IFD540 Certification Status |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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What kind of thing(s) was that, if you can say? * Orest Edited by oskrypuch - 02 May 2013 at 7:39pm |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Sure. Issue #2: The IFD540 has Forward Looking Terrain Alerting (FLTA) as part of the baseline product. This is a subset of certified TAWS and will alert the pilot via a message and an aural alert if it projects an imminent impact with terrain (approximately 60 and 30 seconds from projected impact). It is suppressed around airfields or if the pilot manually toggles it off. We annunciate the inhibit state but that wasn't a permanent display of the inhibit state. The FAA noted that may be a cert issue so we intend to make that a permanent display when it is inhibited (in other words, no pilot action is required to display it but conversely, if the state is active, then the annunciation of it can not be removed).
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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Interesting, thanks, appreciate the insight. Fine details, but they could be issues.
* Orest |
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Victor
Groupie Joined: 03 Feb 2012 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 60 |
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Steve,
I can't thank you enough for keeping us in the loop the way you have been. To get on here the same day you flew with the FAA and keep us advised of the result is so very much appreciated. Victor
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Steve, I think you will avoid issues down the road (hazardous misleading data) if you just remove the heading all together when you pan the map. Then once you leave the pan mode and the ship's solution is centered on the display, put it back. I'm assuming the CDI still indicates cross track error in pan mode and that’s what the pilot should be flying anyway. Everything else is situational awareness. Just my opinion Edited by tony - 03 May 2013 at 8:58pm |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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(IFD540 Status Update - 17 May 2013):
Flew the IFD540 with the FAA again this week (Thursday). I would characterize the flight as also going well to very well. This was the second familiarization the FAA has had with the unit and they ran through the intended full MPSUE flight profile and evaluation test events in our test 182 equipped with dual IFD540s. The going-in objective of the flight was for the local FAA to dry run the MPSUE flight profile and tweak the run cards as required in support of the full MPSUE that starts in two weeks. But, during post-flight, the FAA pilot decided he's seen enough of the system and will consider that his for-credit MPSUE flight evaluation. He had a number of observations but no CIs (Certification Issues), PCIs (Potential Certification Issues) or RSEs (Recommended System Enhancements) which was great news. As always happens with these things, the FAA has made some meaningful changes to the way they intend to run the MPSUE. They have added several more (4) pilots to the evaluation team and their availability schedules are such that we actually start the MPSUE next week (technically this week since the Thursday flight will count) and run through the end of the week of 3 June, expecting the last flight to be on/about 7 June. Of course, the more exposure the system has to evaluation pilots the greater the risk but we feel very confident going into this - we're ready.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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AzAv8r
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Arizona Status: Offline Points: 154 |
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Fabulous! Thanks for the update.
Jon |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Is the MPSUE tests you speak of, where you give the platform over to the FAA and they operate it by themselves without Avidyne involvement?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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For the MPSUE, the typical protocol is that the FAA evaluator pilot flies in left seat as the flying pilot, the Avidyne pilot sits in the right seat and serves as PIC but does not operate the system, fly the airplane or talk on the radio unless needed to for safety or asked to by the FAA, and a FAA Flight Test Engineer sits in the back seat and directs the run cards and records the FAA evaluator pilot comments and takes other notes.
We then debrief the flight afterwards and the FAA spends 1-3 weeks compiling all the FAA notes and the publishes an official FAA position on their findings. They score each finding using a scale: CI - Certification Issue; PCI - Potential Certification Issue; RSE - Recommended System Enhancement Comment/Note/Observation - Self evident Then the negotiation begins and we'll formally respond in writing as to the company position. The general rule is that all CIs must be resolved before certification and PCIs are usually in the same boat while the rest are all negotiated. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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So if I'm reading this right, am I correct to assume that all the software qualification tests have been completed in the lab, and the last formal testing will be completed in about a month? Have all the hardware qualification issues resolved?
Edited by tony - 21 May 2013 at 6:08am |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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No, I wish that were a correct read but it's not quite right.
