When I last wrote about Airhart Avionics, in August 2024, it was developing the Airhart Assist avionics platform. At the time, the plan was to install the system in a Sling. The company was offering the Airhart Sling for $500,000 with “availability predicted for January of 2026.”
That date has come and gone. And the Airhart Sling page on the Airhart website no longer publicly exists.
Today, the company has chopped a zero off the end of the price — $49,900 fully equipped — and also omitted the aircraft.
Ken VeArd caught up with Airhart President Nate Thuli at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026 and shared the meet-up on his YouTube channel, N14VE: RV-14 Builders.
Some of the more interesting points from Ken’s video are:
- Elimination of the wiring harness: Making installation easier has to be a good thing.
- “Context Aware” pilot support and automation: My favorite is one-button “push to start.”
- A new “rubber band” visual user interface: Watching how Airhart displays turn coordination and climbs and descents with a moving “rubber band” was, for me, immediately apparent. Without it being explained, I knew exactly what that bar was showing me.
- Onboard AI radio transcription: Having the ability to read what ATC is telling me while listening, marvelous.
- Over-the-air updates powered by Starlink: As system capabilities expand, updates can be pushed out via Starlink.
This appears to be scaled down from what the company hoped to deliver back in 2024. That’s good. Editing the scope of the original plan is important.
From watching Ken’s video, one thing I’d prefer… buttons.
The look of a button-free interface is beautiful, but reality, as I see it, requires buttons.
Turbulence and muscle memory are but two reasons why. It is hard to tap the correct spot on a display when in turbulence.
Without looking, I can adjust the radio’s volume, change the station, as well as adjust the temperature and fan speed in my truck. Because my truck has buttons, knobs, and dials for such things. That just isn’t possible in a button-free environment.
If Airhart integrated voice command of the system, that would be interesting, but there was no discussion of that in Ken’s video. Maybe that’ll be a future update.
Many of the video’s comments point out the limitations and the price. This version is for experimental aircraft only and is limited to VFR operations.
For now.
Crawl. Walk. Run.
Garmin didn’t come out of the gate with the Axis system.
Why should we expect Airhart to come out with a fully baked system?
But I do see the potential in what Airhart is trying to bring to the marketplace.
Similar to how I feel about Skytron, Airhart has coded some interesting features into its clean sheet design. There are benefits to looking at aviation with fresh eyes.
As I wrote in 2024, “I wish Nikita, Brendan, and their small team luck.”
I still do.
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