Considering a new panel

E

ehaecker

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Joined
May 2, 2022
Messages
115
Location
Memphis, TN
I'm kinda starting to re-think my panel design. Current thought process is new, custom cut panel to flush mount the following:

JPI 900 to replace ALL factory engine and electrical gauges
Single Garmin G5 with no steam gauges as backups
Garmin Area 660 hard wired to ship power and an ADS-B In source
Stock G-meter

Should be able to accommodate that all on a low-hight panel with room to spare. My biggest thought with the whole idea is a very simple VFR panel with all the situational awareness that an iPad with ForeFlight brings without having to use any gaudy extra mounts, suction cups, USB cords, etc. The Area 660 should be able to do everything I want it to do, hard wired to a GDL50R for the ADS-B In data. I would still carry my iPad with ForeFlight as backup charts, with my iPhone as a backup to that backup. But the iPad would stay in the chart pouch on the side wall as I would have no need for it in-flight.

My IA has done several custom panels in the past and thinks the above is a great setup that would be easy for him to do. He can even run it through a CNC machine to engrave the placards directly into the panel.

Should save a not insignificant amount of weight as well.

Next step would be to gut the Airtex interior and replace with ACA CF floors, Some sort of simple side walls from aluminum and very minimal insulation, and an overall cleanup of the twice-rebuilt 1967 interior. But that is a whole different thread.
 
I am a big fan of the low panel. Outside and forward visibility is a strength of this type, and the low panel maximizes that feature. Stick and rudder, VFR, grass strips. Makes no sense to try to turn it into a Bonanza.

Modern engine monitors and EFIS definitely shrink the real estate required.

Surface or bracket mount of the Aera 660 might be prudent, vice recessed panel mount. The 660 is getting long in the tooth, and Garmin has a track record of discontinuing support for older devices.
 
Big Ed said:
I am a big fan of the low panel. Outside and forward visibility is a strength of this type, and the low panel maximizes that feature. Stick and rudder, VFR, grass strips. Makes no sense to try to turn it into a Bonanza.

Modern engine monitors and EFIS definitely shrink the real estate required.

Surface or bracket mount of the Aera 660 might be prudent, vice recessed panel mount. The 660 is getting long in the tooth, and Garmin has a track record of discontinuing support for older devices.
Click to expand...

Yea, I'd like to keep the low panel if at all possible. My goal is just pure simplicity. If I can do a low panel with only 4 cutouts and eliminate clutter, that is ideal. I'm certainly not trying to make it a bonanza of any sort, I agree 100% about the pure VFR flying. Regarding the Area 660, I wish there was a way to just cleanly panel mount an iPad mini instead, but the short panel makes that basically impossible. I don't need or use a moving map on a regular basis, but for traveling, congested airspace, and fly-ins (like OSH) I definitely want the SA it brings, and I absolutely cannot stand remote mounted things that clutter the cockpit. It's still at least a year off as I have higher priority items to address at this coming annual.
 
I have the tall panel and am quite happy. I do S-turns on the taxiway, but I don't really have to. But I am six feet, still ( down from 6'1").

A friend has a low panel and a really high seat. For me it is a bit like being in a helicopter, except when I look to the side all I see is wing root.
 
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