We try to time the MPSUE to happen when a number of factors are right. The principal considerations are: 1. The system is representative of the final product such that all evaluations are against the design we intend to certify; 2. The system is not so close to certification that any changes induced by the FAA evaluation would have significant and difficult to deal with schedule implications; 3. The FAA evaluator pilots schedules permit the time. We hit #1 a few weeks ago but couldn't schedule #3 until now. For better or worse, we don't think we've added too much risk to #2. We won't even consider starting the formal software testing until the look & feel and usability evaluations by the FAA are complete and closed out. This is done because the software testing is so time consuming - dozens of engineers running tests almost around the clock for weeks and weeks. We also are going to go back into formal hardware testing starting in about a week or so. All the hardware and environmental testing we've been conducting for months has led to a number of good design updates/improvements and the last of those redesigned hardware components arrive in a few days. We're looking at the last few months of hardware testing as terrific risk mitigation and design improvement and formal testing dress rehearsals and now go into the retest phase with high confidence.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Steve, Thank you. I have a pretty good idea now where you are. I'm going to guess there are about 250 KSLOC in your image. For the formal software testing are most of the tests manual?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Our SLOC count is actually 4-5 times that size. We've got approximately 1.2 MSLOC which is clearly a daunting task.
On the good news front, about 450 KSLOC is the OS which comes as a Reusable Software Certification (RSC) package which means we don't have to review it or write/run tests for it - that has already been done. Of the remaining 680K of Application flight code, about half is unchanged legacy code from R9 so the previous code reviews and test generation are complete and we can take cert credit for it. Of the now remaining 340K of "new" code, about 1/3 is Level D which obviates the need for DO-178 style code review. That leaves us with approximately 220K SLOC that need code review and test generation/running. We started on that about 6 months ago and have been sliding more and more engineers to those tasks as they complete their pure development tasks. As for the tests, a great deal are automatic in that once you write and dry run and review them, they can be automatically run and the test results are auto compiled. There are still a lot of tests that are more manual than automatic due to the nature of setting up a specific configuration of avionics and having to verify visual behavior on the display. For example, needing to see a flight plan leg turn magenta when it becomes the active leg is still a manual exercise for us. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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I'm fascinated with all the detail we're seeing here, and it helps with the wait. ;-)
Thanks. * Orest |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Steve, thank you for the transparency. Yes it's much clearer now. From your response you must be using the OS from the guys in FL. Its a stable product and we always have gotten great support from them. I am impressed with the size of your OFP. Please don't run out of room......
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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We're using the identical OS we use in R9 - it's called LynxOS-178 and is provided by Linuxworks with the RSC. I know that at least Rockwell Collins and Avidyne use it in our avionics applications.
We also layer on top of that an ARINC653 partitioned architecture that essentially creates brick walls between the virtual machines running code at different design assurance levels (DAL). In other words, a Level D application (e.g. Checklist) can not adversely affect a higher Level C (e.g FMS) or Level B (LPV guidance/deviation) application. Each DAL runs in its own virtual machine - we segment the processor into several semi-autonomous virtual processors. It's a pretty neat, sophisticated and highly effective architecture for this type of rigorous aviation application. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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(IFD540 Status Update - 29 May 2013):
We're hot and heavy in the midst of the MPSUE. We've put 6 FAA reps through ground training, ground eval and flight eval so far with about 5 or 6 more still to go. We don't have any results yet - will make a post when we have something interesting to talk about on this front. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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(IFD540 Status Update - 4 June 2013):
Still in the middle of IFD540 MPSUE and it just got extended. Due to scheduling challenges on the part of the FAA, we are now scheduled to conclude FAA flights on Friday 14 June. On a side note, we are showing the FAA the IFD440 at the same time so we can hopefully avoid any new human factors/system usability evaluation with that product. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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Well, not a biggie.
* Orest |
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jperryfly
Newbie Joined: 15 Apr 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 9 |
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Steve,
Ref your comment on the 440 on 04Jun.
