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HERE TO FIND US!
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To view our website, click on the link below
and check out our online store, by clicking on the link below
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Avionics to the Max!
Come and see us at our state of the art facility, where our friendly staff are here to help with your needs!
250-18799 Airport Way
Pitt Meadows Airport (CYPK)
Pitt Meadows, BC,
V3Y 2B4
604-465-3080
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| RECENT EVENTS |
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Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
in Palm Springs, California
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WHERE WILL WE BE NEXT?
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NBAA
National Business Aviation Association
Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2012
Orlando, Florida
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AVIATION HUMOUR
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The controller working a busy pattern told the 727 to make a three sixty (a complete circle, usually to provide spacing between aircraft).
The pilot of the 727 complained, “Do you know it costs us two thousand dollars to make a one-eighty in this aeroplane?”
Without missing a beat the controller replied, “Roger, give me four thousand dollars worth!”
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REBATES
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Rebate offer Extended!
SPOT
Sale & Rebate!
Purchase a SPOT at the new low price of $149 and receive a
$50 mail in rebate
only $99.00
Valid now till
December 31, 2012
Being carried by adventures, bikers,flier, climbers and doers around the world, SPOT devices have facilitated over 2,000 rescues
Be prepared…take a SPOT
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Fall Promotion
from
Aspen Avionics
$1,000 discount off the Evolution Pro until
Oct. 31, 2012
Discounts offered on the Evolution MFD500 and MFD1000 pkg until
Nov. 30, 2012
$500 discount on Evolution Synthetic Vision is also available with these promotions or as a standalone purchase
See us for more details on these unbeatable prices!
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from
Avidyne
Save on Active Traffic systems, EX600 Multifunction Display and MLX770 Worldwide Datalink systems
Offer expires
Dec. 31, 2012
See us for more details
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Oktoberfest
Flightine is offering
major discounts
Offer expires Oct./12
See us for more details
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ANNOUNCEMENT
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A reminder that
2013 PAMEA symposium
is coming up!
Jan 16 to 19th 2013
Check here for more details:
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LET US KNOW
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Have a joke you would like to share?
Send us an email and we will feature your joke in the upcoming newsletters.
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New Products
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Pointer Avionics
SkyHunter 406 ELT now shipping
Pointer Avionics announced that they are now shipping their newest ELT kits with the latest technology.
The SkyHunter 406 ELT kit includes:
- ALL kits include:
- Remote Switch Kit
- 2 M coaxial cable assembly
- 5 year Lithium Batteries
- Internal GPS receiver on ALL models
- Internal GPS antenna in ALL models (Acts as a PLB when removed from aircraft)
- No aircraft power required
- Fleet dongle capable on ALL models
- Mil spec temperature range -40 C to + 55 C (tested to -55C)
- internal buzzer w/ remote connector
- Only weighing 1.5kgs
New Dynon D1 Pocket Panel
Dynon Avionics recently introduced a portable true attitude indicator that can be used by pilots. The D1 utilizes the same Dynon MEMS-based AHRS technology that Dynon uses in thier EFIS (Electronic Flight Information Systems) in experimental and Light Sport Aircraft.
This new D1 Pocket Panel can be used by all GA pilots, and is priced at $1,425.
The D1 is a true artificial horizon with accurate pitch and roll, and can find the horizon even if turned on in flight. It maintains the horizon during extended duration turns. The AHRS sensors also drive a turn rate indicator and slip/skid ball. Included is an internal GPS receiver to display GPS ground speed, altitude, vertical speed, and ground track.
At only 3½” wide, 3¼” high, and 1″ thick, the D1 is truly portable. It features a battery that will last at least four hours on a charge, and comes with two portable mounting options. The first is a RAM® suction cup mount, and the second is portable 3 ⅛” hole “pinch” mount.
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| In the hangar |
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RV8
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In progress
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Our customer came in with a wish list for a state of the art avionics package to upgrade his recently purchased Vans RV8 homebuilt. He said he didn’t want any old round gauges and wanted it done in a fast and timely manner. The RV8 came in with a typical 6 pack of instruments that needed changing.
Maxcraft gutted the old sub-standard wiring, fabricated new metal panels, and designed a full glass panel for the pilot and co-pilot positions.
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Completed panels pre-Maxcraft Duracoat finish
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We upgraded the Garmin GNS430/530 system to WAAS, installed SL40 Comm, installed and rewired GMA340 Audio Panel, added dual Dynon EFIS system with Skyview displays, synthetic vision, added a engine monitoring package, Dynon Autopilot system, and a remote mount Dynon Transponder system.
While we were in there, we also rewired the stick grip, installed flap and trim control box, installed lighter/aux power and installed vertical power electronic circuit breaker system.
With all this new equipment we then designed and installed our Maxcraft Duracoat powder-coated panel (powder-coat not completed in these pictures). Now the plane not only flies fast, but has a racy interior look!
Kit Fox 
This customer is building his own aircraft, a Kit Fox Series 7 which ultimately will be on floats. Building it on his own, he had done some basic wiring but needed some advice on the design and fabrication of his avionics/instrument panel package. He stopped by Maxcraft and we explored the whole gamut from full glass panels to basic “steam gauge” setup. The advantage our homebuilding customers have is they have much more cost effective choices than our certified clients. With simple daytime floatplane operations in mind he ultimately decided on a combination glass and traditional gauge package.
