TargetDriver

Here it is ! Picked it up couple days ago. Everything works as expected so far. I'll probably make a few minor adjustments but I'm happy with it. If I have the ELT and hot prop voltage indicator moved I can juuust fit an Ipad mini in that blank area and I want to make flush mount fillers for the two vacant covered instrument holes. It's not GSXR level of cool yet but I'm working on it.

An old CFI friend of mine that flew KC-135 tankers in the Air Force said they kept a sign in their squadron toilet that said " If your fuel probe appears to be a little short, fly closer to the tanker before unloading"

Couldn't help but get a pic of this sign at my avionics shop the other day. This used to be funny... now as I get a little older... maybe not so much any more....

Wow, love your panel and the progression !! Yea, it will be best for me to do it a smaller chunks at a time... like you said, something to look forward to next time !

Tons of work there, but it turned out beautiful !! I love the new paint designs. She looks like a $1 million dollar new one! R

Yea when I get the plane back I was going to take that no smoking sign out and mount it on a plaque with this pic... haha

Getting closer... but I can already tell that I'm not going to like the protruded displays. With all the bookings backed up for ADS-B installs (and these guys do full displays in big stuff too!) they didnt have time to do the cut-outs and mounts for flush mounting. I told them that I'd do it myself later and fly it back to them to check out. I was reading a nice post about a MS member doing some very nice flush mounts. I'll get in touch with him for the G5 and possibly the -830 too. Going to have him leave the dash cover off or loose so I can refurb and reupholster (sp? ha) and install myself too.

Spoke with Brent. He was wanting the outer clear wrap-around lens for the wing tip. After a couple phone calls we figured out that the actual strobe lens that I make isnt what he needed. Ha Great talking with you though Brent. Merry Christmas all !!

Yea I seen that I can load the -100 app. That will be nice to have and thought I could run it on the panel mounted ipad ( I have a spare one) and then could still use my Foreflight ipad mini in my yoke. (I may eventually do away with the yoke ipad but I'd feel naked flying without it now) I still have to get up to speed on what can go where and I can do with the -540.

The budget is pretty much fixed at this point so I'll have to stick with whats being done for now. The BK is a want for sure, but yea a second G5 would be the logical next good move. The WX-7 was actually mounted below the right panel but it's been removed completely. The big empty area on the right panel will be filled with a nice cover plate for now. I went to the plane the other day and most everything was installed except for the cover plates. I wish I had actually measured the large opening... Now I'm wondering if I can get a ipad mini panel mount in there and blue tooth one from my -540 for wx and ads-b.

Brad, I'm definitely no avionics electrical guy...and I only sounded like it form my description by what the tech told me. Ha He did mention in an email about "interfacing the GAD29B" so I'm sure that's what he meant, but I will ask him for sure. Thanks! I'm going over there first of next week so I will check on the Scat tubes condition. I've replaced all hoses and tubing on the engine firewall forward but didn't think about those. Outta sight, outta mind... But I will now for sure! R

When I seen the downed Cirrus plane news I got real nervous real quick. I was just at the North Vegas airport (KVGT) visiting and doing some advanced training two weeks ago. One of my very good flying buddies works at All in Aviation based at KVGT and is one of the Cirrus instructors. I immediately contacted him to make sure he was alright. Thankfully, he replied and obviously he was but told me that it was a privately owned Cirrus not from there. I had done my Commercial and Multi training at KVGT so I know the area fairly well and have had Nellis Appr on the radio many times. What happened was a trajectory and I will not begin to asses possibilities as to why it occurred. From my time there, I have had a couple miscues from ATC and was frequently reminded that both KVGT and Nellis are also training facilities for ATC in conjunction with all of the flight training going on. Hopefully the investigation will reveal what went wrong that lead to this terrible incident and we will be able to use this as a teaching event that will possibly save someone in the future. As many have responded...Whether VFR or IFR...always Trust but Verify! The great people on the other end of our radio that take care of us in the air are human and can mistakes just like we can.

Tom, Thank you for sharing such wonderful memories of your friendship with us. Not many people in life are blessed to have such a friend. You have our heartfelt condolences and prayers. Honor Steve by keeping his great memories alive! It sounds like he touched so many lives in his time here. That's all most of us could ever hope to do. Blessings!

Take it from a guy with too many Afghanistan deployments under his belt... if you're having to clean lead off the belly of your plane...you need to fly higher and at night so they cant see you to shoot at you !!!

After a couple years my big day is finally here ! My sexy K model is in for her new panel update! I've attached a pic of the then-common King Silver Stack. She served well in her day but now its time for a make over. She's been at the avionics shop in Muskogee, OK for a week now and they're elbows deep in the panel. See pic 2. ( I showed that pic to my wife and she said "oh my lord, they've ruined our plane! Can they ever get it back like it was?!) LOL I'm having the Avidyne IFD540 installed with their AMX240 Comm panel, and the remote APX322 Xpdr for ADS-B out. May add IN later. Also having a Garmin G5 added that I bought from a MS'er a little while back. They are adding a GMU 11 magnetometer for heading and the GAD 29B for Nav data interface to the -540. A RAMI AV-801 GPS/WAAS antenna will get the signal in and out. The plan is to add in the Aerocruise/BK AP in the spring or summer after/when they get Mooney approval. While it's apart, they're adding a JPI 830 with fuel flow integration where the old ADF head was so the panel position will be perfect. They're removing the loran, KT 76A, KMA 24, com 1 and KNS 80 and associated CDI and removing ADF and WX-7 stormscope. Heading over there next week to check out what's been done. More pics to follow!!