Does that change the target date for the 440? I would just like to get a jump on selling my 430W so I can pay for the 440. Thanks, John in Fl |
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John Perry
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Hi John,
Reference your question about IFD440 timing, we don't know but we hope so. We'll be able to give a pretty good heads up on 440 cert when we're within 2-3 months of it's expected cert. Might be wise to wait until then just in case. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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I hate to be a nag, but did this complete? Edited by tony - 17 Jun 2013 at 3:57pm |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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Boy, what a NAG! * Orest Edited by oskrypuch - 17 Jun 2013 at 4:30pm |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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It wasn't but it is now. The FAA had to weather cancel last week and rescheduled the two make-up flights today.
I am pleased to declare the MPSUE is now complete - at least all the FAA evaluation flights. It took almost 5 weeks instead of the 1 they had intended - all due to FAA availability and weather challenges. The next phase is to wait until they publish their Issues List. I fear we'll have to wait another painful duration for that to get into our hands since the principal FAA rep that is responsible for creating and issuing the list is about to head out on vacation and he's unable/unwilling to delegate that list creation to anyone else. In the meantime, we'll keep plugging away on the certification artifacts. We'll focus on the ones least likely to be affected by any FAA input from the MPSUE. |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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Well, maybe he'll be in a really good mood when he returns, and give you a Gold Star.
* Orest Edited by oskrypuch - 18 Jun 2013 at 9:00am |
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Victor
Groupie Joined: 03 Feb 2012 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 60 |
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Did he indicate how long he will be absent?
Victor
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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The FAA rep responsible for the Issues List is busy with other applicants this week and is out all week next week. He returns on 1 July.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Did we get the redesigned hardware through environmemtal qual yet?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Not quite. I think we're 2-3 weeks away from being done. We decided to re-run a number of tests with the new display glass. No show stoppers so far and none anticipated.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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after you receive your stc, how long will you allow the pilots program to run before you ship to the rest of us?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Pilot program should run between 3 weeks (enough time to determine if all is going swimmingly well) and 5 weeks (enough time if some installs are slow out of the gate or if feedback is slow to come in).
Based on how that pilot program goes, we'd either open up full-rate shipping at that point or fix any entry-to-service issue that was discovered during the pilot program.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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Well, I'm standing by. I'm ready to get going right away, on that new baby
* Orest Edited by oskrypuch - 29 Jun 2013 at 9:17pm |
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ddgates
Senior Member Joined: 12 Aug 2011 Location: Deer Valley Status: Offline Points: 1100 |
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Do these developments bear any relation to the IFD 440 vert?
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David Gates
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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With respect to David's question about 440 cert, the short answer is "yes". The tougher answer is in providing substantiating detail.
We still expect the 440 to be a "fast follow" cert behind the 540. That may mean 2 months, that may mean 6 months. We're flying 440s at the same time as the 540 in our test aircraft and we showed the FAA during the recent 540 human factors evaluation (MPSUE) that it's the "same, only smaller" version of the 540 so any considerations they have on the 440 *should* be resolved by any thing we do in the 540. That being said, whenever we hit a resource crunch or an attention needing effort, the 540 will always win out over the 440. That's an important statement in order to resist the temptation to cert both at the same time. We don't want to accept the potential of delaying 540 by pulling in the 440. We do ask ourselves nearly every day something like "will doing that with the 440 delay the 540 time to market by even a day and if so, is it really, really worth it?" It's rare to hear a "yes" to that question.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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ddgates
Senior Member Joined: 12 Aug 2011 Location: Deer Valley Status: Offline Points: 1100 |
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Makes sense, Steve.
