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RECREATIONAL RADIOS
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information source for homebuilders . Garmin is found in more than 90 percent of stacks in new homebuilts, often with a GPSMAP 396/496 in an AirGizmo panel mount, with a PS Engineering audio panel . Glass also is popular, with Advanced Flight Systems and Dynon Avionics leading the field for the homebuilt market . Many of the traveling machines, the RVs and fastglass Lancairs have autopilots from TruTrak Flight Systems . Most builders buy new avionics, usually from local shops, and many builders recommend waiting until working forward of the firewall before pulling the trigger on their purchase . Buying boxes any sooner puts “builders behind the curve when you finish the plane,” said Ron Duren, a mechanical engineer building an RV-7 in Colorado . “New technologies and capabilities are coming out all the time, and competition is really driving prices down, especially in non-TSO avionics,” Duren said . “I’m already resigned to the fact that I will wait until the last minute, buy my avionics, and know that a few years after it’s flying it will probably be out of date .” Owners of older homebuilts, such as Mark Briggs of Ontario, Canada, are replacing “ancient instruments, literally World War II vintage, a 360-channel KX-170, a Bendix T12 ADF and a ‘shout-loud’ intercom” with new technology, a Dynon D100 EFIS, Lowrance 2000C GPS, Icom A210 comm, and Garmin GTX 320 transponder .

VINTAGE
“Vintage” is a subjective term, as are the members of this family . Perhaps the most accepted timeline comes from the Vintage Aircraft Association, a division of EAA dedicated to keeping these old birds flying . Antiques were built before Aug . 31, 1954, said H .G . Frautchy, executive director of the VAA . They are followed by classics, and then contemporary airplanes, which started rolling off production lines Jan . 1, 1956 . Judges of these aircraft close the contemporary hangar on Dec . 31, 1970, but many are still in production today . Making up the majority of the GA fleet, they are the aircraft with which avionics shops are most familiar . “The older the airplane, the greater the challenge,” Frautchy said . “But it’s not as bad as it used to be,” because today’s avionics draw less power . “You’re able to put more capability in the airplane for the same amps .

Antiques are the greatest challenge because they didn’t have electrical systems .” Antique aircraft have three options: a wind-driven system, such as Basic Aircraft Products’ TurboAlternator; an engine-powered electrical system; or a rechargeable battery . When Jerrie Rosie of Carlisle, Pa ., bought his 1939 Aeronca 65-LA, he replaced the Lycoming with a Continental A65 . The airplane doesn’t make electricity, but it has lights, a Collins Microline VHF-251 comm, a transponder of unknown make, and a Loran, which he replaced with a Garmin GPSMAP 196 . He runs the radios “off a total loss system,” a battery restored by trickle charger while hangared . “I never use the lights, so the battery drain is within reason and meets the needs of my current flying,” he said . Rare Aircraft of Owatonna, Minn ., restores a good number of antiques . Authenticity is important to owners, but not at the expense of capabilities . “It’s rare that they just want to have something pretty sitting in the back of the hangar,” said Jeremy Redmond of Rare Aircraft . “They want to go enjoy the thing…and they want it to work as well as their Bonanza,” he said . Rare Aircraft adds electrical systems, starters and modern avionics to an antique’s equipment list . “All of our work is commissioned,” Redmond said, so Rare Aircraft installs what the customer orders, including multi-display glass from Aspen Avionics . Many customers opt for a console under the panel that holds a Garmin GNC 250XL, GTX 327 and PS Engineering PM1000 intercom . Radial engines have proven the greatest challenge because they were “never designed around modern radios, and vice versa,” Redmond said . Over time, Rare Aircraft has learned how to make them quieter with shielding and special fittings for the magnetos and spark plugs . Like the owners of most contemporary airplanes, Joe Norris of Oshkosh, Wis ., is not the first owner of the Eisenhower-era Cessna 180 he has owned for 15 years, and he is not the first to upgrade its panel . “Five or six years ago I decided to do another modernization…to incorporate an IFR-certified GPS,” he said . To benefit from his familiarity with the equipment, Norris ordered the replacement of the King KX-175B with a KX-155, the Garmin 250XL with a 430 and the Narco AT-50 with a Garmin GTX 327 . This stack, like all the others found in antiques, classics, warbirds and homebuilts, might be another definition of “personal” flying — the ability to install the technology that best meets a pilot’s aviation needs . q

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Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2011-2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2011-2012