toto

Dunno. The avionics shop said that they could not install it anywhere else, because the location was specified by the PA28 STC.

That sounds about what I would expect. My plane looks perfect from about 10 feet, but there are little tiny things like scratches near the cowl fasteners that irritate me. The only paint chips I have are on rivet heads, and from another thread I had an interesting recommendation to use an eyedropper with touch-up paint for those. That's probably the limit of my painting ability.

Out of curiosity, any idea what a paint shop would charge for a laundry list of very small touch-up items? If it was less than an AMU, I might be tempted to go that route, since I'd be likely to end up needing professional help after trying to touch up my plane with a brush anyway

Yep. Well, so much for that

One thing I discovered is that you have to put the SD card in the slot before the unit is powered on. (I'm sure this is in the handbook.) I tried a whole bunch of times to update using various SD cards, with no success, until I realized that I was doing it wrong

I'm not sure if this was about my post or if you were just responding to the topic of the poll in general. I certainly wasn't taking a position against these flights. I was just asking whether it would be possible for the organizations to stay in business if they didn't have paid flights as a funding source.

I think that the classic/antique/warbird associations are amazing, and they are absolutely essential to keeping these aircraft in flying condition. But it does seem hard for a layperson to judge the risks associated with these flights and make anything close to an informed decision. Is it possible for the associations to make enough money on static displays and flight demonstrations alone? (I.e., without the paid flights?)

In a PA28, the location was prescribed by the STC and could not be changed. It's inconvenient (near the pilot's left knee - particularly hard to see from the right seat). But the avionics shop said there were no other options. I suspect that other types have more flexibility in the installation manual. But in any event, it is type specific.

I know nothing about CC fraud protection measures, but I also never ever ever carry cash, and I'm completely at the mercy of a self serve credit card reader. I've never had a decline at a functioning self serve pump, but I've had a few broken pumps that required phone calls and FBO gymnastics to get sorted. I suspect that a pattern of purchases at self serve pumps close to home would help your odds when you use one on the road. A lot of these purchases ring up with very similar vendor names (Phillips Aviation or Exxon Aviation or whatever).

We should start buying popcorn now. Sooner or later, this guy is going to Google the tail number, and this is going to get entertaining.

Yeah, it's hard to see how the numbers make any sense at all. If you bought an equivalent all-Garmin panel (let's say a 2x10" G500TXi, a 750/650 combo, GFC500 with a G5, and a transponder), you're probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $100k installed. Add in $1500/year for subscriptions over five years, and you're still under $110k. So with BK, you're paying in the neighborhood of an $85k premium. I don't know how many avionics shops will finance installations, but you can probably find a bank that would do it. In any case, an $85k premium for a BK panel seems ludicrous. For the money, I'd venture that every single reader of this board would rather buy an $85k Mooney with an original panel and add $110k worth of Garmin or Avidyne toys.

Found this on the interwebs. Seems like an interesting idea, but more for the bizjet maintenance plan crowd. N612215000000 TOTAL AVIONICS PLAN TAP15072019v2.pdf

I'm not on BT, so I don't have any context. Is this really a $195k avionics upgrade? It doesn't come with a Bonanza?

If it were me, I wouldn't want an uninsured aircraft to move an inch while I was negotiating a purchase. Too many prickly risk of loss issues. Especially when the cowl contains a bucket of rust with a puddle of dinosaur juice at the bottom.

Is this an actual owner of a regular certificated aircraft who had an install done by an avionics shop? Does anyone know the back story? If this were an experimental category plane, say an avionics testbed, then this might be a very different conversation.