23 February 2008
Final FAA Ground and Flight Tests Conducted

On Wednesday, February 20th, Aspen Avionics received Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) from the FAA for its EFD1000 system installed in the company’s Piper Turbo Lance test airplane.  TIA authorizes FAA test pilots to conduct final ground and flight tests of the EFD1000 for certification. 

Aspen licensed the Lance into the Experimental—Show Compliance category, and two FAA test pilots conducted the ground and flight tests Friday, February 22nd.  Passing this major milestone brings Aspen one step closer to certification of the Evolution Flight Display System. 

The next step is completion of Stage of FAA Involvement No. 4 (SOI#4), the last of four formal FAA software review audits, assuring compliance with DO-178B software design objectives.  After that, all hardware, software, ground and flight tests will be complete, and Aspen will finish up the last reports and documentation to complete and submit its final package and request for certification to the FAA.  We expect to complete these last steps in rapid succession. 

We remain on track for shipping FAA certificated Evolution Flight Displays by the end of March.