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- Jan 25, 2013
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I managed to get in about ~15 hours since I bought the plane before I turned loose of it.
This isn't in a Piper, for those unfamiliar, it's in a 1995 Commander 114TC.
List of stuff going in...
3x Aspen panels
JPI-930 engine monitor
Garmin 430W gps
PS Engineering 8000 audio panel/intercom
King KT74 Transponder
Aspen's ARX-100 ADS-B receiver (when certified sometime this summer)
Aspen's third party altitude preselect unit
New Honeywell back-lit switches
All in a custom cut main panel and sub-panel
I initially had planned for just the 2 Aspen panels, but was on the fence until I flew with the factory rep. He solved the problem..."what if I give you the third one under 20k?" Sold. It didn't take more than few minutes flying in the factory demo plane (a Cirrus) to get used to the interface well enough to fly the plane on a clear VFR day, but with the synthetic vision turned on it got a bit cluttered to my eyes. The third I think will be nice to have to de-clutter the primary instruments a bit.
I really wish there was a way to not have to pay Garmin anything, but there just aren't any options for a WAAS GPS cheaper than the 430W. There are bigger 530W sized options but those don't make sense with the Aspen panels being the primary computer displays.
I really wish there was an easy swap option for the STEC-55 AP I have, I don't really care for it due to its poor turbulence performance, but there just aren't a lot of options. There were four 114TC serial numbers excluded from the KFC-200 in the factory's STC, and mine is one of them. So even if I wanted to round up KFC-200 parts it would be a field approval. After talking to a couple of shops, I'm told that the Century 2000 wasn't ever certified for 28v Commanders, only 14v Commanders. The KFC-225 is the only gotcha-free option if I really wanted to replace it. It'd be a matter of spending months/years tracking down used parts to get a 225 system together. So as of now the STEC will stay, we're gonna blind mount the turn coordinator.
Stuff coming out...
Astro-Tech LC-2 clock
King KLN90B gps
King KMA24 audio panel
King KT76A transponder
King KX155 nav/comm
King KN64 dme
King KR87 adf
King KI525A hsi
King KI209 glideslope
King KI208 cdi
STEC GPSS unit
STEC alt preselect unit
STEC remote annunciator panel
Hoskins FT-101A fuel flow/totalizer
Goodrich WX900 storm scope
Flightcom 403 intercom and clearance recorder
All the factory engine instrumentation
Those pitifully horrible spring loaded black factory switches and the plastic post lights above them.
As of now I'm looking at Honeywell AML34F switches to replace the factory ones with. The Honeywell switches and rockers are sold separately, and are incandescent bulb-lit. Nice thing about that being that I can pull the rockers themselves and have my brother engrave the markings on them with his laser engraver at his sign shop. Rather than the post lights we'll run a strip of lights under the main panel and above the sub-panel for the markings to be illuminated. The Honeywell switches resemble the old white Piper style white switches, although they're a bit smaller. You can get the rockers in multiple colors.
I'll be keeping..
King KX165 for my secondary nav/comm
STEC55 autopilot
Stuff still to research...
Landing gear annunciator/lights. The factory annunciator panel includes other engine related annunciators in addition to the landing gear lights and gear warning annunciator, but it becomes redundant since the JPI-930 also has a remote annunciator for the engine functions. It would make sense to replace the factory annunciator panel with one just for the gear. Will have to check with my shop and research that on Monday. If the factory annunciator panel is modular and we can just remove the redundant parts and leave the gear lights/annunciator, that would probably be the easiest way. Not sure, will have to check into that.
The preliminary labor estimate on all of this, for those interested, is 175 hours. That does not include cutting and labeling the new panel. The relevant part of the quote for cutting, silkscreening placards, and painting/clear coating the new panel is 750 dollars.
Panel 'before' pic...
This isn't in a Piper, for those unfamiliar, it's in a 1995 Commander 114TC.
List of stuff going in...
3x Aspen panels
JPI-930 engine monitor
Garmin 430W gps
PS Engineering 8000 audio panel/intercom
King KT74 Transponder
Aspen's ARX-100 ADS-B receiver (when certified sometime this summer)
Aspen's third party altitude preselect unit
New Honeywell back-lit switches
All in a custom cut main panel and sub-panel
I initially had planned for just the 2 Aspen panels, but was on the fence until I flew with the factory rep. He solved the problem..."what if I give you the third one under 20k?" Sold. It didn't take more than few minutes flying in the factory demo plane (a Cirrus) to get used to the interface well enough to fly the plane on a clear VFR day, but with the synthetic vision turned on it got a bit cluttered to my eyes. The third I think will be nice to have to de-clutter the primary instruments a bit.
I really wish there was a way to not have to pay Garmin anything, but there just aren't any options for a WAAS GPS cheaper than the 430W. There are bigger 530W sized options but those don't make sense with the Aspen panels being the primary computer displays.
I really wish there was an easy swap option for the STEC-55 AP I have, I don't really care for it due to its poor turbulence performance, but there just aren't a lot of options. There were four 114TC serial numbers excluded from the KFC-200 in the factory's STC, and mine is one of them. So even if I wanted to round up KFC-200 parts it would be a field approval. After talking to a couple of shops, I'm told that the Century 2000 wasn't ever certified for 28v Commanders, only 14v Commanders. The KFC-225 is the only gotcha-free option if I really wanted to replace it. It'd be a matter of spending months/years tracking down used parts to get a 225 system together. So as of now the STEC will stay, we're gonna blind mount the turn coordinator.
Stuff coming out...
Astro-Tech LC-2 clock
King KLN90B gps
King KMA24 audio panel
King KT76A transponder
King KX155 nav/comm
King KN64 dme
King KR87 adf
King KI525A hsi
King KI209 glideslope
King KI208 cdi
STEC GPSS unit
STEC alt preselect unit
STEC remote annunciator panel
Hoskins FT-101A fuel flow/totalizer
Goodrich WX900 storm scope
Flightcom 403 intercom and clearance recorder
All the factory engine instrumentation
Those pitifully horrible spring loaded black factory switches and the plastic post lights above them.
As of now I'm looking at Honeywell AML34F switches to replace the factory ones with. The Honeywell switches and rockers are sold separately, and are incandescent bulb-lit. Nice thing about that being that I can pull the rockers themselves and have my brother engrave the markings on them with his laser engraver at his sign shop. Rather than the post lights we'll run a strip of lights under the main panel and above the sub-panel for the markings to be illuminated. The Honeywell switches resemble the old white Piper style white switches, although they're a bit smaller. You can get the rockers in multiple colors.
I'll be keeping..
King KX165 for my secondary nav/comm
STEC55 autopilot
Stuff still to research...
Landing gear annunciator/lights. The factory annunciator panel includes other engine related annunciators in addition to the landing gear lights and gear warning annunciator, but it becomes redundant since the JPI-930 also has a remote annunciator for the engine functions. It would make sense to replace the factory annunciator panel with one just for the gear. Will have to check with my shop and research that on Monday. If the factory annunciator panel is modular and we can just remove the redundant parts and leave the gear lights/annunciator, that would probably be the easiest way. Not sure, will have to check into that.
The preliminary labor estimate on all of this, for those interested, is 175 hours. That does not include cutting and labeling the new panel. The relevant part of the quote for cutting, silkscreening placards, and painting/clear coating the new panel is 750 dollars.
Panel 'before' pic...
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