After accepting that a Piper Arrow made more sense for traveling than our Decathlon, the Arrow I chose had a lot of airline pilot bonuses, which included a Garmin GNS 430W, an S-TEC 50 autopilot with GPSS steering, a JPI engine monitor and the icing on the cake—an Aspen Evolution Pro PFD.
The Aspen display came close to replicating the PFD of the B-777 that I was flying at the time, which increased my comfort level for IMC in a single-engine airplane. The fact that I could fold my arms across my chest or take a sip of coffee while the autopilot precisely changed course to the next waypoint had me giddy. But how would it stand the test of time? Here’s my experience.
Cross-check what?
Aviation Consumer reported on the first Aspen display in 2008, acknowledging that the company had developed an innovative product that was adaptable to almost every GA airplane. Although Garmin was almost in lockstep, Aspen revolutionized the retrofit glass market with a no-cutting-required solution.
When my wife and I departed Amarillo, Texas, on our anniversary as the new owners of the Arrow, I marveled at the information available in one small display. But during the prebuy inspection (and then when the airplane proved worthy of our ownership after transforming the process into an annual inspection), it was suggested that I buy a $795 Aspen warranty. With fear of the unknown, I took the suggestion. In hindsight, the decision probably saved me thousands.
Although it had been occurring intermittently, not long after our return home my pride and joy PFD annunciated the dreaded “Cross Check Attitude” as a permanent part of the display. What did that mean exactly? My airline pilot brain told me that it wasn’t good. My airplane owner’s brain asked whether it was covered under warranty. The Aspen pilot’s guide stated that the internal integrity monitor had determined that attitude was “potentially degraded.”
So began a call to my favorite avionics shop prior to our Florida relocation—VIP Avionics in Connecticut—who determined that the unit was defective. After Aspen’s inspection, a warranty exchange was authorized. In less than a week’s time, life in the IFR environment was back to normal.
The malfunction prompted me to delve into a better understanding of my backup systems. A complete failure of the Pro 1000 PFD required shifting attention to the vacuum-driven iron gyro attitude indicator, the electric turn coordinator and the mechanical airspeed indicator. I could still navigate with the GNS 430W and/or the secondary VHF nav. If one had masochistic tendencies, the ADF was also available. I also have a standby vacuum system. Bottom line, failure of the Aspen glass would be an awkward adjustment, but certainly not catastrophic.
With the ADS-B mandate fast approaching I pulled the trigger on a Garmin GTX 345 transponder that has both ADS-B Out and In, for receiving weather and traffic. That installation prompted the additional expense of unlocking the Aspen for traffic display. Although I cringed at the cost of a mere software upgrade (currently $895), it was an item of safety that proved itself to be priceless.
Warranty payback
As my comfort level with the Arrow increased, I was finding that the difference between the analog instruments and the digital Aspen in regard to altitude, attitude and roll were starting to diverge. The PFD 1000 was tested to be off by only 60 feet, 4 degrees and 1 degree, respectively. Equipment accuracy in my GA flying is important to me. Granted, my OCD was showing, but my professional life dealt with operational precision. So when the ADS-B system was installed, the Aspen was recalibrated.
About a year and a half later, I caught the synthetic vision bug and had it installed on the Aspen. Yup, another software unlock (currently $795). I have no regrets because it’s a useful situational awareness tool, which has three intuitive display functions to suit your needs. Moving ahead one year, the new replacement PFD 1000 decided it was time to get my attention.
Conveniently, just before our transition to Florida as full-time residents, the display got jittery. It could best be described as a rainstorm, partially obscuring portions of the display with vertical striations. Mike Studley, Aspen’s director of customer service field engineering, along with VIP Avionics, scratched their collective heads. The unit was removed and sent back to the factory, repaired and returned under the new extended two-year warranty that I had thankfully purchased four months prior. Although I have nothing but praise for Aspen’s customer service, my confidence in the system was beginning to wane. I was compelled to purchase another two-year extended warranty as the expiration date approached.
Many eggs, one basket
In December of 2021, I launched skyward for a quick exercise-the-airplane flight. Shortly after takeoff, both the mechanical airspeed indicator and the Aspen’s digital indicated airspeed became frozen even with a pitch attitude change. Great. What’s that all about? Once I leveled off at pattern altitude, the PFD presented me with the feared red X across the entire display. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that the Aspen would eliminate all data after a pitot static failure.
