Apropos of Nothing

BryanAV8R

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Sep 17, 2019
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178
Location
Fall River MA & Morrisville PA
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Display name:
Bryan
A 4 month panel/avionics/autopilot upgrade was powered up this morning for the first time...and all the lights came on.

And no smoke!

Yay.

panelturnedon.png

Now, to make all the new boxen talk to each other nicely.

Dual G5s, GFC500 autopilot (hdg/vloc/gps nav, roll, pitch, auto trim, alt preselect and hold AND envelope protection) connected to the GNS430W. GTX330ES for ADS-B out from air data from alt encoder and 430W...and a TOGA button! Oh, and an IFR signoff and annual at the same time. Can't wait to try it out.

Oh, yeah, put in a remote ident button...because we had extra leads in the coil cord. Why not?

Still have to run the external audio jack (it's wired up, just have to mount the jack under the GFC controller in the blanking panel) and secure all the bundles, but that's tomorrow morning's job.
 
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I love it when a plan comes together.
 
I love it when a plan comes together.

Well...I wish I could have placed the gauges in more of a modern 6-pack arrangement, but the structure behind the false panel just doesn't have the clearance to move the AI/HSI to center on the yoke (and even the M model had the gap between the AI/HSI and static instruments.) My AP/IA didn't want to get into modifying structure (paperwork, engineering drawings, etc.) for a 337 approval, so, replacing the floating panel using the same mounting (rubber dampers, which I did replace) as the original, using better aluminum stock, was acceptable to him for this purpose. The false panel on the right is just a trim cover replacement, so, no issues there. I may still someday put tally lights for the GPS in between the AI/HSI and Alt/VSI to visually fill the space (I have the harness and LEDs lights to do it), but for now, it's tidy up, configure and tweak, and get the bird back in the air.

All in all, though, I'm well chuffed as to how it turned out.
 
That is a solid set up, now don’t forget to hand fly at times
 
Yes a standard six pack would be better when flying it initially, but I think your scan will develop in short order to a point where you won’t know the difference.
 
Yes a standard six pack would be better when flying it initially, but I think your scan will develop in short order to a point where you won’t know the difference.

The first plane I owned (a 68 Cherokee) had the shotgun arrangement...and managed to pull off an IFR rating in her. Like you said, just developing the scan and getting comfortable with the new equipment and it'll be fine. Already have other CFIs on the field wanting to try it out...sheesh, haven't even put the seats back in yet.

I'm looking forward to trying the altitude preselect and hold, and flight plan navigation. And try a coupled ILS somewhere along the line...this is going to be fun.
 
I'm looking forward to trying the altitude preselect and hold, and flight plan navigation. And try a coupled ILS somewhere along the line
forget those. try this:

drone along along at altitude with alt hold - pull the power to idle and find out how the AP wont let you stall
OR
hand fly and try to do a power off / on stall and see the AP fighting you so that you dont stall :p
 
forget those. try this:

drone along along at altitude with alt hold - pull the power to idle and find out how the AP wont let you stall
OR
hand fly and try to do a power off / on stall and see the AP fighting you so that you dont stall :p

Ahhh...envelope protection. I know you can turn it off (probably for flight reviews...or practicing some commercial maneuvers, which I like to do from time to time to keep sharp) in the AI...I am liking what I'm reading in the books and youtubes I'm catching up on about the GFC. Thinking that, all things considered, the 1:45 flight from 39N to my second base at KEWB will be a little more relaxed.
 
C'est finis! I'm truly happy with all the bits and pieces done gone back in.

Along the way...the rear seat was beginning to look a little tired from sun fading, etc. So...picked up a couple extra cans of SEM vinyl/leather dye in the same shade as I used for the side panels and a can of prep. Prepped the seat, and before putting it back in...redyed the seat (for the fronts, I have some sheepskin covers, so not worried about their condition right now). I think it came out pretty nice:

rear_seats.jpeg

Spent some quality time reinstalling the 2-year-old airtex carpet, the rear seat, the pedestal cover, and the front seats.
And, all the instrument panels are in and secured, copilot yoke installed with new AN3 bolt and PTT wired up...and the obligatory shot from the back seat:

finished_panel.jpeg

Apologies for the haze; was shooting into the sun, even with the flash it couldn't overcome the brightness. That piece of paper is a note for my IA when he configures all the options and finishes getting the boxes to talk to each other...

