Instrument Panels, Posts w/ Pics

JackC said:
If it’s windy and they give you a heading, flying track could start to be a problem
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That's what the compass is for!

Joking aside, in practical use it hasn't been an issue, flight following around the Houston Bravo goat rope area is low to the ground, and the kind of winds that would cause a significant-for-ATC-purposes difference between heading and track go hand-in-hand with conditions you don't want to be in a light tube and fabric airplane for.

ETA: I originally investigated adding a GMU because I'm a data nerd and love seeing the actual winds aloft displayed to pick altitudes on long XC flights, but for the cost to add it, and given the majority of my flying has become tailwheel and spin endorsements at airports <30 mi from home, the juice just wasn't worth the squeeze.
 
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We had a guy get violated for flying an assigned runway heading by aligning the aircraft with the runway and flying that heading. Way before GPS - I have no idea how they determined what he was doing.
 
Bought a super nice 2010 7GCBC with only 300 hours on it, and absolutely love the plane. Most Citabria/Scout panels leave a lot to be desired to me, except for the brand-new ones out of the factory. My goal was to have the best and cleanest panel in a Citabria. So here's what we came up with:
  • Garmin G3X PFD with engine monitoring
  • Garmin 750Xi Nav/Com with the following options
    • Flightstream 510
    • XM weather and Radio
    • GCO 14 carbon monoxide detector
  • Remote-mounted Garmin transponder
  • Garmin G5 standby
  • Moved all power from the upper box to the panel
  • Used breaker switches for all switched circuits.
  • Lemo Plugs and USB-C outlets front, rear, and in the cargo area
  • Installed under-panel & footwell lighting throughout cockpit.IMG_8752.webp
 
I would not be qualified to fly it. I could probably do ok at an uncontrolled field with the master switch off.

I am still struggling with the 750 - I think we get it hooked up to the approach about 80% of the time, but hear conflicting views about whether "vectors" or an arbitrary waypoint on the approach is the best setup.

Frequency changes are getting easier, at least in the non-bumpy SoCal environment.

What happens when Garmin does its usual trick and decides not to support this stuff? A complete re-do? Fortunately, we have spares of the reliable, inexpensive, and easy to use GTR-200.
 
JTU said:
Bought a super nice 2010 7GCBC with only 300 hours on it, and absolutely love the plane. Most Citabria/Scout panels leave a lot to be desired to me, except for the brand-new ones out of the factory. My goal was to have the best and cleanest panel in a Citabria. So here's what we came up with:
  • Garmin G3X PFD with engine monitoring
  • Garmin 750Xi Nav/Com with the following options
    • Flightstream 510
    • XM weather and Radio
    • GCO 14 carbon monoxide detector
  • Remote-mounted Garmin transponder
  • Garmin G5 standby
  • Moved all power from the upper box to the panel
  • Used breaker switches for all switched circuits.
  • Lemo Plugs and USB-C outlets front, rear, and in the cargo area
  • Installed under-panel & footwell lighting throughout cockpit.View attachment 8586
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A IMC panel in a 7 series
 
Bob Turner said:
I would not be qualified to fly it. I could probably do ok at an uncontrolled field with the master switch off.

I am still struggling with the 750 - I think we get it hooked up to the approach about 80% of the time, but hear conflicting views about whether "vectors" or an arbitrary waypoint on the approach is the best setup.

Frequency changes are getting easier, at least in the non-bumpy SoCal environment.

What happens when Garmin does its usual trick and decides not to support this stuff? A complete re-do? Fortunately, we have spares of the reliable, inexpensive, and easy to use GTR-200.
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I was born and raised on flying with the Garmin 750s, so it's second nature to me. I have 750Xi's in 3 of my planes. I do share the same concerns about obsolescence, but Garmin is still adding to the features and add-ons to the 650/750Xi and TXi lineup, so that issue is probably a long way down the road. As with anything electronic, it will eventually have to be replaced. When Garmin discontinued the 430/530 lineup, I think Garmin would have had better customer feedback if they had offered a replacement that used the same tray size. None of the Garmin Nav/coms, Coms, or GPSs fit the tray and panel cutouts of the 430/530; Avidyne had to step in to fill that gap.

When flying an approach in the 750 I will just about always load the approach to the IAF and then transition to vectors if given.
 
