Flight Instruments

Today we recommend glass panels or Electronic Flight Information Systems (EFIS) which include the flight and engine monitoring systems.

New MGL Discovery Touch Screen Panels

The newest optimum EFIS which is also a GPS system is the MGL Discovery panel.

The iEFIS Lite series from MGL Avionics is set to revolutionize the small airplane instrument panel. If just a single EFIS screen is required in your Experimental or Special LSA, the iEFIS Lite offers everything needed.

The first release is the Discovery-Lite 7”, which has a nice, bright non-reflective 7″ touchscreen of around 1000+ nits. It looks, feels and operates just like a full iEFIS.

We gain a built-in GPS, attitude sensor, airspDiscovery_Smalleed pressure sensor as well as altimeter. It also has a built-in OAT sensor (but an external one can be fitted). It has a CAN bus as well as two RS232 ports, for external devices such as radios and transponders/ADS-B transceivers.

The single CAN bus supports any number of MGL Avionics devices, such as engine monitoring modules (RDACs), transponders, SP-6 Compass sensor. You can also connect up to three external SP-7 attitude sensors if required.

DiscoveryLiteRear”Lite’s” are straight forward to install and make great panels for many smaller aircraft that would like a sophisticated EFIS but without the cost and complications of a large system.

A typical Lite system would be: The Discovery-Lite panel, an RDAC for engine monitoring (if needed), and perhaps an SP-6 compass. That is it!

The panel may be mounted at any pitch angle relative to the aircraft despite the built-in AHRS. The AHRS can be easily rotated to provide the expected image.

You can completely customize the screens like you can do with our other iEFIS systems and you can also select from many built-in choices for a quick “plug and play” installation.

DiscoveryLiteSide -Like all our G3 iEFIS systems, it comes with a Worldwide high-resolution terrain database built-in plus a Worldwide vector map. It is compatible with MGL’s new “MapMaker 2” raster map format.

Notably, the G3 iEFIS systems boots to an operational state in 0.5 seconds (zero point five) from application of power. GPS is online 0.5 seconds later (provided you have not moved more than 500 Km from last known fix and a fix is possible). Synthetic vision, terrain data, maps etc are all up and live in a blink of an eye.

The Discovery could be viewed as a direct replacement for our popular Enigma that was discontinued a while ago. It is similar in panel size but with a bigger, much higher resolution screen and of course is a powerhouse of functionality where needed…

The iEFIS Lite is available in 3 screen sizes:

Discovery-Lite: 7” diagonal screen size (800 x 480 pixels – WGA) Explorer-Lite: 8.5” diagonal screen size (800 x 480 pixels – WGA) Challenger-Lite: 10.4” diagonal screen size (1024 x 768 pixels – XGA)

XTreme mini EFIS

This typically comes with the higher end trikes and can be effectavly used in combination with an iPad or iPad Mini. It has many of the features as the iEFIS above but no moving maps (which you can get with the iPads.

Smaller color EFIS is the XTreme EFIS is an affordable mini EFIS. It can be configured as a PFD (with AHRS sensors added), and/or an engine monitor (with RDAC added). It includes a GPS receiver that is used to provide ground speed and range information, as well as a backup/control for the AHRS. If you do not select the SP-4 attitude sensor, you can still have a GPS-derived bank angle display!

For more details and software updates go to the manfacturers web site on this product.

Stratomaster MGL Enigma

The classic EFIS, which is also a GPS system, is the MGL Enigma. This is a top-of-the-line, affordable, comprehensive system that optimizes your instrument panel with one simple instrument. This has been discontinued but is is still supported by the MGL factory and provided here since it is on many trikes out there and a great EFIS.
    • Here is a video which is a tutorial of how to use it showing the screen options and how to use it to program complicated airport frequencies:https://youtu.be/VZcxEHnyDyA
  • Although using this instrument appears complicated at first, it is very simple to utilize. Shown here is a list of the buttons showing some of the capabilities.
Stratomaster ENIGMA EFIS Display, with built-in GPS and antenna, OAT probe – typical retail price: $2,550

For details on this Enigma panel click here to go to the manfacturers site

To download the trike symbols click here – symbol 1 ACLSYMBL.mif symbol 2 ACSSYMBOL.mif to install

  • Copy 2 x *SYMBL.mif files to SD card (will ask you to replace say yes)
  • Insert in Enigma and press MENU > MENU > FILE MANAGER > COPY FILES FROM SD/MMC CARD TO FLASH DISC
  • Then, scroll down and select the 2 files and press Enter (if asked to replace say yes)
  • Then, restart Enigma for the trike symbols to appear.

Necessary Estras

RDAC – Needed for engine instruments. Typical retail price: $160.

Compass sender – Needed for magnetic compass operation. Typical retail price: $260.

See all senders at manufacturer’s web site.