He purchased the Dynon D180 display (which gives the standard 6 pack in a glass panel with engine monitoring included), PS Engineering intercom, Garmin SL 40 radio, and the Garmin GTX327 transponder. Homebuilders of course can choose to have us wire everything or nothing and in this case he chose what we thought was the best value. Basically we designed the schematic; laser marked the wires, terminated to the instrument panel and left a 10 ft harness for the customer to terminate once installed in the aircraft.
At the end of the day, the customer has a beautiful reliable panel that he got to install.
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| More In the hangar |
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Cessna 182
 Our customer came in with a modern and absolutely beautiful Cessna 182 with the Garmin G1000 all glass panel. He decided to install the Garmin GTS 800 active traffic system for safety purposes. Of course that meant it had to be integrated into his G1000 boxes to properly display on the large moving map screens and his audio for annunciation and position reporting.
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GTS800 hardware installed in tail
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Our customer resides on Vancouver Island, so he flew his aircraft to Maxcraft for the project. We flew him back for the short hop to Victoria in our company C182 airplane again picked him up. The one common comment we hear from every one of our traffic customers is how they can’t believe how much traffic is out there that they never saw before!
Read more about this story here.
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Technical Side…
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Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) Technology Advances
What Is Flight Data Monitoring?
There is no official definition for Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) but it is generally considered to be a systematic method of accessing, analyzing, and acting upon information obtained from flight data to identify operational risks before they can lead to incidents and accidents. The FDM system functions as a feedback loop enabling operators to compare their Standard Operating Procedures with the results obtained from actual daily operations.
There are other names for these systems including:
- Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA)
- Flight Data Analysis (FDA)
- Helicopter Flight Data Monitoring (HFDM)
- Helicopter Operations Monitoring Program (HOMP)
FDM History
Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) programs began in the 1960s with two European airlines – British Airways and TAP Air Portugal. By the late 1990s the technology had evolved to the point where it was becoming commonplace with the world’s major airlines. In the early 2000s, standards for helicopter systems began to evolve and by about 2006, new technology advances made it possible to install systems in light GA aircraft.
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| Better with the new technology |
New FDM Technology
Until just a few years ago, FDM system
hardware was universally large, heavy, expensive and difficult to retrofit. These systems utilize a Quick Access Recorder (QAR) connected to the aircraft’s Flight Data Acquisition Unit (FDAU). The FDAU provides the interface between the various aircraft systems and the crash survivable Flight Data Recorder (FDR).
In other words, FDM hardware is piggybacked onto existing Flight Data Recorder system. If an aircraft didn’t already have a FDR system there wasn’t an easy way to add FDM. Most QARs must to be manually accessed by ground crews to download the data.
Today there are several small, lightweight FDM hardware products available that include a various combinations of built-in features such as GPS position sensor, inertia sensors, attitude sensor, discrete inputs, analog data inputs, video ports and additional ports to interface to aircraft pitot and static systems. These systems are capable of data link communication over the Iridium satellite network and some can automatically download data when they detect a Wi-Fi hotspot in the hangar or on the ramp. This new technology is enabling smaller airlines, corporate and helicopter operators to implement world class FDM systems at very reasonable costs.
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Vendor Profile
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Dynon 
Dynon Avionics designs, manufactures and distributes a growing line of affordable glass cockpit avionics for Experimental and Light Sport Aircraft. Operated by aviation enthusiasts, Dynon utilizes the very latest state-of-the-art technologies to create modern avionics products with an emphasis on lowering prices and enhancing reliability. This significant paradigm shift allows smaller aircraft to fly behind modern glass cockpit avionics previously only available in airliners and business jets.
Dynon Avionics began business in January of 2000 with the development of the EFIS-D10. This product began shipping in March 2003 and was an instant success. Since then, Dynon has expanded its line of avionics using the same winning formula.
Dynon’s mission is to offer state-of-the-art avionics at affordable prices.
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| Who’s Who at Maxcraft? |
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Who is Brennan?
Our featured employee this month is Brennan, an avionics technician that is working towards his AME-E license. With no prior knowledge of aircraft before schooling at BCIT, for 2 years – or in his words ‘653 glorious days’, Brennan arrived at Maxcraft right after completing his diploma.
With the ambition of working on helicopters, earning some money, and the possibility of travelling around the world, he joined Maxcraft in 2011 starting as an apprentice. His favorite thing working at Maxcraft is the diversity of tasks and how two projects are never the same. Brennan is eager to pursue his career in avionics and aims to become an experienced crew chief for helicopter projects.
On the personal side of things he owns a chocolate Labrador, likes to (not just ski, but)cat ski and he plays golf. There is much more; he likes river rafting, sky diving, bungee jumping, and plays on a slow pitch baseball team and probably has done more that we don’t know about. A few things we didn’t know about him are that he has done multiple open ocean sailboat crossings, he can’t pronounce the words “cinnamon” and “synonym” properly and he dislikes blue cheese. He also has a fabulous sense of humor.
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