Avionics News - October 2023 - 41

Rudy Enstrom with one of his early helicopters
digital glass. Obviously, from a customer standpoint, that's
what they want. It adds a tremendous amount of capability
and safety. "
Martin also noted that from a production standpoint, it
saves money and weight. Integrated avionics are so much
easier to install on the line, so it's actually less expensive
to go with Garmin than with a bunch of stand-alone radios
and instruments. With a digital solution, everything simply
connects together.
The all-new glass panel in the 2023 Enstrom Helicopter
line includes a Garmin G500H TXi, GTN 750 TXi, and
650 TXi touchscreens, Howell Instruments digital engine
instrument displays, and a SAM standby display from MidContinent
Instruments and Avionics. Overall, the package
brings a great deal of added capability, reliability and
operational safety to an already capable, reliable and safe
helicopter.
As to why the particular avionics were selected, Martin
said the Garmin units were chosen not only due to their
market-leading capabilities but also because of the recent
and excellent experience Enstrom Helicopter has enjoyed
with Garmin's engineering team.
" Chuck is really a fan of the Garmin products, but
more importantly, they've provided us with excellent
engineering support for the past 15 years, " he explained.
" From a manufacturing standpoint, they make it very easy
to integrate their products with everything else we need to
put in the panel. "
For example, while Enstrom Helicopter had already
installed the Garmin G1000 in its model 480 turbine
aircraft, the G1000 doesn't easily integrate with the thirdparty
special-mission radios and navigation equipment so
many of its police, governmental, and military customers
require in their installations.
" By going with the G500 TXi, what we get is a system
that is much easier to use and has the capability to easily
integrate with these specialized systems if you need it, "
Martin said. " If the customer needs a TCAN, UHF radio, or
whatever, we can put those in and interface with the G500
without having to go back to Garmin for extra engineering
or reprogram the software. It provides us with much more
    
          
around on weekends, they have an extremely capable VFR
platform as it is. If they want to do IFR training, we can put
in whatever they need. Using what we have, we can deliver
anything any operator needs. "
Gettin' jiggy with gyros
While the Garmin G500/GTN TXi package is amazingly
capable, it does have some limitations. One, in particular, is
            
digital engine instrument system display capabilities.
" For the EIS, we selected Howell Instruments' compact
system, " Martin said. " It incorporates all of the engine
monitoring and caution/advisory annunciators built in. It
provides a wealth of information to the pilot without being
a distraction.
" Plus, it has engine data-logging capabilities for post
        
larger-format Howell H420 as the primary display and the
small Howell 405 as the backup. Both are fully revisionary
to provide emergency display functionality. "
And speaking of backup instruments, the last, but certainly
not the least digital upgrade is the Mid-Continent Instruments
and Avionics Standby Attitude Module, also known as SAM.
" We had a lot of experience working with Mid-Continent
when we used the SAM in our G1000 package in the 480, "
Martin explained. " It's proven to be an extremely capable and
robust unit in the rotorcraft environment.
Continued on following page
AVIONICS NEWS * OCTOBER 2023 41

Avionics News - October 2023

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