TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

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gordsh
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by gordsh »

Thanks Chris, sounds like that will be double the price here in Canada. I will contact the factory and see what they can quote me as they are just a 30 minute flight from my base airport.
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gordsh
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by gordsh »

So..., I got one quote for installing the Avidyne TAS600A in my DA40. The quote came in at ~$30,000 CDN which with today's exchange rate is $23,353.97. I was told that the install job will require 50 hours due to the extensive composite work that is involved in a DA40. This seems bit exaggerated to me and would like to get some feedback from anyone who has done something similar to this in their DA40.

I am thinking I can get it done in the USA for much less and could make a "road" trip out of it. The TAS600A apparently does the transponder interrogation of nearby aircraft's (within 13 nm range) as well as ADSB-IN.

I reached out to the factory for a quote but have not received a response as yet.
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CFIDave
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by CFIDave »

FYI, the Canadian Diamond factory charges $15,330 USD for a TAS600A to optionally be installed in a new DA40. So $23K might be a bit high. The only composite work should be drilling holes for the antennas, as well as perhaps installing metal foil ground planes on the inside of the fuselage at antenna locations. (Interestingly, a new DA40NG I recently delivered from the factory came with covers over the top and bottom antenna mounting locations, so the composite work for a TAS installation was already done despite TAS not being installed in that aircraft.)

Also, see if you can have the TAS unit installed under the back seat rather than back in the tail (the original location of the TAS600 when factory installed). That will help with W&B on an XLS model, and doesn't require drilling screw holes in the tail. When the TAS unit was retrofitted to my DA40 XLS, the TAS unit was located under the back seat.

As far as I know, the TAS600A *still* doesn't have any software for ADS-B IN traffic despite years of promises from Avidyne.
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Rich
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by Rich »

It looks like other TAS variants (TAS605A, e.g.) handle ADS-B in, dual-band. But not the 600A. They call it VeriTAS.
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gordsh
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by gordsh »

Thanks Dave. I just heard back from the factory and they will give me a quote once they ascertain whether or not my DA40 already has the TAS bracket pre-installed.

Dave, I am assuming you have both ADSB-IN and Ttraffic installed on your DA62. If so can you tell me which unit(s) do you have providing this?
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CFIDave
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by CFIDave »

Rich wrote:It looks like other TAS variants (TAS605A, e.g.) handle ADS-B in, dual-band. But not the 600A. They call it VeriTAS.
As far as I know, Avidyne has never implemented VeriTAS in any of their TAS units, including the TAS605A that I have in my DA62. Avidyne has been promising it for years and never delivered. :thumbsd: And VeriTAS (if ever delivered) won't be dual-band, because the unit only receives 1090 MHz; UAT traffic targets will need to be relayed to the TAS unit by ADS-R ground stations.
gordsh wrote:Dave, I am assuming you have both ADSB-IN and Ttraffic installed on your DA62. If so can you tell me which unit(s) do you have providing this?
My DA62 with G1000 NXi has the optional TAS605A for traffic, and the optional GDL69A for SXM weather. However, it does not have ADS-B IN, because the DA62 G1000 NXi is currently certified only with the GTX335R transponder that includes ADS-B OUT only. I can't install a GTX345R in my DA62 to get ADS-B IN. (New DA40 NGs with G1000 NXi *are* available with the GTX345R and thus have ADS-B IN, so some US customers are now ordering these aircraft without needing the GDL69A for weather, or TAS600 for traffic.)

Last year's first release of G1000 NXi software for my DA62 left out much of the "good stuff" associated with NXi in other manufacturers' aircraft, including GTX345R transponder support (for ADS-B IN weather and traffic), visual approaches, and support for the FlightStream 510 wireless SDcard to talk to an iPad. The good news is that Diamond and Garmin are working to fix this with the next DA62 NXi software release coming this summer. So anyone ordering a new DA62 now should have this functionality by the time their aircraft is delivered.
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Rich
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Re: TCAS - Is that me ?!?!?

Post by Rich »

Dave,
The marketing fluff on their site leaves one with the impression that VeriTAS is dual-band. But apparently, by the common definition of "is", is it's nothing. :scratch:
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