Prime Meridian

The New Piper Aircraft's PA-46T Meridian has just received a major-league panel upgrade. From now on, Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra system will be standard equipment in all new Meridians. It's also standard in New Piper's new Warriors, Archers, Arrows, Saratogas, and 6X and 6XT models. It's also set to become the standard avionics suite in new Malibu Mirages — the flagship of New Piper's piston singles.

That's a clean sweep of New Piper's product line, with the exception of its twins; the Seneca V and Seminole retain panels featuring the Garmin GNS 430/530 nav/com suite as centerpieces. The three-screen Entegra replaces the Meridian's original Meggitt MAGIC (Meggitt Advanced Generation Integrated Cockpit) displays. The Meggitt system uses up to six display screens, together with Meggitt's MAGIC 2100 digital flight control system. But as capable as the MAGIC suite is, its smallish and compartmentalized screens were apparently no match for the Entegra's 10.4-inch (diagonally measured) screen size and resolution, and more full-featured attributes.

It's been said many times before, but it bears repeating: The Entegra is perhaps the most intuitive big-screen system to hit the market. "With our primary flight displays, the emphasis is on 'primary,'" said an Avidyne spokesman. Line-select keys at the outer edges of the displays are at the heart of the Entegra's operations. They let pilots quickly select different viewing modes, nav source inputs, autopilot functions, or weather products. Each key is plainly labeled, and control knobs at the lower bezels let you view additional pages in the subgroup, or enter information relating to the feature selected by each key.

For example, the primary flight displays (PFDs) have a line-select key opposite the display's Nav call-out. Press it, then rotate the knob to select GPS or VOR navigation input. Similarly, the Alt Bug key can be pressed to invoke its altitude-preselect function. Then it's a matter of rotating its corresponding selector knob to designate an altitude. Ditto with the heading bug, bearing, and aux (for secondary nav sources) screen call-outs.

Meanwhile, a thumbnail view of engine and fuel information appears at the top left of the PFD. Vertical tapes convey airspeed and altitude, and there's a choice between a horizontal situation indicator or an arc view for the heading indicator. A pilot-priority switch lets left-seaters lock out any screen inputs made from a nonpilot right-seater's PFD.

The Entegra relies on dual Garmin 430s for navigation information, and these are mounted just below the multifunction display (MFD). The flight control system/autopilot is the Meggitt/S-Tec MAGIC 1500, a digital unit that includes airspeed-hold, altitude-preselect, and yaw-damper modes.

While the PFDs definitely catch the eye, the MFD is probably the biggest draw for most. It's here that you can select among eight different information pages — Map (for moving-map views and weather information), Radar (to view the Meridian's Honeywell Bendix/King RDR 2000 radar imagery), TAWS (for terrain warning information, if so equipped), Chart (for accessing Jeppesen airport and approach plates), Trip (for entering flight plans and monitoring track, time, speed, and distance), Nrst (for nearest airports or navaids), Aux (for datalink messaging), and Engine (showing engine torque, temperatures, pressures, and other data). Data logging of engine parameters and exceedances is standard, and can be downloaded from a data port on the MFD.

The Engine page is most often used during takeoffs and landings, when you want data on the Meridian's 500-shaft horsepower Pratt &Whitney PT6A-42A big and bold. But most of the time, users will dwell on the Map page. Engine and nav data thumbnail views are in the map view's upper corners, and weather or traffic information can be summoned by pressing their softkeys. The Meridian's standard source of traffic information comes via the TIS-capable Garmin GTX 330 Mode S transponder.

Good as the standard package is, you'll have to go to a hefty options list to get the most out of the Meridian's Entegra. The $59,015 Honeywell IHAS 8000 option, for example, gives you TAWS-B (terrain awareness warning system) via Honeywell's KGP 560 enhanced ground proximity warning system, plus lightning data from an L-3 Communications Stormscope WX-500, and traffic information from an L-3 SkyWatch sensing unit (this bypasses the GTX 330's TIS function). For the Jeppesen charts, you'll need Avidyne's $2,875 CMax service. And for that all-important datalink weather, you have a choice between XM WX Satellite Weather as a standalone subscription or Avidyne's MultiLink system ($7,255), which can give you XM WX Satellite Weather plus Orbcomm datalink services. The latter includes text messaging and position reporting through Avidyne's Network Operations Center.

The Entegra marks a quantum leap in the evolution of the Meridian. Perhaps the simplest to fly of all the turboprop singles, now the Meridian has one of the user-friendliest, most capable big-screen display systems in general aviation. And, it is the first to be certified in a new turbine-powered airplane.

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