CD player field approval

[Dean]

Has anyone here recieved a field approval for a CD player? I know they make FAA/PMA CD players, but most of them are $700 +. I was told that a field approval for an automotive type could be done if installed by an avionics tech. Just wondering if anyone has had any luck doing this.

 

[Iceman]

Have you thought about using an ipod/portable cd player instead?

I'm sure you have but over the years I have purchased a lot of electronics and I've had more "high quality" decks fail on me than anything else made in Japan. The crap that Best Buy sells last me two years or less. I know if I was going to spend a few hundred to put something like this in I would not go out and buy the cheapest Sony I could find.

Also please don't take this the wrong way but when I see a car deck in a plane it adds some cheapness to the panel IMO. Just be sure you can easily remove it if you change your mind down the road (airway).

Good luck
Chris

 

[gismo]

Has anyone here recieved a field approval for a CD player? I know they make FAA/PMA CD players, but most of them are $700 +. I was told that a field approval for an automotive type could be done if installed by an avionics tech. Just wondering if anyone has had any luck doing this.

Most automotive CD players have FM receivers included and the local oscillator in them is likely to interfere with your navcom on certain combinations of FM freq. and navcom channel. Chances are pretty good that an interfering FM freq. will be 10.7 Mhz below the aircraft nav or com frequency.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Mine has "stereo" in the equipment list of the airplane, it was certified with one!

 

[poadeleted20]

I know a lot of folks who carry portable music devices and plug them into the "aux" jack of the intercom (and even velcro the device somewhere so it isn't floating around), but no one who has obtained field approval for installation of an auto-grade CD player. Obtaining such approval would require proof of non-interference with your existing nav and comm gear, and based on Lance's post, that might be difficult (or at least expensive) to do.

 

[AirBaker]

Most automotive CD players have FM receivers included and the local oscillator in them is likely to interfere with your navcom on certain combinations of FM freq. and navcom channel. Chances are pretty good that an interfering FM freq. will be 10.7 Mhz below the aircraft nav or com frequency.

I know of at least one automotive CD player mounted in the panel of a Cessna. No issues that we've seen. YMMV.

$700 is halfway to an audio panel upgrade and a music input.

 

[Ken Ibold]

One hidden cost of putting a CD player into an airplane is converting the wiring to stereo. My 2001 airplane had mono wiring when I installed a PS Engineering intercom/CD player. The installation cost was nearly as much as the unit.

 

[Henning]

Has anyone here recieved a field approval for a CD player? I know they make FAA/PMA CD players, but most of them are $700 +. I was told that a field approval for an automotive type could be done if installed by an avionics tech. Just wondering if anyone has had any luck doing this.

Why? I never though a stereo belonged in an airplane panel. Just tap a little MP3 into the system and velcro it somewhere. Do you already have a stereo intercom? The way everything in that industry changes, I wouldn't want to mount anything in the panel.

 

[SCCutler]

The AA1 I used to fly had a nicely-installed car stereo, mounted vertically to sidewall of the baggage area, passenger side. Pilot could fiddle with it by reaching around behind the passneger, and it was plumbed into the intercom circuit. It was nice for piddling around low 'n' slow with the canopy opened on a nice day.

One of the Bo's I fly has music input for intercom, but I find that, when I am flying in the faster planes and in the IFR system, the music is more distracting than enjoyable, and the only time I have use it lately was to listen to a football game.

 

[poadeleted20]

I know of at least one automotive CD player mounted in the panel of a Cessna.

I've seen one mounted in the panel of a Tiger -- but it wasn't in the maintenance logs or the equipment list, and there was no 337. I strongly recommended to the owner that he either document it or remove it lest by chance some passing sharp-eyed FAA person happen to glance into his cockpit and start asking questions for which there would be no good answer.

 

[gismo]

I helped a friend install a cassette player (pre CD era) in his Baron, before I knew any better. I did disable the FM section to eliminate potential interference, but there was no log entry, let alone any 337. AFaIK it's still in his plane.

