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Avionics upgrade advice (and autopilot preselect issues)

As I near the end of IR training I’m thinking about what I might do in terms of relatively cheap avionics upgrades when the reserves are built back up.

Aircraft is a Mooney M20J and the current setup is KMA 20 audio panel, GNS430 (non WAAS), KX155, GTX 330, G5 HSI (AI not possible due to KFC150 autopilot), EDM800.

Mission is light IFR with legs typically <500 nm. Budget would be <€10k

I go back and forth over whether upgrading the GNS430 to a W at €4k is worth anything to me as I don’t plan on flying to places that are OVC003 and the IAP at my home airport is a VOR. Even if I did want LPV maybe the new GNC 355 GPS-COM would get that done and get rid of the KX155 for a bit over 2x the cost? Could also trade in the GNS430 for an IFD440 which can be done for €8k and is a slide-in job. What do people think is the best option of these, and is there anything obvious I might be missing?

Last Edited by zuutroy at 02 Sep 17:40
EIMH, Ireland

You could wait for the King KI300+KA310. And maybe add a new audio panel with Bluetooth. Should you have anything left you could get a Golze ADL 150.

I wouldn’t want to miss out on waas, but that’s just me…

EBST, Belgium

Agree. You should get WAAS. That „I don‘t plan on going on OVC003“ is off the mark. Just makes instrument approaches so much easier, ans thus safer. Really useful in France and Germany, not so much (yet) in the UK. You will also get all those 4k upon selling the aircraft. Any real buyer will slash down the price because the 430 is non-WAAS…

Whether upgrading a 430 or getting a newer generation unit makes more sense is an endless debate.

But yes, if you really don‘t have an ADL yet, then that must of course come first. It transforms the quality of your flying.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 02 Sep 19:01
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

If it was me, I would just get an ADL.

LPV is almost nonexistent in Ireland and the UK, the European mainland is a long way away from Ireland and anyway you won’t be flying there in crap wx. If you can fly an ILS, on autopilot, then you are good for most places which you will realistically fly to. That will be ok for OVC002, or whatever the minima is.

If your KFC150 has altitude hold, that’s fine too. If not, get that installed.

I fly all over Europe with avionics which are in certain ways worse than yours (KLN94) although I do have a much bigger moving map (KMD550 MFD) which I would not want to go without. In fact in your case I would install a decent MFD; the old Avidyne ones are going cheap on US Ebay (you would need to get creative with the paperwork ).

And get a fuel totaliser

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Great info, thanks. ADL was in the back of my mind but very interesting to hear how important it is. I have ALT hold and I have a fuel totaliser on the EDM (830 upgrade was on my list because 800 is a horrific UI).
If you have Skydemon or Jeppview running on an iPad, does an MFD give you much more. Think panel certified options are all above 10k?

EIMH, Ireland

UK/Ireland wise, I think all you need now is a backup AI and proper audio pannel, when the LPVs comes in, you can get GNC355+COM2 or upgrade the G430W just to keep it legal, unless the AP is working well, I think the M20J has enough fuel endurance to get you away from OVC002 and that costs less

On big MFDs, I don’t know about other pilots, myself, I just use tablet+phone screens even when the aircraft has a G1000 MFD…I think there are better ways to spend money, flying being one until you feel it is limited by avionics mount or pilot skills

Last Edited by Ibra at 02 Sep 22:59
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

With and M20J, mainland Europe is not very far, and ILSs and VORs are being retired all over, so I’d definitely get LPV.
Ditch the KX155 for a GNC355 which also gives you much easier FPL/PROC entry, + GPSS to you autopilot.
Then ADL.

Last Edited by Arne at 02 Sep 22:58
ESMK, Sweden

If you can display your flight planned route, with changes updated as you enter them into the GPS, and nearby IFR waypoints etc on a tablet, then you don’t need an MFD.

They come up on US Ebay for 1-2k.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

A new audio panel has to be part of the deal ( a PS engineering product would get my vote on performance grounds but the price is also competitive). Bad audio is one of the most fatiguing things in flying so this is essential to keep you at the top of your game.

As your home base has a VOR approach it is essential to have a second VOR, along with this requirement if you are going to fly IFR a second 8.33 COM is high on the list. To meet this requirement there are two options, a King KX165A ( small changes at the back of the box & 24v step up transformer ) or the Garmin GNC 255. Having been the owner of both KX166a’s and GNC 255 ‘s the Garmin gets my vote on just about all counts.

I can see no reason to change the G430 at the moment but as WAAS approaches become more available that will have to be done, a G430W it is a slide in replacement and potentially an antenna change.

The biggest problem with some of the other suggestions already made is that once installed the price will likely be well over your €10k budget, by just changing the audio and nav/com the price stays realistic and gives the option of an inexpensive WAAS upgrade in the future.

The last thing to say is make sure the installer understands the Garmin NAV/COM should be connected to the G430 to get GPS data and to the DME for remote control & display.

Last Edited by A_and_C at 03 Sep 08:45

Flog the 430, get a gtn 650 and enjoy “visual” lpv/rnav approaches to every airfield in your database ;-) ;-)

EGNS, Other
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