Maybe they will hand you an unsolicited "gift"... |
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David Gates
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wsh
Groupie Joined: 05 Oct 2011 Status: Offline Points: 88 |
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so what is the expectation for the 540.August or Octobre?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Definitely not August for IFD540 Cert. Instead of providing a date, I'll say that we have a few major milestones to get through before we can spike the ball. You should consider measuring us against these remaining milestones to get a sense of the higher and higher confidence date. Those remaining big milestones are:
1. Receive, and react accordingly to, the FAA-generated MPSUE assessment of the unit. This will likely drive some code changes but we won't know the magnitude until we get the official list from the FAA; 2. Achieve 100% DO-178B Code Complete status. This is well beyond "feature complete". DO-178B "Code Complete" means we've finished all the code review and requirement tracing of the code per the FAA-recognized software standard. We can't finish this until we know the code is done changing. Note that we're done with all the changes on our end, we're just reacting now to any mandated changes; 3. Officially declare DO-160 Hardware Qual testing to be complete; 4. Achieve "Red Label" status on the combined hardware/software system. This means that all formal for-credit software and hardware testing have been completed. In other words, this is a submittable-for-cert system; 5. Complete official company "for-credit" flight testing of the final submittable system; 6. Complete FAA TIA (Type Inspection Authorization) testing. This is the FAA's final exam of the complete system before they sign off on cert. 7. Make our final submissions to the FAA of 100% of the certification artifacts. We do consider this to be end-game of the program. Some of those activities typically last only a matter of a few days (e.g. 5, 6, 7) and some take several weeks to get through (e.g. 2, 4). |
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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Leonard
Senior Member Joined: 05 Jul 2012 Location: Lafayette LA Status: Offline Points: 107 |
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Can I save on freight and just have Santa bring and install it?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Gosh, I sure hope so. I might even come down and hand-deliver it......
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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wsh
Groupie Joined: 05 Oct 2011 Status: Offline Points: 88 |
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dear Steve
I do appreciate your candor in the matter. It however does seem that everytime new .. or unannounced ... issues come up .. I seriously hope and count on Avidyne delivering this year .. and have it certified by october. It is about time that we start concentrating on the real important stuff ... like getting the MLX working on it.. Other than that I truly look forward to getting rid of the Garmins and getting a much more intuitive system. |
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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Understood.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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jkturner
Newbie Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Location: Modesto Cal. Status: Offline Points: 3 |
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Are we seriously looking at October as the likely date for certification? i was told when i purchased that the unit should be certified by June, I know that you've had to deal with the effects of sequestration but how has that caused a delay of 4 months? I sold my Garmin 530W while I could still get something for it and am now renting one from a local avionics shop to use until the IFD 540 is available. Any news on who or when the pilot program people will be selected and potentially have radios? Thank you for your support! |
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JT
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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I will report on the FAA MPSUE findings and the Code Complete milestones noted above (#1, 2) and at that point, will focus on the pilot program selection and date estimates since at that point, we have a much more deterministic schedule.
We're working weekends and holidays to get this done.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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jkturner
Newbie Joined: 01 Jul 2013 Location: Modesto Cal. Status: Offline Points: 3 |
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Thank you for the information!
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JT
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Leonard
Senior Member Joined: 05 Jul 2012 Location: Lafayette LA Status: Offline Points: 107 |
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WELL It is what it is!
While others Can't wait to get a new untried unit. I'd much rather wait a little longer just to unsure that I will not having to send it back because of XYZ problems. My thoughts are, do not be pressured by us customers. When Avidyne is ready. We'll be ready. Leonard
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tony
Senior Member Joined: 06 Dec 2011 Location: Atlanta Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Did you get any FAA MPSUE findings reported yet?
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AviJake
Admin Group Joined: 26 Mar 2009 Location: Lincoln MA Status: Offline Points: 2815 |
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No, afraid not. Here is an exact cut and paste from an email I got this morning from the FAA on the topic:
"We are about 75%
through. We are having another meeting on Friday to finish this up, so Friday,
maybe next Monday." This is a big enough milestone that you can be sure I'll report the status/findings as soon as I get them and what our course of action will be based on those findings.
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Steve Jacobson
sjacobson@avidyne.com |
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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Fingers crossed that there are no biggies.
* Orest |
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Paul
Senior Member Joined: 17 Aug 2012 Location: Massachusetts Status: Offline Points: 285 |
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The rest of the world waits to find about about Kate's baby. We wait to hear what the FAA said. They (or we) should get a life...
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oskrypuch
Senior Member Joined: 09 Nov 2012 Location: CYFD Status: Offline Points: 3058 |
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You know what, I kind of LIKE the life I already have! ;-)
* Orest Edited by oskrypuch - 22 Jul 2013 at 8:49pm |
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