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I'd like to upgrade my King KAP 150 to a Garmin GFC 500 and I'd like to have it done semi-locally (I'm based at KCMA). Can anyone recommend an avionics shop in SoCal? TIA, DJ N201LX

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my panel. It all started with a failing KFC-150 and the desire to upgrade to a GFC 500. This of course drove replacing the attitude indicator and HSI. And for a "little more," I could go to a G3X 10" panel. So...I went with a nearly naked panel with the G3X touch, a G5 backup, GFC 500, but kept my GNS 530W and 430 navigators. Attached are my before and after pixs. I am now flying as much as I can to build new IFR habits around the new avionics.

I had an unexpected pitch up command by my GFC500 autopilot as I was about to cross the intermediate fix to an RNAV approach. Was it an autopilot or a pilot error? Watch the flight and slow motion replay for the answer. Corrected unexpected pitch up and completed approach landing in strong gusty winds.

It was a perfect day to do practice approaches in actual IMC since ceilings were between 800 ft and 1500 ft around the area. Filed for a "round robin" flight noting in the remarks that I wanted to do practice approaches into KBQK and KJAX. Well..... you can't always get what you want! The Jax approach controller was superb handling all the traffic. Non-stop coms! Enjoy! Chris

I have my M20K Encore at the shop for a GFC500 install with pitch trim and yaw damper. Sounds like they've run into a hiccough regarding the yaw damper. This Encore came from the factory with an S-TEC yaw damper (see original W&B sheet below). I found a reference from AOPA mentioning “Except for the addition of an S-Tec yaw damper/rudder trim system — greatly appreciated in those long climbs to the flight levels, the Encore's flight control system is pretty much unchanged from the 252.” The avionics shop mentioned: Mooney with electric rudder trim with third party YD are to typically work as independent systems together in the flight regime. Your plane however was rigged somehow when the STEC was installed they removed the factory rudder trim motor and rigged the STEC YD trim pot to the rudder indicator assuming to replace the rudder trim system factory installed. STEC has no provision for this and you are now missing the original factory rudder trim motor and rocker switch. GFC500 goes into these Mooneys with rudder trim no problem and they remain separated systems that is why there are no special instructions in the installation for doing anything with the Mooney rudder trim. The issue still arises that the Garmin YD does not operate in this way and will not act as your rudder trim and your YD. We can discuss more tomorrow at the office but options right now are no electric trim or add the Mooney rudder trim motor and switch to the aircraft. Are there any Encore pilots out there with the GFC500 and yaw damper? How did you address this? Is it accurate that I'd need to reinstall a Mooney rudder trim motor in order to install the GFC500? Currently I have a rotary knob for rudder trim L/R and below that a 3 position switch for On/Auto/Off for yaw damper. Verified on old pictures, came from the factory with same. Thanks, Marc.

This is my first night flight after having installed a GTN750 Xi to replace 530W, GFC500 to replace KFC150 and GI275 EIS to replace Insight G4 and all other engine gauges. Also changed glare shield lights to green LED's. I had done a couple of previous flights in daylight to work out some bugs and it was ready for a night flight! It was a perfect night to fly: smooth air and stunning sunset that I "chased" flying West. Also had a really nice night landing with the new LED runway lights at 15FL. Enjoy!!

Before After

just finished an ovation conversion Garmin 275's, and 750 XI navigation, GFC 500 4 servo's system, did conversion in steeps with the last part being the auto pilot. Existing G275 units were originally installed when vacuum system was removed and HSI converted to G275 setup to feed the BK system as at that time, GfC 500 was not certified for our setup. upon certification, the 275 units were converted to Mod 1 by sending the units to Garmin and no charge for conversion. we were originally going to use BK auto pilot but repair cost for control head was way to excessive. Thank you BK. when converted to GFC 500 the system became alive, all kinds of new features became operational on the G275's, the beauty of Garmin integration with function display alt hold, alt call outs, heading changes via auto pilot and not having to touch the G275 to change settings ( except baro). these changes really remade the flying experience. between the 750 XI data ( had garmin480) that's available, its a new plane. in the long body we added the YAW servo, its operation was really a surprised on how'll well it made the plane fly, turn it on and off at different times during the 4.5 hr flight back home flight. it surprise us how much difference yaw made to the aircrafts flight. Ovation has air conditioning and oxygen, in order to work in the tail for installation, oxy and air systems were removed and reinstalled, other wise there not much room in the assembly to work in there, also because of AC, Garmin supplied a special bracket to hold servos.

