DFC90 for Piper Matrix & Mirage

DFC90 provides performance enhancements including attitude-based digital precision and IAS Hold capability, along with the safety-enhancements of 'Straight & Level' and Flight Envelope Protection; Deposit Program provides significant savings for early adopters.

Avidyne announced today that they are expanding the available market for the DFC90 Digital Flight Control System to include Entegra-equipped Piper PA-46 Matrix and Mirage aircraft. Avidyne also announced that they are currently accepting deposits from owners of Entegra–equipped Matrix and Mirage aircraft who are interested in reserving an early slot for the DFC90 at significant savings.

"The attitude-based DFC90 provides considerable performance and safety benefits that make it a very attractive upgrade option for Entegra-equipped Matrix and Mirage aircraft," said Patrick Herguth, Avidyne's Chief Operating Officer. "In the short time it has been available, our DFC autopilots are growing beyond 25% penetration in the Cirrus market, and we fully expect the value of the DFC90 to be even more attractive to the owners of these higher-valued, higher-performing Piper aircraft."

The DFC90 adds the precision and reliability of an attitude-based flight control system, along with Indicated Airspeed Hold (IAS Hold)— a preferred method for climbing and descending in these higher-performing aircraft. In addition, the DFC90 provides the safety enhancements of the 'Straight & Level' mode—providing one-button unusual attitude recovery—and Flight Envelope Protection & Alerting. The DFC90 is currently certified for Cirrus SR20 and SR22, and Avidyne has previously announced plans to interface the DFC90 with the Aspen EFD1000 series integrated flight displays with initial certification expected later this year—opening up the market for DFC90s to an even larger number of aircraft.

About the DFC90

The DFC90 is an attitude-based digital autopilot system that is designed as a replacement for the S-TEC55X autopilot. The DFC90 has all the standard vertical and lateral modes of operation of a turbine-class autopilot system, including Flight Director (FD), Altitude Hold (ALT), Airspeed Hold (IAS), Vertical Speed Hold (VS), Heading (HDG), Navigation (NAV, APPR, LOC/GS, GPSS), and Control Wheel Steering (CWS).

Customers upgrading from the STEC 55X will notice several major performance and feature improvements including:

1. Greatly improved stability due to the use of attitude data to control the autopilot inner control loops. This is particularly evident and important when tracking an ILS to minimums in windy conditions.
2. The new Indicated Airspeed Hold (IAS) vertical mode includes a dedicated Airspeed knob and a new airspeed bug on the PFD, and provides a more elegant way to make Flight Level changes.
3. The flight director capability of the DFC90 is vastly improved and greatly improves the ability to hand-fly approaches.
4. The"Straight & Level" button overrides all autopilot modes and levels the aircraft in both pitch and roll from a wide range of capture attitudes for an added measure of safety.
5. "Flight Envelope Protection & Alerting" virtually eliminates autopilot-induced stalls (underspeed) and overspeeds. With Flight Envelope Protection, the autopilot avoids exceeding the flight envelope while providing visual and aural warnings to the pilot.

There several other improvements, such as a dedicated Vertical Speed knob, pitch hold mode, wide autopilot engagement, a dedicated GPSS button, automatic Back Course Approach selection, multiple color annunciations to indicate armed and active states, intercept mode annunciations, and Avidyne's hallmark ease of use.

Find out more about the DFC90.