Dynon EFIS-D10A & EMS-D10A

Permit to go glass

DYNON EFIS-D10A & EMS-D10A
      Price £1400/ €2045

PERMIT aircraft can be fitted with new instrumentation a lot easier than factory-built aircraft, and there's a whole range of bang up-to-date glass cockpit displays available.

One of the best known is the Dynon EFIS-D10A Electronic Flight Information System and the Dynon EMS-D10 Engine Monitoring System, fitted to Nic Hart's Vans RV-8 (LOOP August 06)

For aircraft builders, one of the key points is that the body of each of these instruments is cylindrical and fits into a standard 3.125 inch instrument panel hole, with the 4 inch LCD screen sitting neatly against the panel.

The EFIS-D10A display is dominated by a colour Attitude Indicator onto which other flight parameters are superimposed. The most prominent of these are the vertical reading tapes for Airspeed and Altitude at either edge, and a 'ribbon' style Heading Indicator across the top.

In flight, the Attitude Indicator is clear and instantly familiar. It is easy to read in sunlight and very responsive. Only close to the RV's maximum roll rate of about 140° per second is there a slight lag in the angle of bank presentation.

I found the other EFIS displays a little harder to get used to. However, after about 30 minutes in the air, I got to like the tape presentations, both of which accurately reflected the indications of the traditional ASI and Altimeter fitted to the RV-8.

The EMS-D10 replaces the traditional engine gauges with a colour, graphical representation of a variety of engine parameters including RPM, Manifold Pressure, Oil Temperature and Pressure, CHT and EGT for each cylinder.

The RPM and Manifold Pressure displays seem a bit small at first when you're used to mechanical gauges. Both of these displays show the precise value of each parameter with a digital indication, and show a representation of a needle against a colour-coded band to show trends and limitations. However, I would have liked some intermediate 'tick-marks' on the bands, for example at 2500rpm and 25in MP.

The best feature of the EMS-D10 is that it constantly monitors the various engine parameters and generates an alarm when any abnormality is detected. The alarm condition is shown on the display by the measurement value changing colour to yellow or red. In addition an audible tone can be generated or a separate warning light illuminated. Another handy feature is the 'Lean Function'. This changes the EGT display from showing absolute values to show instead the order in which the cylinders reach peak EGT as the mixture is leaned, together with the difference between the peak EGT and current temperature. This makes it easy to operate the engine at a chosen value on either the lean or rich side of peak EGT.