Where I live there used to be a very unusual concentration of these
I had one too – for 15 years from new. None around now of course; this was 1987.
Why would that be? A: there was a really good Toyota dealer there. Nice people, good but honest salesmen, good support.
You get the same in GA, especially recent-model piston GA with glass. Lots of them based near the type-specific dealers, most of whom also do avionics work (not always well but most customers can’t tell) so you get a one-stop place. And most people just do short away trips. Most problems don’t stop you flying, so you get it fixed when you get back.
Aviathor wrote:
Lots of reasons not to buy glass.integrated systems may be hard to troubleshoot
sending a screen in for repair means the plane is AOG
integrated systems eventually become obsolete and out of support by the manufacturer meaning that you may need to perform a very costly upgrade if at all possible
you are at the mercy of one single manufacturer
The topic was not meant to be a general discussion of glass cockpits vs 6-pack but only concerning my particular situation. The first two items are relevant, but it’s not very likely (IMO) that avionics problems will happen at all (or at least happen often) if I buy a relatively new plane with low time (I’m going to take one with the total time about 1000 hrs). Garmin G1000 won’t become obsolete and unsupported within the time frame I’m going to own this plane (3-4 years or less). And I don’t think the last item affects me.
Valentin,
I would definitly have a good talk with the maintenance organisations you have at Paphos and possibly Larnaca as to what types they can maintain. That might be in the end something quite important to consider with your purchase. There is no replacement for a maintenance organisation which can deal with small to larger issues on your homebase.
Aviathor has a good point however. If a integrated system breaks down, you have a good chance of being AOG. If one of a dozen boxes in a non-integrated cockpit break down, you have a minor to major annoyance, you might loose the capability to fly IFR for instance, but you are still airworthy and can ferry to wherever it can be fixed.
My main reason why I would personally be careful buying a G1000 cockpit was the way and cost involved of upgrading a G1000 non-waas cockpit to WAAS. Quite a few G1000 owners were literally over a barrel with this and in the end had to spend ridiculous amounts of money after a multi-year wait. My very own GNS430 was upgraded with a turnaround time of one week and a cost of approximately 3000$ (Garmin cost). If I remember right the G1000 upgrade was in the 20-30k range!
That is why I think Aviathor has a very good point. You can have a wonderful glass cockpit using e.g. an Aspen 2 or 3 screen setup which will give you multiple redundancies. If the (designated) PFD fails, you have one or two more screens to take over. If one of the GTN’s or GNS’s fails, you can fly on the other until you can pick up an exchange or have yours repaired. In terms of reliability that is quite a good point indeeed.
That is my panel of mixed glass and analogue. It is fully LPV approved and WAAS as well as ADSB-Out capable. Quite a few G1000 are not.
@Valentin
So now we’re waiting for pictures! 
Peter wrote:
A: there was a really good Toyota dealer there. Nice people, good but honest salesmen, good support.
Good point Peter. Toyotas are made to last forever…. My Camry just passed 20 years this summer and still goes like new. I am in no hurry to get rid of it…. Apart from the fact that it can be fixed just about everywhere.
And talking of Southern countries: Until last year we had a trusty Peugeot 309 there. Everyone could fix it, even in the remotest village in the Rodopes you could find a mechanic who could sort it out. We replaced it because it didn’t have aircondition… Now we have a Peugeot 307SW and the darn thing needs a computer to even find out what’s wrong. In 23 years of ownership, I never had to leave the 309 anywhere for more than 2-3 hours. The 307SW has been stranded 3 times in 2 years awaiting the guy with the computer and then looking for parts. In such countries, I would never again go for such a car, but look for a good 1998 variety Camry or similar.
Mooney_Driver,
I’m going to talk to maintenance organisation at Larnaca (there is none at Paphos). However, in general, I very much dislike the idea to base my choice of the plane on the maintenance organisation. If I do so, I must stop even thinking about TBM or something like that.
As for the WAAS issue, I want to buy a plane with WAAS and synthetic vision. So I can’t imagine any reason for me to upgrade the avionics other than purchasing another aircraft.
Synthetic vision is very much overrated. I fly a DA42 that has it but do not miss it on other planes. I think you need to gain some experience before going down the path of the most sophisticated avionics.
Aviathor wrote:
I think you need to gain some experience before going down the path of the most sophisticated avionics.
A plane with the synthetic vision is not more difficult to operate than one without it, is it?
No. An you can always (at least in the planes that I flew) turn off synthetic version off
It wasn’t a real question, I knew the answer, sorry!
