Howard,
I think you have identified the few bits and pieces yourself which might be worth looking at. A Com with a barely readable display is one of them. The DME doesn’t hurt anyone and the 530W is a quite lovely box to have.
If anything, I’d upgrade the com and leave the rest in peace, maybe upgrade the transponder to an ADS-B capable one if the need arises, which it does not yet.
For utility, I would second Jesse, look at an Aspen. I know several folks who have one in airplanes with the KAP 150, it adds a lot of value in the sense that you get GPSS and other goodies. YOu can even keep your HSI as a luxury CDI for the NAV 2.
I’d defiitly leave the 530W in peace, it is more than enough for IFR in Europe and a quite capable box.
So many opinions…and good ones too. Unfortunately many clash with each other to some extent : Heart and head I guess. There is no right answer.
I have been getting old and sensible in recent years. I haven’t bought a ridiculous car for 8 years after previously swapping them out every three years or so. I think I’ll probably end up just swapping out the old 25kHz radio because (i) it’s a bit broken and (ii)I’d like 8.33 redundancy / ATIS monitoring. I don’t fancy the slim Trig TY-96 despite the fact that it will fit my panel without bother, simply because the trig unit is orange with oversized digits and doesn’t match the rest of my panel. I think the panel will look a bit patchy and untidy if I go the Trig route. (Actually – see edit beneath my name in this post – I have changed my mind about the Trig) I’d like to install a Garmin GTR 225, but it’s taller than the radio it will be replacing and the old radio is right in the middle of the panel. Does anyone know if moving further down the centre panel the items beneath the old radio, to make room or the larger Garmin unit, is a big job in a TB20? I’m rather hoping not, otherwise I need to think again…
A few people have emailed me and like Jesse and Mooney Driver above they recommend the Aspen kit as a better move to improve my plane. However, I wear reading glasses when I fly, but only find them necessary some of the time because I can fly on steam gauges most of the time without glasses – there are big helpful hands on the dials like clock hands. At present I don’t have to read small digits on moving tapes. I’m thinking that I’d be dependent on glasses all the time with an Aspen unit. Do other people agree?..and what does a single Aspen unit cost to install in the UK?
Thanks again everyone,
Howard
EDIT: Actually, I’ve just compared picture of my panel with pics of the Trig TY-96 and I think the Trig unit will look great…I’ll just go for that and save all the heartache of moving stuff around.
By mission profile I simply meant it does what you want from it.
Many people don’t consider that properly, regardless of how much money they have.
I’m trying to imagine a plane made 27 years ago being too old to warrant investment – a 1990 Bonanza would be a late model plane. Re the avionics, I’d say calculate the money you’ve saved on car depreciation and spend that amount on avionics (depreciation), at least avionics will provide some additional utility!
I get as much pleasure from my avionics as I do from the rest of my aircraft, saddo that I am.
It just goes to show, Howard, that we are all different and, when push comes to shove, you have to decide for yourself what’s important to you.
