Extra Aircraft has selected Honeywell's Apex integrated cockpit as the standard avionics package for the EA-500 single-engined turboprop business aircraft. The Apex flightdeck has already been selected for the G160 Ranger turboprop single under development by fellow German manufacturer Grob.
The standard Apex system in the EA-50 will feature two 265mm (10.4in)-diagonal liquid-crystal displays, engine indicating and crew alerting system, digital autopilot, flight management system, dual-channel air-data attitude/heading reference system, digital communication/navigation radios, Mode S transponder, and traffic advisory and enhanced ground-proximity systems. Options will include weather radar, traffic collision avoidance system, radio altimeter, DME and ADF and Honeywell's flight information services datalink.
Initial deliveries of the EA-500, beginning in 2005, will be with Honeywell's EFS-40 electronic flight instrument system, with Apex being installed as standard from 2006. A third application of Apex has yet to be announced. Avidyne, meanwhile, has been selected to provide integrated cockpits for the Adam A500, Cirrus SR22, Diamond DA40-180, Eclipse 500, Lancair 350/400, New Piper Saratoga/6X and Safire Jet. Garmin's G1000 has been chosen for the Cessna 182/206 and Citation Mustang, Diamond DA40/42, HondaJet and Mooney Bravo/Ovation2.
Grob says it will offer the Honeywell EFIS 40 on the first deliveries of the G160, which is scheduled to be certificated ahead of the Apex approval in 2006.
Source: Flight International