Since the GFC500 STC was approved for the Mooney M20 I wanted to take a look at the flight manual supplement to see features etc. The supplement contained the below checklist of available features for M20 aircraft - which surprised me. Unless I am reading it incorrectly am it I understand that the GFC500 will not offer electric trim, heading mode, nav or approach modes?

I went to the NW aviation trade show in Puyallup today looking for information. Here is what I learned: 1. Neither Trio nor TruTrak were there so I have nothing to report on them. 2. KI300. Surprise, shipping delayed until April 2018 due to software changes to handle turbulence better. Approximate price for the model to replace our KI256 in a two axis KFC200 autopilot system will be about $6500. It will actually be two boxes. The display includes the backup battery and has a 9 pin connector and connections for pitot and static lines. The second box connects to the indicator via the 9 pin connector. The other end of that box connects to the KFC200 and GPS navigator. He estimates less than a day to install. 3. Dynon Skyview HDX. Still my favorite if it's available in time. They have submitted all the paperwork to the FAA for the STC for Cessna's. Just waiting for the FAA to give approval. Unable to provide a timeline as to when the system might be available for other aircraft. I think he said it takes about 6 to 18 months to get an STC for another aircraft. That won't happen until they have approval for the Cessna. Based on the catalog he gave me, I'd estimate parts for a Skyview HDX 7" display based system to be about $10,900 for a two axis system. Another $750, or $11,650 for two axis plus autotrim. And another $750 or $12,400 for three axis plus autotrim. That includes a 7" display, primary and secondary AHRS, GPS antenna/receiver, ARINC429 box to talk to our GTN650, backup battery, autopilot control panel, 3 knob HDG/ALT/BARO bug panel, Wi-Fi adapter for use with ForeFlight, servos, and D10A backup EFIS. If you want to display traffic and weather on the main display, the dual channel ADS-B receiver is $795. If you want AOA with a heated pitot, that's $450. If you want their Comm radio, that's $1295 (pretty neat; can be loaded from the main display with buttons for ATIS, Ground, Tower, and ATC). If you want the bigger 10" display, that's another $1300. If the main display quits you fly off the D10A. If your GPS navigator (our GTN650) quits, you can still navigate and fly with the autopilot using the built in GPS system. You can also add engine monitoring if you want. About $1300 for parts plus $200 for fuel flow if you want it. Extra for MP and RPM. And if you don't already have ADS-B OUT, you can get that for another $2200. Very flexible system. Things it does that the GFC500 doesn't: Synthetic Vision (if you are into that) with terrain warning coloring, moving map, true airspeed, winds, minimums bug, maps, charts, and velocity vector. 4. Garmin GFC500. Nice system. Probably the nicest servos. Assuming everything I was told is correct: If you install the GFC500 with a single G5, the G5 is installed as the HSI. That means you may also switch it over to ADI if you need to. In a single G5 system, if the G5 dies you also lose the autopilot. If the GPS navigator fails, the autopilot still works for heading and altitude hold but it cannot navigate. In a dual G5 system, if at least one of the G5's is working, the autopilot will still work. Based on prices on Sarasota Avionics, a single G5/GFC500/2 axis system will cost $8149. Add the autotrim and you are up to $9849. Add yaw dampener and you're up to an estimated $11,549. If you want a two G5 system that's $10,889/$12,589/ and $14,289 respectively. The representative could not confirm when they would gain approval for either Mooney or Bonanza. However, other sources indicate 2018 for Bonanza and 2019 for Mooney. That is all. Bob