There are plenty of used Beech Baron twins on the market sporting 1980s-vintage analog autopilots and the spinning iron gyros that drive them. It takes effort and money to keep these systems flying right and tight, easing the decision to spend serious money for new glass with a digital autopilot.
After a long engineering and certification effort, Dynon has a fresh STC for retrofitting the SkyView HDX Certified suite in the majority of the Baron 58 series. Garmin has owned the Baron upgrade market with the G600 TXi displays and GFC 600 autopilot. Here’s a summary of the Dynon interface, which is nicely scalable depending on the budget.
Choose your screens
Round-gauge Barons have “floating” pilot’s instrument panels, so the majority of Dynon big-screen retrofits require cutting new metal. The pilot’s flight display in Dynon Baron projects will almost always have the 10-inch SkyView, while a 7-inch display installed directly behind the engine power levers serves as a second screen for redundant backup and for displaying engine and fuel data. This dedicated secondary display is required for engine monitoring in twin-engine installs, and these can be 7-inch or 10-inch versions. In most older Barons, the 10-inch display will only fit after modifying the radio stack and the copilot’s panel.
In its most basic configuration, the SkyView HDX Certified system includes a single 7-inch display priced at $3286 alone, but we suspect almost every buyer will opt for the larger PFD ($4625) and a secondary MFD.
Also part of the STC is the required Dynon D30 backup flight instrument. It replaces the vintage D10A and is priced at $1163, including a backup internal battery. There’s also the optional dedicated knob panel, which is used to set the selected heading, altitude and baro setting—items you use most often.
The STC’d SkyView HDX suite is approved with Dynon IFD-series navigators and with Garmin’s GTN series units. Dynon offers its own comm radio (a $2400 option) available with a control head that’s in either a vertical or horizontal configuration.
For ADS-B, Dynon sells the $2544 Mode S transponder, plus a $983 traffic and weather receiver for ADS-B In.
Soup-to-nuts
A full-up SkyView HDX Certified upgrade in a 58-series Baron can run around $40,000 (entry-level systems are around $15,000), plus installation and third-party GPS navigators. Like the rest of the HDX Certified suite, it can be installed by a qualified A&P/IA after purchasing the $5000 STC permission letter.
Visit www.dynoncertified.com.
