Testimonials
Customer Case Studies
Chuck Yanke - Waukesha, WI
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“We’ve taken a lot of trips that otherwise would have been either delayed or scrubbed had we not had the Avidyne system.”
Chuck Yanke took delivery of his turbocharged Columbia 400 in 2005 after a long, four year wait from when he put in his initial deposit. Since delivery, he’s put over 700 hours on the plane, flying it all around the U.S. and to Alaska and the Caribbean.
“The plane itself, with the twin turbochargers and the Avidyne Entegra integrated flight deck has proven to be pretty darn capable. It’s a great IFR platform. You can top most weather and it handles turbulence well.”
The Columbia was Yanke’s first airplane with a glass-panel display. “I learned on a Cessna 182 that had the standard six-pack of gauges, and transitioning to the Avidyne system wasn’t difficult, but it was incredibly different… It gives the pilot so much more information.”
He continues, “The transition was not difficult. A great way I found to get to know the system is when you’re on a cross country. If you’re sitting there for four hours, that’s a great time to sit there and play with the system. After a while it just becomes second nature and not a big deal. I have found it to be very easy to use and very capable as well.”
Yanke appreciates how much the Avidyne system in his Columbia enhances his flying experience, and makes flying more practical. “Once you get used to the system, it really makes flying cross countries much more convenient, fun and easy. We’ve taken a lot of trips that otherwise would have been either delayed or scrubbed had we not had the Avidyne system. I’m not talking about being reckless or careless, I’m talking about having a whole new level of information. The XM satellite weather for example tells you where the storms are. It allows you to make strategic decisions, not tactical ones, but it tells you what’s going on down the road even three or four hundred miles.”
Of course, Yanke is instrument rated and flies the Columbia for both pleasure and business. He really appreciates the enhanced comfort level his passengers, and his wife, get when flying with him, and the options the system gives him when the weather varies from what was expected.
Yanke normally prints out his approach plates for his destination airport, but on the occasion of a diversion, the CMax™ approach charts in the MFD give him the flexibility he needs to fly to an airport other than the one he was planning to. “The thing I really like is the XM satellite weather. Besides showing weather at your destination, I can dial through airports along my route and see what the weather is, and that’s invaluable when I’m flying cross country. I can also get the METARS and TAFS, the winds aloft and freezing levels, which are also invaluable. This affords my passengers a lot higher comfort level. When I’m flying with my wife, she’s not what you would call an avid flyer and she doesn’t want to have any surprises. She doesn’t mind if we have to divert to another airport, but she wants to know why and what’s going on. A system like this really keeps the wife a lot happier because she can see what’s going on with the weather and why I’m doing what I’m doing. She can follow our progress along the route on the moving map and it makes it much more comforting for her to know what’s going on.”
The added situational and positional awareness is another big benefit of the Avidyne system that has allowed Yanke to not only fly more precisely but to also enjoy his own peace of mind on more challenging instrument approaches, such as the one in Ketchikan, Alaska, where he has flown the 400 to go salmon fishing.
“There are no Vectors to Final up in Ketchikan; everything is the full approach. When you run a DME arc and you’re on the ILS into Ketchikan, there’s a reason you want to stay right on the center, because when the clouds part you’ll see exactly how close your right wing is to the cliffs. I learned instrument flying in a Cessna 182 that had just your basic six-pack of instruments and you had no clue precisely where you were, you had to infer your location based on the angles of the needles to know where you were on the approach. Having the Entegra system makes things just so much, hugely, easier. It really makes flying a lot more pleasurable.”
With the kind of flying Yanke does, in the system and shooting tough approaches in remote areas, he can’t afford to take a chance with a system that isn’t robust and reliable.
“Entegra has proven to be very easy to use. I like that there’s no real possibility of a single-point failure that will preclude me from flying a coupled approach in inclement conditions. It’s reassuring to know that you don’t have to worry about [losing the autopilot].
Thus far, Yanke’s very happy with the system’s reliability. “It’s performed solidly in the air. I’ve had no failures in 700 hours. There were a couple issues early on that were rectified quickly.” He’s found Avidyne tech support helpful and pleasant and feels he’s been well taken care of.
Yanke also owns and flies a silver Cessna 182 and Piper Cheyenne twin turboprop. His experience and success with the Avidyne system in his Columbia 400 have him now considering installing the Avidyne EX500 MFD in his Cheyenne.
Ultimately, to Chuck Yanke, the trump card for the Avidyne Entegra system in his Columbia is that it’s, “tremendous for safety and situational awareness. Entegra has allowed better flight management for me and more comfort for those who fly with me.”
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