"Steafis"

Well, Im out here in Springdale Arkansas and got the opportunity to stop and see Jim Yonkin at TruTrak. He graciously showed us his airplanes and then we got a chance to see the new EFIS he is in the process of developing in action. This thing is fantastic! It includes an Artificial Horizon plus HSI, Airspeed and Altitude in "Steam Gauge" like format....and it is way cool . Not so much information that you can't quickly digest in a glance, like on my little Dynon, but and AH with the addition of working round dials that are actually computer generated images.

We suggested he call it a STEAFIS (or STEFIS / STEFUS). He probably won't, but this is what it looks like to us. I predict this is the hot new thing.
Ron

timeline?

any idea of availability?

I beg to differ

patterson said:

....He graciously showed us his airplanes and then we got a chance to see the new EFIS he is in the process of developing in action. This thing is fantastic! It includes an Artificial Horizon plus HSI, Airspeed and Altitude in "Steam Gauge" like format....and it is way cool . Not so much information that you can't quickly digest in a glance, like on my little Dynon, but and AH with the addition of working round dials that are actually computer generated images.

We suggested he call it a STEAFIS (or STEFIS / STEFUS).
...
Ron

Click to expand...

I saw this product at OSH and I think that this will be one of those polarizing products--that is, some will absolutely love it and others will be "eh-if I wanted that, I'd put in round gages." The question is, will enough people love it to make it marketable or such that it will displace or even give a run for their money, the "moving tape" EFIS.

I think it will be popular with "old time" pilots that want something more modern but still give them what they have become accustomed to. Personally, all the ergonomic studies by NASA, Boeing, Honeywell, etc. prove that "moving tape" is the future.

I'm sure that enough will chime in here and disagree, so remember, this is just MY opinion.

You can't beat their autopilots though!

I also looked at this unit at Oshkosh. The "Stefis" or whatever you call it is not a true EFIS like the Dynon, GRT, AFS etc. The pitch display is the same "pseudo-pitch" indication as their ADI instrument. It might make a good backup instrument, or be fine for a VFR airplane, but it will never replace a true EFIS.

This is not a knock on the unit; I'll probably have an ADI in my 8 panel as a backup, along with a Digiflight II.

edit- more info on this thread: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=89869#post89869

John's post, the last one, has a lot of detail and clears up some of our (OK, my) previous misconceptions.

Steafis

I also saw it at OSH; I told them they had to be joking. I bet the show person that they would be lucky to sell a dozen units. If a pilot wants an EFIS, he/she wants the extra information the electronics supply. On the other hand they failed to produce the 2.25" ADI that they promised in 2005. I finally gave up on them and am installing a GRT Sport with moving map as backup to the Chelton system.