JTU said:
I was born and raised on flying with the Garmin 750s, so it's second nature to me. I have 750Xi's in 3 of my planes. I do share the same concerns about obsolescence, but Garmin is still adding to the features and add-ons to the 650/750Xi and TXi lineup, so that issue is probably a long way down the road. As with anything electronic, it will eventually have to be replaced. When Garmin discontinued the 430/530 lineup, I think Garmin would have had better customer feedback if they had offered a replacement that used the same tray size. None of the Garmin Nav/coms, Coms, or GPSs fit the tray and panel cutouts of the 430/530; Avidyne had to step in to fill that gap.

When flying an approach in the 750 I will just about always load the approach to the IAF and then transition to vectors if given.
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How would the 750 become obsolete? Unless they invent a new approach that requires a frequency or something a 750 can’t pick up


Tons and tons of working IFR planes that use 430/530s, and they shoot all the same approaches and do the exact same thing a 750 does.

So long as you can update the nav data there is no difference
 
What happens when a piece of avionics goes obsolete is that they cannot be fixed.

I was in despair when my King KN-53 started having problems. Rather than re-rack it (which fixed it, surprisingly) I checked with repair shops and King. Answer: Sorry, we no longer work on those."

Garmin has a liberal replacement policy. I have used it. When they declare an item obsolete that policy is terminated.
 
JackC said:
How would the 750 become obsolete? Unless they invent a new approach that requires a frequency or something a 750 can’t pick up


Tons and tons of working IFR planes that use 430/530s, and they shoot all the same approaches and do the exact same thing a 750 does.

So long as you can update the nav data there is no difference
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I removed two working 530W's, a working Sperry A/P, and a working RDR2000 radar from our King Air. Why? because the Garmin 750s and the Garmin A/P, and the Garmin radar are hands down better. Does the 750 fly the same approach as the 530? Yes, but I can plug a 15-point flight plan and a departure into a 750 in about 30 seconds; that same flight plan would take 10 minutes in 430/530. When it comes to these avionics, the software is not what becomes obsolete, it's the hardware that does. Eventually, the 750 will have the same fate as all other avionics of the past and we will rip that out as well.
 
JTU said:
I removed two working 530W's, a working Sperry A/P, and a working RDR2000 radar from our King Air. Why? because the Garmin 750s and the Garmin A/P, and the Garmin radar are hands down better. Does the 750 fly the same approach as the 530? Yes, but I can plug a 15-point flight plan and a departure into a 750 in about 30 seconds; that same flight plan would take 10 minutes in 430/530. When it comes to these avionics, the software is not what becomes obsolete, it's the hardware that does. Eventually, the 750 will have the same fate as all other avionics of the past and we will rip that out as well.
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Agree with all of this. You can load that flightplan even faster if you have a Flightstream 210 or 510 and upload from your iPad.

The real beauty of this current generation of Garmin avionics is that they just doing everything better and faster with more device integration. I can tweak all my flight planning at home and when I get to the plane, it just pulls it in and is ready to go.

You can complain about change and struggle to figure it out, or you can get on board and dive into the books and sims and make it work to your advantage. It’s not going away.

Is it overkill in a Citabria? Maybe, but it has been an absolute game changer in all the Citations I fly. Really simplifies an already simple to begin with airplane.
 
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Mtrask77 said:
Agree with all of this. You can load that flightplan even faster if you have a Flightstream 210 or 510 and upload from your iPad.
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I consider flightstream a mandatory on 750s. In the context of my use for the citabria and my 182, flightstream is the best way to get custom user gps waypoints into the 750.


Mtrask77 said:
Is it overkill in a Citabria? Maybe, but it has been an absolute game changer in all the Citations I fly. Really simplifies an already simple to begin with airplane.
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Overkill, yes. But what’s worth doing is worth overdoing.
 
JTU said:
I removed two working 530W's, a working Sperry A/P, and a working RDR2000 radar from our King Air. Why? because the Garmin 750s and the Garmin A/P, and the Garmin radar are hands down better. Does the 750 fly the same approach as the 530? Yes, but I can plug a 15-point flight plan and a departure into a 750 in about 30 seconds; that same flight plan would take 10 minutes in 430/530. When it comes to these avionics, the software is not what becomes obsolete, it's the hardware that does. Eventually, the 750 will have the same fate as all other avionics of the past and we will rip that out as well.
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Did you load every point or bends?
I used to fly a 530/530 out of TEB/BOS/etc, never took me much more than a minute or two to load it up.


Time difference was no factor

Big fan of not “fixing” what’s not broken
 
Are radars still useful, with the available weather map? I remember going around a huge cell in Colorado with the secure knowledge that Raton - behind the cell - was wide open. Garmin 430. Back then, couldn't do that with color radar.
 
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