Looks awesome! Happy New Year and enjoy.
That is a very cool looking and very capable Cockpit! Congratulations!
And if it all works straight out of the shop, so much the better.
None of this excuses a total mess with offers e.t.c. but heck, at least the end result looks absolutely lovely.
@ Peter, I was really concerned with that, to loose all the initial investement and the plane. So I paid all they asked.
Photos
Problem with airplanes is that, once it starts, the airplane is not airworth anymore until the release is sign by the entity from each now you have severe disagrement. Solution, other you pay and complain after, or you complain and you risk not to fly your airplane for the next one or 2 years.
Or possibly never see it again, as happened in the link I posted above. If there is a dispute, and 1 or 2 years do really pass, they will send you a hangarage bill which will wipe out the value of the plane, which will not be much anyway because the engine will need an overhaul, and possibly some avionics have been removed which nobody will want to put back in again (unless you pay them). This happens relatively often, but we rarely hear the stories.
Sorry for the late reply, last 2 days between airports to arrive home for xmas.
I do understan the perspective that once you open the situation can dramatically change, that the expected budget can chance while the works going on, reason why I was expecting 50% based on the updates I was receiving.
The problem is that even if there were no changes, the cost wouod always increase because the initial estimate is not clear in some items. For each element, i.e. G3X, there was a proce for the item and for the installation, same for the other items like the GTN and the transponder. So, one things that the items and full installation is already there, but no, surprise, design concept and the harnesses are not there, and it goes for 5 digits which one, not well informed, do not expect. And this is only an example.
Problem with airplanes is that, once it starts, the airplane is not airworth anymore until the release is sign by the entity from each now you have severe disagrement. Solution, other you pay and complain after, or you complain and you risk not to fly your airplane for the next one or 2 years.
Photos next week when I will be flying.
At this point, based on the 2 flights, it works great and it is a great improvement in safety and confort.
Merry Christmas
Airborne_Again wrote:
I wouldn’t be happy with the placement of the GPS, NAVCOM and Audio panel. Not unless I was left-handed.
That is where Avionics go in Bonanzas. Not much choice really, particularly in those old ones.
lmsl1967 wrote:
My complain in the increase comes from initial plan hidden installation costs like wiring (that when they mention price of the product and installation, one assume it already includes) and design (the sane as installation).
That should be included in the initial offer. At the same time, it often turns out that the best laid plans don’t work out in the specific airplane once they have the panel open and get a big “duuhh” when they see what they actually have in front of them.
Classic example: We discussed the positions of my radios in the center stack pretty thoroughly and they prepared the wiring for it. After the plane was actually in, they noticed that the position of one radio would not work due to a spar behind, which was ok with the original setup but no longer with the new positions. So it was literally back to the drawing bord. The “best” way to do this is to actually dismantle the old installation, then see how you can fit everything, then make the offer. But obviously nobody will take that. So they either make an “acceptable” offer or they put safeguards in it which means that most customers will take a running start and leave.
lmsl1967 wrote:
But I do appreciate transparency, and I would have done the work anyway, the safety I get from it, the comfort and the fun overcomes the expenses (also because fortunately I can, otherwise I would adjust my expectations). At the all ends with honesty, trust and allowing your client to be prepared, which in my case, and honestly I was expecting and prepared for 20% more, I had other compromises that suddenly I had to stop, and that had considerable financial implications.
Been there, have the t-shirt. Looking at the original offer and what we ended up doing were two dramatically different things however, as things came up during install which were hard to predict, even harder to resolve. Doing a new panel most often means investments which are beyond the net worth of the pre-install airplane. Sometimes considerably over it.
There is a good reason why when looking at planes I always say that upcoming engine overhauls e.t.c. which are pretty much fixed priced stuff don’t bother me not anywhere close to what change in radio installations do. They are minefields and totally unpredictable the moment we are talking of multi-unit installs or interfaced installs such as GPS’s going to AP’s and so on. While this is troublesome, it often enough is fact of life.
I would still try to talk to them and figure out what went so totally wrong. My company ended up doing some compensation deals with me and also put in a discount once we ended up (after all way paid) and while the install went way over budget (close to 100%) in the end, it totally changed the way the plane is usable.
boscomantico wrote:
But then these upgrades are sometimes just wonderful. Look at this one
I’ve been following that young lady from her first movies. She is one of the channels I recommend, as her professionalism and way of operating that airplane is something lots of people should look at. And yes, that panel came out great indeed. A huge improvement.
I would gladly pay to fly IMC with that pannel, especially in vintage aircraft like that Bonnie !
Lot of these aircraft never had “nice ergonomics” (no T or 6-packs layout), their upgrade may make things better but it’s not going to make “2022 Cirrus” pannel
UdoR wrote:
It is a terrible position, more so in IMC.
If it works and is right for the owner, then it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.
“bird”? Sorry, but that doesn’t belong here. There are few enough women in aviation as it is (or in this forum for that manner). No need to use denigrating language that could discourage them from joining. General aviation needs all the pilots we can get.
I think that’s where the radios in an old Bonanza go, and nowhere else, unless you wanted to completely remove the original panel. Looks like a nice panel to me and I like how it preserves the plane.
One time a guy was telling me all about his beautiful panel, and I replied that my plane at the time (made in 1946) has a really beautiful panel too, it’s a kind of dark red, slightly lighter than burgundy. Owners might vary when it comes to installing a modern instrument panel in their 70 year old plane.
The scenery in the video looks familiar 
Neal Aviation does a reasonable job I’m told, but IME the owner never returns phone calls. I don’t know Garrett, he doesn’t know the slightest thing about me, but I’ve tried several times and have never been able to talk to him about potential work despite his receptionist apologizing repeatedly and trying to chase him down. He had a Marchetti jet trainer he was flying for a while, which is interesting.
I used somebody else eventually. I’ve heard similar from others but your mileage may vary… not that you’d care if located thousands of miles east.