Using seat-of-the-pants flying and GPS groundspeed, accompanied by VFR weather, the situation was a non-event, but what if …? The source of the failure was found to be a T-connector from the pitot tube that tied in the analog airspeed indicator and the Aspen PFD. We also found the pitot static hoses to be showing their age. Although it wasn’t an immediate concern, I felt it best to replace them, especially based on the failure scenario just experienced.
Unfortunately, this scenario repeated itself. The airplane had undergone a major interior makeover, which most likely dislodged or damaged the T-connector. I was able to discover the problem and aborted the takeoff roll. The big red X got my attention quickly.
More head-scratching
Fast-forward to the present day. Back in July 2024, my wife and I had taken the month to travel throughout portions of the Midwest, visiting family and friends. As we progressed on our trip, the difference between the Aspen airspeed and the mechanical airspeed indicator became almost 15 knots in some configurations. The larger airspeed differences were mostly observed on short final when the PFD digits began to turn red, indicative of an approaching stall. Great. The basic airflow feel of the airplane gave more credibility to the mechanical instrument, but it was certainly unsettling. The Arrow’s automatic gear retraction system (which uses a dedicated pitot input) actually proved the theory.
Because the automatic extension system works in reverse during retraction, the wheels won’t come up until about 80 knots, regardless of selecting the Up position on the gear handle. In that regard, the analog airspeed indicated almost exactly 80 knots when the gear began to retract. Upon our return home to Florida, I set up an appointment with Steve Zimmer of Absolute Aviation at Massey Air Ranch. The troubleshooting process, which was an abbreviated version of a pitot static inspection, confirmed the problem. As fate would have it, the problem was not the Aspen’s RSM (Remote Sensor Module), which was a $920 replacement from Sarasota Avionics. Instead, the issue was with the Aspen unit itself.
The flat-rate repair for a “legacy” Aspen Pro 1000 is $3995. Upgrading from a legacy unit to an EFD Pro MAX 1000 is $4995. The price difference makes the decision a no-brainer. And when the sales representative included a $500 discount for my loyalty accompanied by a three-year warranty, well—it wasn’t much of a decision. Which begged the question, what was the bottom-line reason the manufacturer was incentivizing the upgrade?
Confidence factor
In that regard, my trepidation remained high based on the past experience described above. I was reassured that the MAX was an entirely new PFD and the reliability issues of the legacy units were solved. I scoured the internet and soaked up all the online articles and videos that reviewed the MAX.
The features were worth salivating over, including much faster micro-processing, a new vivid color display and pitot static malfunctions that would not involve invalid red-X data but instead allow GPS input for airspeed and altitude. A VNAV climb and descent arc was added, and an altitude aural alert and aural minimums alert were included.
If synthetic vision was part of the legacy unit, then it would remain on the MAX without having to pay for it again. Plus, selecting a heading or an altitude would momentarily enlarge the digits. What’s not to love?
As scheduling good fortune and Aspen’s expediency would have it, the new MAX was operational in the Arrow a week after the legacy unit was diagnosed. Indeed, it was a superior product. But the love affair didn’t last. In less than one hour of operation, during a VFR climbout from a local airport, the MAX decided it was time to shut down.
The display disappeared into darkness for about 15 seconds and then the initialization process began. A minute later the vivid PFD screen reemerged, defaulting to the entries that had been set prior to the failure, almost as if nothing had happened. And we were just getting to know each other.
A Google search revealed issues similar to mine. One conversation chain in a chat room indicated that a particular Aspen owner had replaced his MAX three times— yikes. A grain of salt is required when reading anecdotal accounts because details are sometimes excluded, including installation errors, but nonetheless, I was not alone.
Needless to say, I expressed my concerns and disappointment directly to Aspen. Was the MAX really reliable? As expected from past experience, the manufacturer’s support has been responsive and apologetic.
The MAX has the capability of storing data (hopefully never used by the FAA for enforcement action), so that it becomes the primary source for troubleshooting. Unfortunately, an authorized Aspen dealership (not the owner) is required to download the data and send it to tech support for diagnosis. It’s a 15-minute process.
After another visit to Absolute Aviation, the diagnosis process and the resultant data file download indicated an internal failure had occurred. The MAX will be replaced under warranty. Although I appreciate the rapid response from the techs, I’m still not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling. What kind of internal failure occurred? Is it an anomaly or a quality control issue?
In deference to Aspen, the unit has not repeated its blank screen and reinitialization process in almost five hours of flying as I wait for the replacement exchange. It’s unfortunate that our marriage has got off to a rocky start. We’ll report back at a later date.
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