Making the R9 Decision

At this point my plane (N8554R), a 2004 Cirrus SR22 GT with 350 Hobbs hours on it, is in the shop at Eagle Creek Aviation here in Indianapolis about done with the R9 install.  I hope to fly it early next week.  But, not wanting to jump too far ahead in my narrative, I want to share with you some of the efforts I went through making the decision to upgrade the already very good Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) GPS enabled Avidyne system residing in the plane. 

I really did not expect to hear much from Avidyne as I expected that their 2nd quarter delivery schedule would slip, as most of these things seem to do, when they got to final stages of development and certification.  I did get a New Years message from Mike Glover at Avidyne offering information about the system and new videos to see about use.

But, in March, while in Oaxaca on the way north, I got an e-mail from Mike offering me the chance to be an Early Adopter.  He went on to say that they were looking for 6 planes for initial installations.  Further, they were setting up the first 6 shops to be trained, one of which would be Eagle Creek Aviation.  He wanted to gain a commitment from me to become one of the Early Adopters, and set a target date of April 20th to begin.  To sweeten the deal he made the following offer:

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What I’m looking to offer you as a result is the following:

• complimentary upgrade to Synthetic Vision when it becomes available (a $9,990 value)
• An additional year of complimentary FlexCare warranty service (a $1,595 value)
• A year of complimentary WSI and Sirius radio subscription (a $734 value)
• A day of dedicated R9 system training for the primary pilot
• An Entegra R9 branded welcome package 
• A dedicated service hotline for all Pilot Program participants and their service center for the duration of the pilot program.

My first thought was, cool!  But then it occurred to me that being one of the first had a variety of risks and assorted questions.  So, my initial response was that I would think about it, but that I was in Mexico and a phone conversation about the opportunity would have to wait until I hit Texas.  We continued to correspond by e-mail.  In late March Mike got back to me to relate that Avidyne was hosting a training program in Melbourne to include their scenario trainer plus flying time in their demo plane, and to invite me to their Customer Appreciation night at Sun n Fun.  By that time I had figured out some of the questions and issue of concern. 

Would I need a bigger alternator #1?  The plane was in annual and the alternator was to be replaced.  His response from engineering was right out of the R9 SR 22 Electical Load Analysis: 

 1.1.1     Loss of Alternator 2

In the event of the loss of alternator 2, alternator 1 is capable of running the entire aircraft indefinitely. The aircraft draws 41.316A, which is less than 80% (46.4A) of alternator 1. No load shedding is required for the case of loss of alternator 2.

I also had concerns about the viability of Eagle Creek, as rumors around the area suggested that they were experiencing a financial strain.  I had a nightmare that the plane could get in the shop, disassembled, and the doors locked by creditors.  I shared my concerns with Mike Glover at Avidyne and he was able to tell me that one of the criteria Avidyne used to select the initial install shops was financial stability.  That resolved the issue in my mind.

When Mike had talked to me last fall he had suggested that the install would take between 100 and 125 hours.  Now the estimate was between 125 and 150, potentially raising the labor cost to $15,000.  To offset this there were some improvements in the install requirements, however.  First, I was originally told that my new WAAS antennas would have to be replaced as R9 would not be compatible with them.  Now the R9 radios and GPS units would work with my existing antennas.  In addition, my plane has the back-up engine gauges plus EMax which means that it has a Sensor Integration Unit (SIU) not a Data Acquisition Unit (DAU).  The R9 installation was originally to include removal of the back-up gauges, and the installation of a DAU, which would significantly increase both the hardware and install costs, wnile reducing the redundancy of my instruments.  Since then Avidyne had changed the system to allow me to continue to use my gauges without adding the DAU.  Finally, after I had installed the STec Roll Servo Modification to the plane to correct the autopilot wandering, it turned out that the software part of that install was also part of the R9 modification, so I did not need to pay for that again.

