Balance of Avionics HOBBS 1476.5 hrs

Last Friday I received the balance of my avionics from Stein. This was the stuff that I used Oshkosh to make my decisions. The Garmin GDU-375 (ultimately becoming a G3X one day), Garmin GDL-39 for ADS-B traffic and weather, Garmin SL-40 Comm, PS Engineering PAR100EX Comm/Intercomm/Audio Panel and lastly, a GPS antenna for the GDL-39. This finishes off my avionics procurement...essentially a deluxe VFR platform that can easily be transitioned to IFR later.

 

So, of course, you can guess what I was doing last weekend...playing with shiny new avionics! Or I should say mounting them in my panel. I haven't fired anything up yet.

 

The box of goodies from SteinAir...

Stein is great about throwing in a t-shirt and key chain, complimentary. You might say, well, you just spend thousands of dollars with them...isn't that the least they can do? And yes, that's true...but do you know how many free t-shirts I have received from other vendors?? Only Aerosport power...you would think Van's would give you something don't you? Anyway, its a nice gesture and appreciated. SteinAir's customer service is second to none and I'm a fan.

Also notice the blue zip ties...these are special high temp tfezel versions for the FWF. Kinda pricy, but I know how regular zip ties can get brittle in a high temp environment.

This was a tough decision for ADS-B...Garmin or Dynon? I went with Garmin as you can see...I like this unit because I can hardwire it directly to my GDU-375 and it will also blue tooth to my iPad at the same time. Plus its $200 cheaper than Dynon's version...which isn't available just yet.

My PS Engineering PAR100EX...bottom box is the actual remote mounted Comm, made by MicroAir I believe?

GDU-375 box....

SL-40 Comm, this will be my primary Comm. I debated over Garmin and Icom...you can see who won. I just heard too many hokey things about the Icom. The Garmin is more expensive, but I wanted a good solid comm and I think this fits the bill. I'm not saying the Icom is a bad comm...but I think the Garmin is more robust...at a cost.

The cheap ($30) GPS antenna for the GDL-39...still not sure where I am going to mount this bugger?

Remote mounted Comm...I may mount this behind my baggage bulkhead...debating...

How they look stacked together.

Some final layout work...actually sitting in the cockpit seat...the Dynon is directly centered in my line of sight.

Lets cut some holes!

The corners of the Dynon are pretty square, but I wanted some radii on my corners to eliminate stress concentrations. This is one way to do it...be careful though, the Dynon bezel does not overlap very much top and bottom. You don't want your hole showing.

Skyview mounted...now for the Garmin...the mounting plate supplied by Garmin makes a good template for your hole.

And voila! We have and EFIS and a MFD mounted. I was surprised at how heavy this thing was getting once I mounted those two bad boys. Looking good though.

Moving on to the radio stack...this will be a little more difficult...and I am still in the middle of this process. More pics to come.

Over the weekend, I stopped by another builders (Lyn) project after the EAA Chap 301 bbq and was poking my head around his FWF work. I noticed that he safety wired his oil filler...and then realized, when Dad and I put it on...we didn't do that. So, I remedied this. Things like this are easy to miss if you've never done this before.

Dynon SkyView HOBBS 1385.0 hrs

A couple quick updates... My prop is finally, after two delays, on its way. Supposed to arrive at my house via UPS in two boxes/crates tomorrow (7/17/12)...the spinner is the second box. I am VERY excited to see this puppy...almost as much as I was for the engine. I will finally get to see my chosen colors on an actual aircraft part...and also the prop itself, since I don't think I have ever seen this particular version before since its a fairly new offering at Whirl Wind.

My carbon fiber panel from Aerosport Products is also on its way...in fact, it should also be here later today. This is another product I am pretty excited to lay my eyes on. I'm jazzed to start doing my panel work, and this part is obviously a crucial part of that puzzle. A lot of exciting stuff happening this week in the Factory!

I received my 10" Dynon SkyView from SteinAir and after a slight delay, decided to fire it up and see if the darn thing worked. ;) I purchased this "used" from Stein...its actually new, but the owner decided to go a different route so Stein sold it to me for a slight discount on the VAF forum. I completely trust Stein and knew he would stand behind his product, but wanted to test it just the same to make sure I had a good unit.

