ABOVE & BEYOND

From day 1 of construction, safety, and of course redundancy, were always top-of-mind during the 6+ year build. Working directly with the Velocity factory at all times, N535EG incorporated the following:

Fuel System (increased capacity by 12%) - Because oversized wheels and brakes were selected for N535EG thereby slightly reducing the size of the strake fuel tanks, the fuel system was beefed up with an additional 16 gallon tank placed against the lower vanity wall just below and forward of the header tank, giving her four fully isolate-able tanks, for a total fuel capacity of approximately 100 gallons. This “Center” tank was custom designed for fit and use, and has since been copied by most twin builders. Lighted site gauges were also installed in the rear cabin as a physical back up to panel-provided information.

Lights - Landing, Taxi & Position (tripled landing light capacity) - Not only does she have one of the largest nose LEDs available (AeroSun 6500K, sunlight equivalent), she also has 2 additional MicroSun AeroLEDs landing lights, positioned as low as possible on the main gear. Rounding out the all-LED lighting package are Pulsar NS90 recognition lights (Nav/Strobe, wig/wag enabled) on each wing and a Suntail position/strobe on the rudder.

Camera System (props, landing gear always in view) - A strake-mounted Forward Looking InfraRed (FLIR Corporation, PathFindIR®) camera provides the pilot with a fantastic tool to assist in periods of fog, mountain flying or simply for an additional aid in night landings. Given the “pusher” design of all Velocity aircraft, normally the pilot cannot see the landing gear or propellers, so N535EG provides the pilot with three strategically placed wide-angle bullet cameras. At the push of a button, the pilot has instantaneous views of the all landing gear and both propellers.

Fuselage Improvements (fewer connections & failure points, smoother fuselage) - Coming from the mindset of “a smoother fuselage is not only better, but safer”, N535EG incorporates a totally unique hinge & lock system on its two forward hatches, which eliminated the need for ALL surface-mounted securing devices, such as camlocks, screws, bolts and nut plates. Not only is this system sleek and beautiful to look at, as these compartments are regularly opened, this design eliminates most potential failure points forward of the windscreen. The hinge & lock system took months to design, and as far as the builder is aware, is totally unique to N535EG.

Batteries, Electrical System & Essential Bus (2x redundancy + 3 hour backup) - At her heart are twin Concorde 24v batteries. Circuit protection is provided by the Vertical Power VPX-Pro and mounted on the canard for ease of access. Driving the electrical system are twin 150A Plane Power alternators. Additional features are Smart Glide, ADSB in and out, seat heaters, Guardian panel mounted CO detector, both Bose headphone & standard headphone jacks for the pilot + three occupants,push-to-command, multiple USB ports, and auto-trim round out this exceptional setup. Her essential bus is backed up by the TCW-IBBS LiFePO4 24v 3Ah (3 amp hour) back up battery.

Harness (backbone built & tested, then installed) - The pro-built wiring harness is nothing short of a “how-to” lesson, and of course, the extreme attention-to-detail is obvious upon first glance as absolutely nothing was left to chance. As mentioned previously, it was initially laid out entirely on an out-of-plane backbone to determine exact wire lengths, connection points, appropriate bends, tie wrap placements & finally, it was bench tested with all panel components in place. This multi-step method of harness construction eliminated virtually all excess wire lengths & was crucial in identifying & eliminating stress points prior to final installation into N535EG.

Smart Glide, Autopilot & Angle of Attack (AOA) (reduced pilot workload) - A brilliant trio of safety tools from Garmin! At the touch of a button, Smart Glide automatically engages the 2-axis autopilot & pitches the aircraft for best glide speed while simultaneously navigating to a previously selected airport. Should the selected airport be outside of the estimated glide range, Smart Glide will instantly recommend & proceed to an airport within her glide range by automatically creating a direct-to route. Note that both Smart Glide & the autopilot are fully integrated with the twin G3Xs & GTN-750 ensuring seamless functionality. Rounding out the package is the AOA, giving the pilot everything he or she needs to successfully fly and land her, no matter the conditions. TOGO and AP disconnect, as well as all trim, push-to-talk & push-to-command functions, are readily accessible via the top of the sticks.

Landing Gear System (audio & visual alarms, plus real-time video) - Aero Safety Systems AH-700 is a robust solid-state controller with simple user-defined audio and visual alarms that are fully integrated into 535’s G3Xs, providing two fully independent landing gear warning systems, again with both of these systems providing visual and audio alerts! The actual position of the landing gear is also visually indicated on the panel within the 535 graphic via multi-color (red-green-white) LEDs. Finally and if all else fails, with a touch of a button you can actually see the gear in place – or not – via the three strategically positioned bullet cameras. This combination has been widely copied by other Velocity builders & owners.