Dan wrote:
where is that like button again?
I’m sooooooooo glad that we’re free of “like” buttons at least here in that last gallican village of resistance 
Mooney_Driver wrote:
As a private owner, I would never buy a G1000 airplane for that reason.
I agree, the general rule is to stay away from integrated solutions, the modular setup is way better and future proof, the advice is not specific to avionics !
UdoR wrote:
I’m sooooooooo glad that we’re free of “like” buttons at least here in that last gallican village of resistance
You’re right UdoR… still, I liked that post
Peter wrote:
I still think people would best spend their money fixing essential avionics (including the autopilot) and spending the vast amount of money thus saved on avgas
That’s like saying: “People would best spend their money on fixing an old Caterham rather than buying a Porsche”
Hobby pilots are flying for many different reasons. The utility value is only one of them – and I’d assume that there are many more who fly just for fun than for utility. And for many of those, the “increase in fun” of a glas cockpit is higher than the increase in fun from a TKS.
Maybe some stuff seems necessary for some they are useless for others?
- TKS is unnecessary: it slows aircraft down all the time and costs fluid & maintenance for 1/300 risk
- CAPS is unnecessary: it costs a lot in repacks and barely delivers on 1/100000 risk
- ….
G5000nxi being useless and bloody expensive is still used on every flight 
I have a friend who bought a nice IFR approved Arrow 5 years ago (no BRNAV GPS).
Then he wanted an IR and rules changed and he had to have some BRNAV unit.
He went all in and got GTN 650 and two G5 and the Garmin AP while the “patient” was open.
I see a lot of old rental planes here that will not make it past the border IFR due to old avionics.
Yes, although what I had in mind was avionics upgrades to planes which were already RNAV capable and, if not LPV, could get LPV with a slide-in change.
If a plane does not have BRNAV, it has not been legal, practically speaking, for European IFR, for more than 10 years.
My aircraft owning world does not revolve around aircraft performance increases and certainly does not revolve around ‘glass’. It’s mainly concerned with having fun and pride of ownership: enjoying the challenges of flying with what I have, and keeping it in clean, original, serviceable shape by working on it myself, or sometimes in a healthy and productive way in collaboration with other people. It’s a way to stay in touch with the better aspects of the real world.
Meanwhile I just sold a 100cc motorcycle for which I paid $600 a few years ago… for $4200. A just retired corporate VP wants to recapture his youth. My guess is that will be a total waste of his money, but who knows. The best thing to be regardless in a market driven by spending money fast, government encouraged emotional instability and hobby vehicles is a seller, not a buyer. In this case I think the profit from the sale will be used for a boring plumbing repair on a property that has increased in value by 25% in the last year, along with the associated fair market rent.
RobertL18C wrote:
On audio panel am planning a Garmin GMA345, is this the preferred solution?
Basically, yes. A modern audio panel with auto-squelch makes a big difference in my book. No more fiddling with things depending on who’s using what sort of headset, trying to find a squelch level that works for both/all of you. You just plug in and it just works every time. A small annoyance with the Garmin panels is that the ADF/DME channels are titled Aux 1 and Aux 2 on the keys and I always forget which is which. It looks like the Trig one calls them what they are.
To Peter’s wider question, I’d agree money is better spent on avgas. We’ve had some panel work done in the TB10 over the last few years (new audio panel and new com/nav 2, then a couple of years later a GTN650Xi and G5. The bill for all of it was probably 25-30 AMUs, and for sure I wouldn’t have spent this on the aeroplane if I were a sole owner – I’d just have accepted what I had and carried on flying – none of this kit really adds much capability. But we are nine in the group and thus the cost to me was minimal, so I was thoroughly in favour and it does make the aeroplane much nicer to fly.
Graham wrote:
new audio panel and new com/nav 2, then a couple of years later a GTN650Xi and G5
I’m not sure I would call it “eye candy” – in many schools that was the only way forward:
1. new com/nav to replace the 25kHz one so you have 2 radios that you could use at the same time
2. GTN adds PBN/RNAV (quite a few did not have anything or had “VFR-only” panel-mount GPS)
3. G5 is usually a start for a future GFC 500 installation as the existing A/P is either broken or just doesn’t exist. :)
I think that one was sensible…
