Avionics Upgrade #2
July 21, 2011 - I arrived back in the states and
picked up the aircraft. Awesome is all I can say after
seeing the plane in person. The avionics folks at
Higginsville Avionics Lab did a fantastic job on the plane and
it was money well spent.
May 20, 2011 - Finally received word that everything is
completed minus a quick test flight. The photos below were
taken by the avionics shop. The weather is expected to be
really bad next week so the plane will stay in Higginsville
until the weather clears. The final bill was just a tick
over $20K for everything (and on target with the initial quote I
received
).
I was able to buy the STEC-30 just before Cobham increased the
prices in January, so that saved me an additional $1,100 on the
auto-pilot and GPSS module.
March 23, 2011 - The installation of the auto-pilot is almost
complete, but the exciting news for today is the yokes are done
and ready for shipment back to the avionics shop.
Sair Corporation/Flight Boss Limited did a fantastic job
with the powder coating!! The pictures don't really do the
workmanship a lot of justice because it is difficult to take
photos like these. They look awesome in person though.
Shouldn't be much longer before everything else is completed and
the aircraft is ready to fly again.
Click on any photo for a larger picture.
March 11, 2011 - Cobham finally got around to shipping the
STEC-30 system to the shop this week. They were waiting
for a part before sending the unit out. Nine weeks for an
auto-pilot seems like a long time to wait if you ask me.
The original order called for 4 weeks for delivery. The
yoke modifications are done though and they have been shipped to
Sair Corp for the powder coating. I should have updated
photos sometime late next week. The refurbishment process
takes about 5-6 business days to complete.
February 22, 2011 - The upgrade process is underway with most of
the old auto-pilot already removed. Cobham has been
delaying the STEC-30 shipment for some reason, but they informed
the shop it is expected to ship on February 25th. We'll
see. In the mean time, the guys continue to move along and
are installing the UBG-16 and FP-5L instruments along with
getting the yokes ready for shipment.
February 15, 2011 - Finally!!! The weather broke long enough for
the grounds crew to get the runways plowed at both airports.
We delivered the aircraft over to Higginsville last night and
after a short flight, the battery died. It's always
something...
I think it's the voltage regulator that went offline since I
replaced the alternator with a brand new unit last April after
it ate itself for lunch. STEC/Cobham still hasn't
delivered the autopilot we ordered 6 weeks ago, so this will
give the guys some time to install the engine instruments and
remove the old a/p system.
February 6, 2011 - The winter weather of late has made it
difficult to get the aircraft over to Higginsville, so there is
a slight delay until Mother Nature decides to cooperate.
Eventually, we'll get the aircraft over to the shop.
December 31, 2010 - Well, the plane is going in for another round of upgrades to
the avionics. This time she's getting a new
autopilot, engine monitor, fuel totalizer, and compass card
installed. The aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to
Higginsville Avionics Lab on the 1st of February and should take
roughly 3-4 weeks for the install. I hope to get pictures
from the shop as they take out the old autopilot and install the new stuff.
I'm also having the control yokes powder-coated
by
Sair Corporation/Flight Boss Limited located in Smithville,
Ohio. I'm hoping to get before and after pictures for the
yokes as well.
New Avionics Going In:
While I was home on leave, I ordered a new GPS
mount for my 496 from
Hendricks
Manufacturing. I was always conscious of having the
GPS mounted on the yoke right in front of me and decided it
would be better to move it up to the center post below the
compass. The Garmin stick antenna gets better
reception up there as well.
Better with it off the yoke!
