Brent writes:

 "Truce."

Amen, brother! But a truce is, at a minimum, a two party deal.  Everyone
always wants a truce just after getting in the last sacrasm.

Here is what seems evident.  The 420/5 is a good product and generally
performs well.  The Pinpoint probably is too.  There are differnces
between them that the market can sort out over time.  Neither one of
them is a part of a multi-million dollar Honeywell or Collins system and
anyone who thinks otherwise needs to get over it.  Take a look at
McClellan's piece in the current "Flying" on purpose flying single
engine piston planes.

That said, all of these sytems are beyond awesome compared to what used
to be in airplanes of all kinds for most of my life.  It's nice to have
a 100% accurate set of instruments.  Anyone who has been flying more
than ten years remember having such a thing back in the good ol' days?
Remember precessing gyros?  Military ADF needle averaging?  Point to
point navigation using the RMI and a pencil?  Three minute useful
battery life if the single altenator failed?

The people who have come up with affordable and reasonably reliable EFIS
systems for mircoplanes and personal budgets have done us all an immense
service and imporved situational awareness and, if we do not
overestimate the capability of these systems, safety by orders of
magnitude.  We owe each and every one of them a debt of gratitude.  That
includes Crossbow, Chelton, Brent (for whatever role he played whether
or not he would have to shoot us if we knew) and even Kirk.

There was never a good reason for us to start attacking one another and
by now we should have had all the fun we need to have.  Let's stop.



John J. Halle
Stoel Rives LLP
900 SW 5th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97204
(503) 294-9233 office
(503 545-4307 cell