alone the Robin fleet whose chief attribute (ask any part 21 avionics shop; some posts here) is talking about stuff and not coming up with cash when somebody does the STC.
This is pipe dreaming.
Did Badin-Crouzet make any GA autopilots after those WW2 designs which were linked earlier? Those were sold on 1970s Robins and B-C died after that. The mission profile of the bulk of the fleet doesn’t warrant an autopilot (in viable sales volumes).
This isn’t Airbus this is Thales which is one of the largest companies in Europe. It is also one of the world’s largest avionics companies that most of us in GA seem to have never heard of.
I only knew it as a train company.
What Badin-Crouzet has done since it got merged into other companies and now Thales I don’t know. It didn’t just make APs it made various other avionics too.
Dassault seems to repair most of these at one of their divisions.
But as I wrote “I don’t know”.
I started my research because some one asked some years ago about if there was somewhere to repair them and [personal stuff deleted]. Or words to that effect. I started asking around about where that shed could be found and was pointed in the direction of IIRC Sextant Aviation and after many twists and turns have gone on from there.
Thales are also now the umbrella under which Sefna or Sfena ( the makers of the Concord autopilot) operates. They appear to have combined a lot of one man, his dog and a Gaulois garden shed businesses.🙂
Anyone doing electronics in the 1970s will prob99 be retired now, or dead. And we haven’t seen any GA products from Thales, have we?
gallois wrote:
I only knew it as a train company.
It started as SFENA then it became sextant avionique later Thales
I know Badin Crouzet became sextant and I was told that they did still repair autopilots.
I’m still awaiting an answer to my question.
They have been pretty good at replying up until now. SFENA did the AP for Concord in the 1960’s.
" And we haven’t seen any GA products from Thales, have we?"
I don’t know. One of the things I did think about was whether Thales sold their products under a different brand name. Which depends also on what we term GA.
Personally I include gliding , annexe 1 and ULM as GA. Others seem to limit it to certified aircraft Annexe2 and business aircraft including corporate jets.
From website:-
Thales onboard major programs
Thales is proud to be onboard prestigious aircraft programs amongst which (non exhaustive list):
In the civil transport:
Airbus A320 family, A380, A350 XWB
ATR-600
Boeing B787
Bombardier Global Express, Global 5000, 6000, CRJ700/900/1000, Learjet 85
Dassault Falcon 5X
Gulfstream G500, G600, G650
Sukhoi SSJ-100
In the military domain:
Airbus A400M
Dassault Mirage 2000, Rafale
Embraer KC390
Eurofighter Typhoon
In the helicopter sector:
Airbus Helicopter Tigre, H Force
Boeing Chinook
Leonardo A109, Wildcat
NH Industries NH90
Sikorsky Blackhawk, S76D
