Affordable Safety STC Work Pushing Boundaries

February 22, 2017 — Last week’s announcement that TruTrak has expanded its Vizion auto pilot STC to include the most popular Cessna and Piper models is another step forward in EAA’s initial vision three years ago that opened the door to affordable safety components making their way into more GA cockpits.

“When EAA helped push for the initial Affordable Safety STC in 2015, we knew that it would lead to possibilities far beyond its original, narrow scope,” said Tom Charpentier, government relations director for EAA’s advocacy team. “There was demand and there was available technology. It was a matter of letting innovators step forward with their ideas.”

At last week’s EAA/FAA Recreational Aviation Summit, the future of this STC program was a leading topic. One hope is to incorporate such groundbreaking work as commonplace, with the focus on a goal of ever-continuing safety.

Part of that will be a formalized STC policy from the FAA that would allow these innovations to more forward more rapidly. That would standardize the compliance requirements and allow companies of all sizes to know what is needed to take a new idea from concept to cockpit.

“We see EAA members and other aircraft owners who are enthusiastic about the possibilities of bringing this safety technology into their cockpits,” Tom said. “It is a subject that EAA will keep pursuing, and we’ll work with the FAA to broaden the scope of what’s possible in enhancing safety.”