Avionics upgrade 1200 miles away.

Groundpounder

Groundpounder

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Emerson Bigguns
Looking to do an extensive avionics upgrade on my airplane, and so far the best quotes have been coming from Florida. Me and my airplane are in NH. Even counting the costs to fly the airplane down there, and to get back and forth via the airlines, its still a huge savings. The issue I am worried about is not being there to monitor the installation in person. I am frequently in central Florida for work, but I can go a month or two without a trip down there on occasion. Just wondering if anyone else has done this, and what your results were? Did you make the shop send photos frequently with details on how things are progressing? Any other gotcha's I am not thinking of?
 
Groundpounder said:
Just wondering if anyone else has done this, and what your results were?
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FWIW: Definitely doable with the right people. While mainly on the helicopter side, have coordinated a number of “long-distance” upgrades for customers. Main thing is open communication and a solid work request. Depending on the extent of work, perhaps break the work down into phases/benchmarks to keep the surprises to a minimum. With today’s technology there’s no reason not to get regular photo/video updates throughout the project. That is if your provider is into working this way--which is the #1 issue to work out. As an example, on the last upgrade (heavy sheetmetal) I worked with, the owner lives in midwest, I live along the GOM, and the work was performed in western Canada. Sent the aircraft via truck and followed the progress via video conference, pics, and phone calls. While they all don't go smooth, only had a couple which me and the owner had to travel to in order to work out a solution.
 
I did this for my plane's avionics upgrade. Flew into northern Oregon from the SF Bay Area. To mitigate the issues, I picked a shop that had done my exact install before...several times. Except for one small snag with the AP that I caught pretty quickly and they corrected the same day, there hasn't been a single issue with the install!

Several install pictures were provided during the work. It took several weeks and I was not present for any of them.
 
Groundpounder said:
Looking to do an extensive avionics upgrade on my airplane, and so far the best quotes have been coming from Florida. Me and my airplane are in NH. Even counting the costs to fly the airplane down there, and to get back and forth via the airlines, its still a huge savings. The issue I am worried about is not being there to monitor the installation in person. I am frequently in central Florida for work, but I can go a month or two without a trip down there on occasion. Just wondering if anyone else has done this, and what your results were? Did you make the shop send photos frequently with details on how things are progressing? Any other gotcha's I am not thinking of?
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I sent my plane to FL for paint because the shop was highly recommended and much cheaper than where I live. Airlined it one way for drop off and pick up. I asked for and received lots of pics/video and was very involved with the details from a far. Worked out great.

Congrats on your avionics upgrade!! Fun time
 
Thanks guys. The shop I am considering has lots of positive feedback on line, I was able to tour it in person last week, and I was favorably impressed. Not anticipating any issues, but I just want to cover my bases.
 
If you can find a decent deal on avionics work that will be finished by the end of the century then fly as fast as you can there. Ends of the earth ppl search for good work at a reasonable price
 
I’d make sure the insurance is paid, hurricane season is far from over
 
Here's a knowledgeable soul who flew from California to Saint Aviation in Florida to upgrade his panel.
 
I flew three states away (Saint Aviation) for my Skyview install, no regrets. Jesse was significantly more responsive than the other parties I tried to work with before I pulled the trigger. I incurred some extra expense and inconvenience due to commercial flights, hotels and uncooperative weather.
 
Your list of upgrades is impressive. (BTW - learning things every day here. I couldn't figure out what Garmin F33a was until I googled it... :) )

Do you have an illustration of what your panel will look like? Dual screens on the G3?
 
WDD said:
Your list of upgrades is impressive. (BTW - learning things every day here. I couldn't figure out what Garmin F33a was until I googled it... :) )

Do you have an illustration of what your panel will look like? Dual screens on the G3?
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Nope, single screen. This is roughly what it will look like. The MCP and G5 may be in different spots, still working that out. Also, things are not to scale on this.G3XMax.jpg
 
I'm not too up to speed on glass panels since I'm all steam on my old Piper but it looks like the little screen to the left side of the panel duplicates what is shown on the left side of the MFP. Is that just redundancy? Hope that's not too dumb of a question :crazy:
 
I believe you’re required to have a backup AHRS if you have glass. Now, why you’re not required to have a back up AHRS if you have an old mechanical vacuum pump AHRS which is more likely to fail vs glass - do don’t know
 
WDD said:
I believe you’re required to have a backup AHRS if you have glass. Now, why you’re not required to have a back up AHRS if you have an old mechanical vacuum pump AHRS which is more likely to fail vs glass - do don’t know
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True that! Actually I do have a backup AHRS on my Foreflight (poor man's glass panel):)
 
Archer Jack said:
I'm not too up to speed on glass panels since I'm all steam on my old Piper but it looks like the little screen to the left side of the panel duplicates what is shown on the left side of the MFP. Is that just redundancy? Hope that's not too dumb of a question :crazy:
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Yes the G5 is backup in case the G3X dies. What is also nice is that the autopilot will run off of either display, so you don’t lose it in the event either display fails
 
WDD said:
....Now, why you’re not required to have a back up AHRS if you have an old mechanical vacuum pump AHRS which is more likely to fail vs glass - do don’t know
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That’s what partial panel is for :).

I think you meant vacuum pump driven attitude indicator (artificial horizon) and directional gyro. An AHRS doesn’t use a vacuum pump.
 
TrueCourse said:
I think you meant vacuum pump driven attitude indicator (artificial horizon) and directional gyro. An AHRS doesn’t use a vacuum pump.
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What he said.....
 
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If the shop has done that exact install, many times, it should not be a problem.
Over on COPA there is an avionics shop in Mass which has customers from the west coast or Europe. Because they get it right every single time.
At one point I talked to them, depending if you were not available to test fly before pickup they arranged a local CSIP or the owner (I assume) took the plane for a test flight.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
 
tspear said:
If the shop has done that exact install, many times, it should not be a problem.
Over on COPA there is an avionics shop in Mass which has customers from the west coast or Europe. Because they get it right every single time.
At one point I talked to them, depending if you were not available to test fly before pickup they arranged a local CSIP or the owner (I assume) took the plane for a test flight.

Tim

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

What is the name of the shop?
 
For me, this sounds like a good excuse for a couple of long cross-country flights. I had my avionic upgrades done the next state over so I didn't get to check in on the work. Have the shop take lots of pictures and ask plenty of questions.
 
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