As the FAA expands opportunities for avionics manufacturers to offer low-cost, non-TSO’d avionics for light airplanes, Aspen Avionics unveiled the $4,995 E5 Dual Electronic Flight Instrument (EFI) at the Aircraft Electronics Association conference. The E5 is STC’d for a variety of airplanes and will be available in mid-2018.

Aspen's new E5 EFI looks similar to the company's Evolution Pro 1000 flight display, and E5 buyers can later upgrade their unit into the more capable and costly TSO’d Pro 1000 configuration. Unique to Aspen’s displays is that they are designed to replace the artificial horizon and horizontal situation indicator in a traditional “six-pack” instrument panel, by fitting into and over the panel cutouts left by removing the original instruments.

The Aspen E5 consolidates the attitude indicator and directional gyro/course deviation indicator into a single six-inch-diagonal display with resolution of 400 by 760 pixels. Other features include a rechargeable backup battery, GPS steering, air data computer, and attitude heading reference system. TruTrak’s Vizion autopilot can be installed along with the E5 for a total package price of less than $10,000, not including installation cost. The E5 can also integrate with other autopilot types.