Lot of work. But, in the end, looks pretty good, if I say so myself. Now, someone explain why I have a pile of extra screws, upholstery washers, tinnerman speed nuts...oh, yeah, because I replaced everything with stainless...;)
 
Onward and upward...suffering from a minor case of shipwright's disease (see below). Had the cowling off (I know this is not strictly avionics...and not hijacking my own thread...but...didn't know where else to put it since it's all linked somehow...)

Today decided to attack the cowling, which had been painted, but never trimmed out with the matching colors to finish the striping. First...shooting urethane paint...WEAR AN ORGANIC VAPOR/PARTICULATE MASK rated for the paint and maintain mega ventilation!

me.jpeg

Primed the lower cowling, let it sit in the hot sun for an hour, lightly sanded smooth, masked for the blue trim color, and shot 4 cross coats of the blue (the juneau white I will take care of tomorrow)...

cowling.jpeg

went to the airport picnic...downed a few bottles of spring water (it was 90 and no wind at 39N today...sultry), came back and primed the top cowling (again, will shoot the juneau white tomorrow) Oh, yeah, the front fiberglass was primed and shot with the blue, but didn't shoot any photos of that...

prime.jpeg

Then 4 cross coats of the blue shot on the top:

uppercowling.jpeg

Believe or not, even if it seems the shade between the first photo and the last is different...it is the same, just the lighting differences.

See...if you start one project, it leads to another...in my case, ripping out the whole interior, panels, avionics, and budgeting for tens of AMUs leads me to this...

--
Shipwright's disease
Goes something like this:

Sailor owns boat.
Boat has burned out light in galley.
Sailor decides to change bulb.
Sailor notices socket is corroded, decides to change socket.
Sailor notices wiring frayed while trying to change socket.
Sailor decides to change wiring.
Sailor notices galley ceiling slats are rotted while changing the wire.
Sailor decides galley ceiling slats need changing.
Sailor notices ...

this goes on and on and on and on and pretty soon, Sailor is undertaking a
major renovation of his boat because of a burned out lightbulb.
 
That autopilot is going to be one of your favorite investments of the whole lot. The new Garmin units fly superbly. Nice upgrade, thanks for sharing! Happy flying!
 
Nice! Are you doing the work yourself under supervision or is an avionics shop doing the install? Just curious if 4 months is the usual amount of time for an install like yours...
 
Nice! Are you doing the work yourself under supervision or is an avionics shop doing the install? Just curious if 4 months is the usual amount of time for an install like yours...


Well, the painting is allowable owner maintenance (I'm not touching the balanced control surfaces and based on Part 43: Apply preservative or protective material to components where no disassembly of any primary structure or operating system is involved, and where such coating is not prohibited or contrary to good practices; Cessna cowls are just held on by southco twist fasteners...certainly not primary structure, no disconnecting prop, just unfasten top and bottom and lift off. Nothing attached to it, nada), and the avionics work was done under direct physical supervision and observation of an IA (I hold a GROL FCC license, fwiw), who did the heavy mechanical (riveting, tensioning and rigging cables, running the harnesses, and will do the ifr cert, &c., &c., &c.), and I did the design of the panel, had it cut by Skyhawk Panels (I see the story about the gentleman who I used in the current issue of the Cessna owners society magazine...lol) as an owner produced object which my IA approved of. Lots of back-and-forth, etc. And lots of wires.

Is 4 months usual? I don't know; I'm into this (both finanicially and physically) pretty deep considering that this job encompassed:

1. Rip out existing instrument panel, vacuum system, hoses, radios, existing harnesses, and seats, front side panels, rear bulkhead panel, carpet, A pillar trim.
2. Send out pitot-static instruments for O/H and recalibration.
3. Design and contract for production of panel replacement.
4. Order all the Garmin stuff: 2x G5, and GFC500: roll, pitch, autotrim servos and control head.
5. Wait for all the bits and pieces to come in.
6. Perform an annual inspection.
7. As the stuff comes in...start building the systems in parallel with IA building harness and interfacing to existing radio stack wiring.
8. "While you're there..." replace 50 year old RG58 antenna cables, where necessary, with fresh RG142 double shielded teflon-coated coax for the Comms, Xpdr, Marker, etc. (I had already put in fresh cable for the 430w and from the nav whiskers in '18 when I did the avionics upgrade.)
8. Troubleshoot dodgy connections (when you're connecting over 500 wire ends...you're bound to have a couple...a good VOM test meter is your friend).
9. Since the whole plane is pretty much open more than normal, give it a good coating of Corrosion-X, especially in the wings and tail, and up the rudder and in the control surfaces.
10. Other stuff....like painting and retrimming, and reassembly of the interior, and ...

