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Panel Porn - Aera 660

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i thought I’d share a very satisfying upgrade to the right hand panel of our TB20 -there was no ability to fly from the RHS and I found the Garmin Aera660 fits perfectly into the empty space giving an AI, compass, height and ground speed.

The Aera sits on the bracket it came with, plus a backing cut from the supplied yoke-mount stuck on the panel with Velcro. So no screws were required and it’s all removable/uncertified.

Unlike a G5 it doesn’t need to face the direction of travel as the AHRS sensor is in a separate GDL39 wired (alongside a Golze ADL satellite weather box) to an extension to the cigar lighter all Velcroed on top of the coaming.

(It could have connected via Bluetooth to the GTX345 for attitude indication but I opted for the battery-backup of the GDL 39 so it all still works if everything else goes black).

Tested in flight today and the altitude it shows is identical to the Baro adjusted one on the Aspen panels. Speed is of course GPS groundspeed, not airspeed, as its not connected to the pitot system – at least it will still work if the pitot is blocked or leaking, unlike the Aspens- it also has a nice slip-skid ball.

I found it really responsive in flight today. It also has nav and airfield information/built in as a bonus. I really recommend it if you want to add Right hand instruments for under £1000

TB20 IR(R) 600hrs
EGKA Shoreham, United Kingdom

Good idea! I’m a big fan of the Garmin Handhelds. I wonder will the Aera 660 and 795 be the last ones they make? It would be real shame if they kill them off.

Buying, Selling, Flying
EISG, Ireland

Close up view of the display:

TB20 IR(R) 600hrs
EGKA Shoreham, United Kingdom

Since someone asked already, the small Carbon Monoxide detector in the bottom right hand corner of the panel is a “Forensics” model from Amazon for £80 – it seems quite accurate and flashes noticeably and beeps (though less noticeably) when it senses even at fairly low levels – so far only when on the ground following eg a twin. It maintains the “highest reading” since it was switched on – battery is supposed to last up to a year, always-on though I haven’t had it that long:

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TB20 IR(R) 600hrs
EGKA Shoreham, United Kingdom

I am seriously considering GPS 175 + Area 660 in my airplane

Switzerland

NealCS wrote:

at least it will still work if the pitot is blocked or leaking, unlike the Aspens

I am pretty sure this failure mode of the Aspen PFD has been corrected in software some time ago.

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

I am pretty sure this failure mode of the Aspen PFD has been corrected in software some time ago

This would be good news if accurate – the article below suggests it is fixed in the new “max” version at least

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2018-07-23/aspen-avionics-max-imizes-evolution-displays

Any updates on the original 1000s would be nice to see – the owner who installed them warned me they RedX’d when the pitot system sprang a leak.

TB20 IR(R) 600hrs
EGKA Shoreham, United Kingdom

As much as I love the panel as long as you use the area as a navigator (the way it is meant to be used), I believe it is extremely dangerous to intolerable to allow groundspeed-indicators in a panel that have the very same graphical representation as airspeed indicators.

Yes, obviously you know that the speed tape on the RHS shows something completely different from the speed tape on the LHS (and something completely different in a sense that it is really a completely different datum, not the same datum measured in a different perhaps not as accurate way like with baro and gps alt) – as least as long as you sit in a comfy chair in front of a computer. How much workload in a cockpit does it take to “forget” that he “airspeed-tape” on the RHS actually does not show airspeed?
In 10-15kt tailwind, the difference between the “airspeed” indicated on this RHS “Pseude PFD” and the actual airspeed is exactly the difference between a perfect approach and a terminal stall…

Not only for life saving devices like avionics one of the very basic rules of interface design is: Same datums should be represented in the same way, different datums in a different way. And if the difference is the difference between life and death, it should be very significant …

Germany

@Malibuflyer said:

Same datums should be represented in the same way, different datums in a different way.

I very much agree in principle.

In pragmatic practice I have no doubt that this panel (or a Dynon D3 which we also considered, and shares the exact same limitation), give the RHS pilot a much better chance of keeping the aircraft upright in IMC than either a red-X or indeed peering across to the other side.
I think it’s useful as P1 to have the ability to hand the controls to P2 while you check your plates/weather or set up for an approach.

How to land with it if you had to:

I could imagine P2 using it for landing in an emergency ‘Better than nothing” situation. Assuming the Angle of Attack indicator on the other panel was unserviceable , and there was no metar, radio or visible windsock to get the wind, I suppose one could judge the wind aloft using the stall warner and then just make the adjustment on final in the same way as you make the adjustment for AD elevation from MSL, on the other tape. Better a slightly fast landing than a slow one – though the stall warner in my aircraft gives you plenty of notice if you get slow.

Your useful intervention has made me decide on two modifications – I’m going to add a reminder placard to the Aera emphasising “ground-speed” and set the Angle of Attack indicator so it’s permanently easily visible from the RHS. (much easier to see than numbers on speed-tapes). Thx

TB20 IR(R) 600hrs
EGKA Shoreham, United Kingdom

NealCS wrote:

I’m going to add a reminder placard to the Aera emphasising “ground-speed”

Like that very much !!!

Germany
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