Haha no comparaison LeTouquet/Mexico, and yes it’s not that gold when the gremlins gets in and you need to meet the Garmin guys to write cheques for “3 second connect & rest”, but it’s also the problem for old avionics with no support (that you can’t open and fix yourself, unlike in Alaska), fixing KAP or KNS when it gets old is a nightmare unless you break a second aircraft…
These were panels for IFR flying in Morocco, I wished these were Bendix King HSIs 
Anyway one is rarely is going into clouds with these, it’s 364 sunny days (and one day it’s humid with 10C increase every 30min)
The side of avionics that nobody likes to talk about is the toppled glass screens, broken autopilots, faulty engine monitor probes, inaccurate fuel computers, offset HSI’s that I come across routinely. We had a fabulous SR22 that filled the cockpit with smoke on someone. All that glitters is not gold.
Yes indeed; there is a whole lot of planes flying with dead boxes. Probably hard to find a plane in which everything works 100%. Especially autopilots, which are almost impossible to repair in Europe and which many people fly without. I have often written about it example example example example and that is on a plane which has been maintained without regard to cost.
Surely eventually this upgrading of very elderly airframes has to replaced by a viable market for new affordable aircraft with modern integrated systems.Its a pity Garmin have such a stranglehold on the market with their difficult to use systems.Flying should not be that complex.Boeing can produce aircraft simple to operate by relatively low grade pilots in all parts of the globe! Look at how complex the establishment have managed to make PBN approaches out of what should be a simple concept! Fly safe Stampe.
As one of the low grade pilots flying both Boeings and Garmin equipped planes I don’t think airliner avionics (eg Rockwell/Collins) equipped ga planes would be simpler to fly for the ga crowd.
The Garmin stuff is actually very simple if explained/instructed correctly (wherein the problem actually lies if you ask me).
Happy to prove this and I offer remote Garmin instruction if someone is interested. All you need is a basic Flightsim with a GNS or GTN or G1000 and Parsec.
StampeSV4 wrote:
Surely eventually this upgrading of very elderly airframes has to replaced by a viable market for new affordable aircraft with modern integrated systems
The only reason that will occur is when it is cheaper and better for the guy spending the money. For utility aircraft such as C172s etc I can see the days coming when an increasing number are simply too worn out to fix. Prices for clean examples are rising now and in the US I’m guessing that balance might start tipping 20-30 years from now, but who knows. It’s certainly not in the immediate future, and it’s not clear to me what kind of “modern” (highly integrated or not) panel will someday be selected by buyers. That will get worked out over time, by those paying the bills. For a lot of other buyers and lower utilization planes, I think the time will be ‘never’ or anyway not in our lifetimes.
I think the issue with Garmin stuff is design for obsolescence and/or design for cash flow. I also think there are obvious options to using Garmin equipment, particularly in the Experimental world which creates a strong counter balance to ‘buy factory new and pay forever’ culture.
@Ibra in reference to your first panel photo and the radio at the top of the stack, my Narco 810 continues to work fine as my only radio, and I have a spare on the shelf. I could be using these things for 20+ years from now