I hooked it directly up to my power supply and had no problems getting it powered up. Although, I later read the installation manual and it recommends using a 5 amp fuse for such matters just to be safe. I bought one and will use one for all future bench testing. Probably not too bright of me...don't want to mistakenly fry a $4600 computer!

My first power up just yielded a screen like this...not too exciting. Nothing was hooked up...no ADAHRS, no engine instrumentation and no GPS so there was no data for the computer to display. Wanting more than a couple "X's"...I quickly grabbed some alligator clips and got my GPS antenna temporarily tied into the SkyView 37 pin harness and tried again.

Ah, now we're talking...I now have something to look at! It took the unit a little while to get an initial position fix, but once it did, this is what I saw. I played around with it for awhile zooming in and out. Notice the "30 hr" trial mode message for the map software...I already bought my software license ($500) for this but haven't installed it yet. Once I do, that message will go away. Its just a software code you need to enter into the system to unlock it. Anyway, this was just a quick test run to ensure I had good hardware, looks like all systems are go with the SkyView...more to come as I get started on my panel real soon.

VP and Dynon Team Up! HOBBS 499.0 hrs



http://www.verticalpower.com/


I am on Vertical Power's mailing list and got a nice email from them recently. I really like the Vertical Power system, along with the Dynon SkyView. But up 'til recently, they hadnt joined forces yet. Dynon had no software to integrate with the VP systems. Well, they do now! Thats great news! Although I havent decided if I am going with the SkyView or AFS, I now at least have the option.

On a side note, I had emailed Dynon about 3 months ago asking when (or if) they would support Vertical Power. I was told at the time, it wasnt a priority and not on their short-term roadmap.

Well, kudo's to the customer service at Dynon's because that same gentleman (Dan Howe) personally followed up with an email to notify me of this development. That kind of customer service certainly makes a difference to me and where I spend my hard earned money...thats a smart business play.

New Dynon Skyview HOBBS 160.0 hrs

As you may have noticed, the project has been slowing down for me. My strategy is to pay for the entire airframe with cash, which will serve as my down payment, to finance the completion of the project. So...there will be a small lull in activity while I save money for the wings.

I have been working on the tips here and there. They're looking nice, I think I am going to like the finished results. I'll post more on this later as I near completion.

So, when not building, the next best thing is dreaming/planning paint schemes, cockpit designs and avionics. Which, I gotta say, is quite fun! The avionics out there on the market for kit built planes is utterly amazing these days. I plan to have a 'glass' cockpit in my plane. For several reasons: #1, I have flown a G1000 and am amazed at the added safety these systems CAN add to your flying. You still need to practice good situational awarenesss and see and avoid techniques, but adding the features a glass panel provides is key for safe flying. #2, glass cockpits are definitely the future of aviation. And #3, I am a 'tech geek' and these glass panels are really cool!

I am considering several MFD (Multi Function Display) and PFD (Primary Flight Display) options. I think I have narrowed it down to two companies.

The first is Advanced Flight Systems. I really like their new Advanced DECK.

Advanced Flight Systems

Second is the new Dynon Skyview. This just came out this year at Sun-n-Fun. Dynon has been around in the kitplane market for quite some time and most of the guys have had nothing but good things to say about them. Namely, they seem to have great value for the money, homebuilders love that! :) I personally didnt like the look of their previous flight displays...frankly, they look kind of cheap. But this one changes that, the look of this new one is much more professional in its styling. It appears that Dynon is growing up and ready to play with the big boys in the market. That, along with their good track record in the homebuilt market, has me interested.

Dynon Skyview Video

Both of these have the capability of using SV (Synthetic Vision), which is on my wish list. This is when you can see the 'virtual' landscape of the geography you are flying over right on your flight display, no matter the visibilty outside. Another great safety feature to have and also the way of the future. You can see it in action on the Dynon video.

Happy Turkey Day 2009!!! ...KPR (Keep Pounding Rivets!)