Avionics News July 2016 - 27

I

t's air show season again. And while the men and women zipping
around in highly modified aircraft doing unnatural airborne
maneuvers can claim a bit of the typical show's drawing power,
it's the warbirds that truly boost ticket sales.

The whir of the starters and the
swinging of big propeller blades. Bursts
of blue smoke. And the thunder of
eight, 12, 16 or more cylinders coming
to life always gets everyone's attention.
Whether its designation begins with a
P, B, F or T, this is history you can feel,
hear and smell.
If seeing them fly is exciting, imagine what it's like to strap one of them
on and fly. Having had the privilege to
do just that, I can tell you the thrill of
flying a warbird is something you will
never forget.
For the fortunate few who have the
means, money and time, owning and
flying warbirds and classics can quickly
become a lifelong obsession. Once bitten
by the bug, collectors have literally put
their lives and fortunes on the line to
bring these aircraft back from the darkest
jungles, to the tops of mountains, to the
depths of Greenland's glaciers. Collectors
routinely rebuild these airplanes from
little more than a data plate. In fact, under
their aluminum skins, many of these
aircraft are better today than when they
rolled off the assembly line.
So what does all this have to do with
avionics you ask? Well, a lot more than
you may think. As historic as they are to
fly in today's airspace, even the rarest of
warbirds has to comply. And therein lies
both opportunity and challenge.

Stinson V-77 panel;
Sarasota Avionics

It's not easy,
but with
the right
information
and attitude,
avionics
upgrades for
warbirds and
classics may
well be an
opportunity
to boost
business for
an avionics
shop.

IS IT LIMITED, OR IS IT
EXPERIMENTAL?
Let's say a fellow taxis up in a beautifully restored warbird and says he wants
to install Garmin's noncertified G3X
displays and autopilot. Can you? Maybe
yes. Maybe no.
"It's all based on how the airplane was
transitioned to civilian life," explained
Pahan Ranasingha, owner of Avionics Installations Inc. "In the eyes of the
FAA, there are primarily two kinds of
warbirds: experimental/exhibition and
limited category. So you can put that
G3X in an experimental warbird, but not
a limited.
"In the limited category, you have to
do things the same way you would in a
certified airplane. The perfect examples
are the Garmin GTN units. A North
American T-6 is on the AML STC for the
GTN series, so we can install one and do
all the paperwork and off it goes.
"Now if you want to install the GTN
in a P-51, it's totally different. The P-51
is not on the AML STC, so it requires
field approvals and flight supplements
and so on. There's a lot more work
involved in it. But there are experimental P-51s, which is altogether different
again. A lot of shops get snagged here
when dealing with warbirds.
Continued on following page

avionics news

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july

2016

27
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News July 2016
