October 2010 MFD "Yellow Tab" Events

On Tuesday, October 12, 2010, Avidyne received notice from a number of customers of an issue with the MFD where the Map, Trip, Nearest, Auxiliary and Engine page tabs became unusable.

Avidyne quickly launched into an investigation and determined the root cause for these observed MFD issues.    It was determined that the source of the problem was the SIGMET data stream on XM-equipped aircraft.   A similar event occurred earlier this year and a Service Information Letter (SIL) was published notifying the user community of the event, how it manifests itself on the MFDs and what the recommended pilot action is should the problem present itself in the airplane.   The SIL is identified as SIL 606-00004-001, XM SIGMET and AIRMET Products and dated 24 Jun 2010.  I've pasted a snippet from that SIL below for reference.

Avidyne has contacted the weather data provider and both parties are trying to ensure such an interruption in service does not occur again.  We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused and request any further observations of similar activity be sent our way.

I will include a link or path to the full SIL for reference on Thursday.

Steve Jacobson
VP Product Management
sjacobson@avidyne.com


SIL Extract:

Removal of Map due to improperly formatted SIGMET data
Avidyne has recently identified instances of improperly coded SIGMET data provided by the weather
supplier via XM. Avidyne has notified the weather supplier of the issue. However, this improperly coded SIGMET data can cause the part of the MFD to shut down. If this occurs the following tabs will be “yellow tabbed” and not accessible to the pilot: Map, Trip, Nrst, Aux and Engine.

Solution
Avidyne offers the following solutions to mitigate these issues:

No software update is available at this time. Avidyne does not expect that the incorrectly coded SIGMETS will be distributed by the XM weather provider. However, if this does occur and causes a “yellow tab” event, Avidyne recommends the following steps:
1. Power down the MFD or pull the MFD circuit breaker
2. Pull the XMD076 XM receiver circuit breaker
3. Power on the MFD

The data issue should be corrected quickly, so power can be restored to the XMD076 receiver after a few hours.
Please contact Avidyne Tech Support at 1-888-723-7592 if you experience a “yellow tab” event in order for Avidyne to obtain diagnostic information to prevent these occurrences in the future.

Effectivity
Avidyne EX500 P/N 700-00007-()
Avidyne EX600 P/N 700-00167-()
Avidyne EX5000 P/N 700-00004-(), 700-00030-()
With
Heads Up XMD076 P/N XMD076-01