toto

I think it was an Antonov, but still.

SL92-1_SN24_1686-2999.pdf Granted you already know that your aircraft is not eligible, I thought maybe the document would add something to the discussion..

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that for the relevant serial number range, this is *not* an STC. The 2900# gross weight is part of the a/c type certificate. Some of the late J models benefit from the higher gross weight that became available for the MSE.

That might be even more obvious than something on the nose gear - though I really would like something that they are forced to remove before they can hook up a tow bar. This might be a great opportunity for an enterprising MSer to make tens of dollars

The little stickers are a good idea. I haven't seen the AOPA cards before - the Vistaprint link from that article doesn't seem to work (or I'm doing it wrong). I still wish someone would make a "remove-before-flight" thing that sticks in the nose gear towbar holes with a giant warning about exceeding the turn limits. Unless I actually know the line personnel, I have zero confidence that anything communicated to person #1 will make it to person #5 who tows the plane. And honestly, I just don't want someone to break the plane - having evidence to use for the future lawsuit slash insurance claim is about 1% as good as avoiding the damage in the first place.

I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but my understanding is that this is the opposite of normal recommendations. When you aren't hearing the high frequencies, you aren't stimulating the nerves that process these frequencies, and the nerves die or the neural pathway becomes non functional or something. The stimulation is key. So amplifying the signal prevents the neural effects (which are actually the unrecoverable bit).

Pretty decent brief from AOPA on this. https://www.aopa.org/advocacy/advocacy-briefs/air-traffic-services-brief-use-of-gps-in-lieu-of-dme-adf

That's much closer to what I had expected.

Understood. I'll PM you for some more info. The quote I've been looking at is upwards of $35k for a G3X with a single 10" display, EIS, and an attitude G5 backup.

I keep hearing murmurs (on MS and elsewhere) about Garmin eliminating the need for a G5 in aircraft with suitably-equipped G3X gear. I've been very curious whether we'll see any announcements at Oshkosh.

My quote was for a G3X with EIS, and I've been thinking along the same lines - go with a standalone primary engine display from another vendor. No idea whether that will actually affect the cost in a helpful way.

Interesting. That's not too far off the delta I got in an estimate for a G3X with/without the AP. But I'm not actually sure about the G5, since I was going to have G5 installed as backup even if the AP didn't go in. I've gotten very gunshy about the whole thing, when I realized I was talking about the price of a decent F model for installing a new autopilot and a couple of LCDs.

So you currently have a G3X touch and you're adding one G5 and the GFC500 three-servo for about $17k all-in? That sounds awfully good to me.

I have definitely encountered an assumption that the shop would keep the removed equipment, but I've never had any pushback when I said I wanted to keep it. Probably worth just asking them about it.

I have always used DuPage. It's a great airport with friendly folks and far enough from O'Hare to avoid congestion. My only complaint with DuPage is that I haven't found a good transportation option into the city. I end up renting a car and then having to find a place to park it. Sounds like Schaumburg could be a good alternative if there's a train station nearby.

I think that you'll want to PM @mooniac58

This question will probably depend a lot on hull value and coverage limits. @Parker_Woodruff is the local expert.

This guy has seen the "Cougar" scene from Top Gun one too many times.

This is going to be an impossible requirement to satisfy. You can put four adults in a Mooney, but there are caveats, and full fuel on a hot day at altitude is a scenario where those would apply.

The one thing to keep in mind with the "buy" instead of "build" approach to avionics is that panel layout and functionality tend to be very subjective. If you're dead-set on buying a plane with all the upgrades done, then you also need to accept that the previous owner very likely made a bunch of decisions that you wouldn't have made yourself. They took the $80k hit on a 21st century panel, but they did it with their own set of priorities. This isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. You get $80k worth of upgrades for a $40k bump in purchase price. But for people who are very particular about their panel, this may mean throwing more money at an already-upgraded plane just to get things the way you want them. Think Garmin vs Avidyne, JPI vs EI, etc.

And I guess to answer the actual question you asked... I think that using an iPad instead of a G3X will be a hell of a lot cheaper. You'll have a brand-new digital AP, a brand-new digital transponder and ADS-B in/out solution, and a couple of nice new digital radios. I have a fair amount of time now behind G5s, and they are great little units. But they definitely aren't a "glass panel," and a tablet imo is a relatively poor substitute for a G3X if money is no object. On the other hand, if money *is* an object, then your proposed solution sounds pretty good to me. You'll leap forward about 60 years in capability and it will cost you about 50% of what the full G3X solution (with EIS) would cost you.

An iPad is a hugely capable solution relative to its cost. But there's no such thing as a free lunch. Any engine display on a portable device is going to be supplementary, not primary. Ditto the use of a portable device for any sort of navigation. And because it's a portable device, there's always the possibility that it has a dead battery, or has overheated, or the dog ate it, or whatever - at the least convenient time. If you want bang for the buck, there's not much better than a tablet with an EFB app. But there are definitely trade-offs, and you just need to be comfortable with them. (This topic gets discussed on MS about once a week, and it's always lively and interesting..)

Yep, the same quote is almost certainly accurate for piston owners if you replace 10AMU with 1AMU.

No, I know you aren't looking for a turbine - I just love that quote

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes - don't recall the original author. "Go to your bank, take out $10,000 in cash, and flush it down the toilet. If this bothers you, you can't afford a turbine-powered aircraft."