Next, I was none too happy to be a guinea pig for the install, despite wanting to take advantage of the Early Adopter pricing (more on this later).  To deal with this I requested a not-to-exceed quote for the installation.  Mike arranged to have my plane surveyed by Eagle Creek so that they could provide a maximum install price.  My agreement with Eagle Creek then used that quote as the basis for the total install price, no matter what it actually ran.  In mid-April I received the quote from Eagle Creek.   Imagine my shock when I found that in addition to the expected $14,400 of labor there was about $12,000 of additional hardware that was not in the R9 upgrade kit from Avidyne!   I assumed that stuff like the wiring harness and installation kit were part of the R9 package as quoted by Avidyne.  And, $1,000 for a new instrument panel?

I called Mike and Reid Antonacchio at Eagle Creek for clarification, and to  protest.  After several calls and e-mails the facts were that the R9 package was not plane specific.  Could have been for a King Air, Commander, or my little Cirrus.  These "incidental" extras were needed to make it all work in MY plane.  However, Mike did offer me a demonstration contract which would allow Avidyne to show and fly my plane for up to 50 hours in exchange for a further discount.  They also reiterated their offer to purchase my 2 GNS 430 W GPS units for $5,000 ea.  Finally, as previously mentioned, we determined that the STec software upgrade had already been done.  Additional Early Adopter benefits, such as free Synthetic Vision (SVS) and Enhanced Vision Software (EVS) when certified, transition training, an extra year of Flex Warranty coverage, and a free year of WSI Sirrius weather service for the plane made it a really tough decision.  Grand total about $60,000 installed. 

What I did not know was what impact this would have on the value of my plane.  Since it is only 1 year old to me I am a bit upside down on the loan.  This upgrade was going to have to be a cash out of pocket deal, and with the economy in the tank it was a hard decision.  I also don't qualify for depreciation or any Obama bucks.  What I needed was an independant opinion about the current value of the plane, and the potential value after the upgrade.  Granted none of this has anything to do with the "flyability" factor, but the pain of the payment was purely economic.  I did not want to ask about valuation at Eagle Creek, Montgomery Aviation or Avidyne since they all had potential conflicts of interest.  I saw an ad in Cirrus Pilot for Tom's Aircraft and decided to call Brian Mackin at Tom's, a totally independant agent with no ties to anyone I was working with, for an idea of the valuation benefit. 

Brian was really great.  I explained the problem, he asked questions about the equipment now on the plane, and what was being done.  He consulted with others, then called me back.  The long and short of it was that as equipped my plane is worth in a sale about $20,000 less than I owe on it.  Upgrading to a similarly used Perspective would cost about $150,000 on top of the proceeds from the sale, if a used Perspective were available.   Brian guessed that the R9 upgrade would increase the value of the airplane by about the cost of the hardware, and that the labor and incidentals were not recoverable. 

Finally the cost benefit decision came down to my use of the aircraft.  I am 62, fly for personal travel, and will likely never need a bigger or better plane.  I could stand pat and have a very usable platform, or upgrade to have the latest in avionics.  The upgrade will leave me with a plane potentially safer to fly in midwestern weather, that is about as current as I can afford, and that will allow me to accomplish my flight missions with the most confidence. 

About the same time, late April, Mike Glover got back to me and pressed to have me attend the flight training in Melbourne for Early Adopters.  I told him I would make the trip, and that my final decision would depend on what that experience was like to me.  He said he was willing to take the chance, and that if I decided not to participate he would understand.  So I flew to KMLB to see their show.  He sent me an electronic copy of the Pilot Manual to review prior to the meeting.

In Melbourne I was struck by the enthusiasm and open attitude of all the Avidyne folks I met.  Steve "Jake" Jabobson ran the ground school.  I met all the management team, including the CEO by teleconference.  I also heard from Alan Klapmeier in person about his plane being converted to R9, and about Cirrus.  I got a tour of the Melbourne production facility and flew with Mike Kiernan about 1 1/2 hours.  I found nothing in their training or hospitality to cause me doubts about their total commitment to making R9 a big success.  I was very impressed with the whole deal.  Finally, I got a chance to fly Mike Glover to his home airport on my way back to Indianapolis, and to talk at length during the flight about my decision.  I felt, and feel, very certain that this upgrade is the right decision for me, and gave the go ahead when I got home.