Of course, there was more to see at the AirVenture than just 10,000 aircraft. There were almost 900 commercial exhibitors present, for example. The event is also known for its forums, workshops and presentations. This year, more than 1,500 of these sessions were attended by no less than 75,000 visitors. Also, a total of 2,800 people flew onboard the EAA’s vintage Ford Trimotors. About 3,000 flew onboard the EAA’s Bell 47s, and another 680 had the opportunity to flew onboard the B-17 bomber ‘Aluminum Overcast’.
This year marked the 66th annual convention of the EAA, and had several notable themes. Dubbed ‘the year of the tanker’, the AirVenture celebrated the 70th anniversary of the US Air Force Reserve. It also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force, with several displays and flight demonstrations forming part of the week’s activities. The AirVenture also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and had several aircraft of that era on display.
Let us take a look at just a few of the many announcements, products and presentations from this year’s EAA AirVenture.
New BendixKing products and subscription plans
BendixKing, a business unit of Honeywell, announced the availability of several of its latest products at a media breakfast. The BendixKing AeroVue Touch primary flight display, for example, will be ready for pilots and operators to purchase in fourth quarter of 2018. The display is BendixKing’s latest, and will be available for 353 aircraft types on the Approved Model List Supplemental Type Certificate. The system features Honeywell’s Synthetic Vision System, terrain awareness, a moving map, a vertical situation display, aeronautical charts, traffic and weather information, all within a near-4K high-resolution, 10.1-inch touchscreen display. Every safety-critical function is accessible within two pilot touches on the display, and all functions are available within four touches or less, making the system intuitive and easy to learn. Other products will be covered in future issues of ANJ, as well as on our website. One of the more exciting products demonstrated was AeroVue Voice, which enables AeroVue to receive voice commands from the pilot. The system recognizes natural speech, unconstrained by mandatory keywords or phrases, and recognizes speech regardless of the pilot’s accent. Voice command eliminates the need for the pilot to control AeroVue manually, speeding up command entry, reducing workload and keeping the pilot’s eyes looking outside the cockpit.
BendixKing also announced a new Avionics-as-a-Service plan that allows aircraft operators and owners to upgrade their avionics via a monthly subscription instead of an outright purchase. It will be an industry-first in the integrated avionics segment, and will be available soon for many BendixKing products including AeroVueTM, AeroVue Touch, xVue Touch, KSN 770 navigator, AeroWave satellite communications system and the MST 70B transponder with ADS-B Out. Similar to a cellular plan that includes a new mobile phone, the subscription will include virtually everything: avionics equipment, installation at an authorized BendixKing dealer, equipment repairs, software updates, databases and navigation charts, as well as technical support. Instead of paying a flyaway cost of $20,000 or more to purchase and install a single flight display, Avionics-as-a-Service would allow the owner to pay a monthly fee of about $400 per month.