 

[Dean]

Just tap a little MP3 into the system and velcro it somewhere. Do you already have a stereo intercom?

I did some checking and found that my intercom had a music input wire that was never hooked up. I had the plug installed and used your idea of the MP3 player. I now have music for those long flights. The good part is that it has auto mute and kills the music when the radio is keyed up or picks something up.

 

[Stache]

To install a auto stereo system in an aircraft would be considered a one time STC and not a field approval with the current Orders the FAA Inspectors have to follow. However you can have portable electronic equipment and MP3 would seem to work well. Having said that I would caution pilots about plugging into the head sets or overhead speaker as these are where the stall horn sound comes from and you do not want to interfere with the stall warning system.

Stache

 

[gismo]

Having said that I would caution pilots about plugging into the head sets or overhead speaker as these are where the stall horn sound comes from and you do not want to interfere with the stall warning system.

Stache

Denny, I'm confused by your statement. With the exception of those few aircraft that have added voice annunciation of stall (typically by installing an AOA sensor) and some of the latest glass cockpit airplanes the stall warning system has nothing to do with headsets or overhead speakers on our piston aircraft. There is the possibility that playing loud music on your headset will mask the sound of a stall horn and the best answer I have to that is to turn down/off the music when departing or arriving (or any other time you are flying near the ground).

 

[AirBaker]

I did some checking and found that my intercom had a music input wire that was never hooked up. I had the plug installed and used your idea of the MP3 player. I now have music for those long flights. The good part is that it has auto mute and kills the music when the radio is keyed up or picks something up.

The mute is nice for ATC calls, but can be a pain when you sing along. I did the ICS mod on the 340. Now music isn't interupted by intercom chatter but only radio traffic.

As a side note, it did take me a while to figure out that flying over the Markers was the reason my music died now and then.

 

[gismo]

The mute is nice for ATC calls, but can be a pain when you sing along. I did the ICS mod on the 340. Now music isn't interupted by intercom chatter but only radio traffic.

As a side note, it did take me a while to figure out that flying over the Markers was the reason my music died now and then.

The PM8000B allows you to enable or disable the music soft mute (they call the mute disable "karoke mode") with a button on the panel. I've found that if I turn the music down a bit and disable the mute I can still hear ATC just fine. Then I get to sing along with the music, something I have only done solo so far. Hopefully I won't accidentally hit the PTT while singing.

 

[Henning]

I did some checking and found that my intercom had a music input wire that was never hooked up. I had the plug installed and used your idea of the MP3 player. I now have music for those long flights. The good part is that it has auto mute and kills the music when the radio is keyed up or picks something up.

Glad ya worked it out. The little MP3 players are really great for stuff like this. You can load one little fob sized unit with 20 hrs of music or whatever, probably 80 hrs of Books on Tape type stuff, and best of all, it's not installed.

 

[AirBaker]

The PM8000B allows you to enable or disable the music soft mute (they call the mute disable "karoke mode") with a button on the panel. I've found that if I turn the music down a bit and disable the mute I can still hear ATC just fine. Then I get to sing along with the music, something I have only done solo so far. Hopefully I won't accidentally hit the PTT while singing.

Yeah, I do like the 8000... But we chose the 340 at the time. Not sure why now...

 

[Stache]

The problems I have seen with auto CD players installs are the persons installing them. If you have your local avionics shop install the CD player you should not have any problems. However I have seen other who don’t understand how aircraft system work and cut wires/splice into them for power. I have seen players hook up to any speaker in the aircraft they could find or radio jack. I have also seen addition radio/CD player jacks installed the bleed over into other systems.

I guess what I am trying to say is have a professional install the system because each aircraft is set up different and one player may not work in all aircraft systems. Such as the one I saw hook up to the stall warning horn (not good).

Having a switch box or mute installed is a safe thing to have when you need it.

Just one man’s opinion.

Stache