How much data does a SR20 Store?

[John Theune]

Just read where they are now saying they may never know what happened
because of the lack of a flight data recorder. To all you Cirrus
drivers out there Just how much data does the avidyne store? I seem to
recall that it does engine monitoring for maintenance but I'm curious
about the rest. Could it be considered a FDR lite?

[Bob Chilcoat]

Considering that FDR's are designed to survive crashes and frequently don't,
I would be really surprised if any usable data could be extracted from the
avidyne after a flaming crash like this one. Doesn't matter what data it
records, there just isn't going to be any left. At least that would be my
guess.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"John Theune" > wrote in message
news:oayXg.12247$2l5.5020@trnddc07...
> Just read where they are now saying they may never know what happened
> because of the lack of a flight data recorder. To all you Cirrus drivers
> out there Just how much data does the avidyne store? I seem to recall
> that it does engine monitoring for maintenance but I'm curious about the
> rest. Could it be considered a FDR lite?

[soxinbox]

Bob Chilcoat wrote:
> Considering that FDR's are designed to survive crashes and frequently don't,
> I would be really surprised if any usable data could be extracted from the
> avidyne after a flaming crash like this one. Doesn't matter what data it
> records, there just isn't going to be any left. At least that would be my
> guess.
>
If they can find the memory chips in the wreckage, they can download the
data. The chips themselves will survive fairly high temperatures and
incredibly high G forces. The G forces in an aviation wreck would be
unlikely to even damage the circuit boards. I don't know what kind of
memory the Avidyne system uses, flash memory will hold its data, but
battery backed static ram will probably not. Newer electronics are more
likely to use flash, but as you probably know, aviation gear is usually
five to ten years behind industry trends.