Yeah, I could take less time. Luckily, I'm a CFI, so I get to fly anyway; would I like my plane back and done? (The avionics guy/IA broke his foot just before starting to configure up everything...so, right now, waiting for him to be able to finish it up...and airport owner would like to get his $$$) Yeah, it would be nice. But, in the end...it's a BIG FREAKING job to get it done...and I don't think that 4 months, in the general scheme of things is out of line (ever do an engine overhaul? Takes about the same time, unless you buy a ready-built from PennYan or ? and just swap out...talking about a field overhaul by a competent AP...).

(Now, don't talk with me about doing a fabric headliner in a Cessna. For such a simple job...it will take you at least 24-32 hours of tugging, pulling, scrunched up in a hot cockpit...never again...)

But...got the cowling all installed:

cowling_on.jpeg

Got to put it on this way to get the mask lines for the red and blue stripes which will terminate at the nose cap.

fasteners.jpeg

Of course, when you go this far...(yes, I know there is a paint crack...this is a clean-up, not a restoration), always nice to use fresh stainless fittings.
 
Figured I'd try extending the blue stripe forward to meet the nose bowl. The white paint on the top of the cowling is still a bit tender, so I didn't want to mask for the red just yet and chance futzing up the coating...I'm on travel for a week for my Real Job (tm), so, I figure that a week in a really hot hangar (it faces south...and the door is dark brown...temps in there in the summer get up over 100 with the door closed...will let the 2K enamel fully cure), things will harden up nicely.
stripe1.jpeg

Left side is the same...there is a very slight 'flare' from the front to the back where the blue covers the turtledeck, so, the lines are straight with the top and the bottom. Nice thing is that the white reveal between the two stripes is exactly 1/2", so..using 1/2" fine line masking tape, I'll be able to maintain the arrangement when I do the red.

stripe2.jpeg

Matching the lines takes a decent eye and looking down the side...and starting the masking all the way back to the front of the door opening so you can make sure, as you're sighting down the fuselage, that the line is straight.

Now, I guess when it's all done...I'll have to buff out the rest of the plane to match the shine...;)

Are we having fun yet?
 
Done (well, except for figuring out what color to paint the spinner and fenders...thinking just carrying the blue a little further...using the red would be a bit garish, I think).

finshed1.jpeg

Stripes carried forward to meet the nose bowl.

finished2.jpeg

Figured I'd give the nose a goatee...was just easier to mask off along the panel joint to the inlet scoop...use joint lines when possible when painting is my motto.

finished3.jpeg

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out (for a sand and squirt paint job) to tie the nose into the rest of the fuselage. Managed to get the stripes to match up pretty well, and the color match is pretty good.

Wings need to be painted, and I need (want, desperately) to change the wing tips. Those droopy ones just grate on me, not to mention banging my head on them occasionally. Oh well...maybe have the wings and control surfaces freshened up next year. Time to let the paint harden, buff out the whole plane and put a ceramic coat on it, and go flying...There is always another project in the list to do on these things, so it's the journey that counts, not the destination, right?

plane5-06.jpg

Here's what I started with, back in 2018...

(And what a beautiful blue sky today in the midatlantic states, no?)
 
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Well...had some time while at my MA residence...and had ordered a set of used/serviceable wingtips to replace those droopy head-banging tips that are on the plane. They needed a little work with some cracking of the fiberglass (just like my old Lotus Europa...got a lot of practice relieving stress cracks on that body), sanding out, priming (4 cross coats, wet sanding with 600 between the 2nd and 3rd coat) then a final flattening out with 800 wet. Think they turned out ok; now to shoot color when I get back to NJ next week, install the new LED position lights, and FINALLY get them installed.

Just keeping the thread up to date...lol.

tips1.jpg

tips2.jpg

(one of the previous photos show the existing wingtips...which have grated on me since I bought the plane...can't wait to fix this last niggling issue (well, that and the fact that my sheepskin for the pilot seat won't be produce until the end of August after ordering it in the middle of June. Because of Wuhan flu, don't you know...)
 
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