704 was released from the avionics shop yesterday; it had been in five and a half months. I wanted a lot of work accomplished, and it was all done to my satisfaction at Camtronics at TPF (Aransas Pass, TX).
Home at VCT, Victoria, TX
One thing I wanted to be done was remove everything behind the panel. I'm happy with the dual 430Ws; Garmin has refurbished both within the last three years. I wanted the rat's nest of wires gone. So, everything came out, and bundles were built; no individual wires are running anywhere. The bundles are free of the airframe structure; you don't have to cut a wire to remove a bundle. I also wanted all the Cessna wiring wrung out. I found the Avionics Installation Manual for the airplane; all the wires were identified by PN (yeah, Cessna put a PN on every wire), examined, tested, and, if needed, replaced and re-identified by "PN+R." The wiring no longer used was removed and documented.
I kept the vacuum system and ADI, even though removing them with the Evolution Pro Max dual PFD and single MFD is possible. Autopilot Central has maintained my 400A autopilot, which flies the airplane beautifully. Being down to no viable A/P options, I'm good with it. Sure, there is no altitude preselect, and it is better to "heading" fly an intercept to a course, but once there, it is steady as a rock.
In that everything came out, the shop wanted the three approaches flown as if the Garmins were going in the panel for the first time. The WX has been crap here on the TX central coast. The 400A flew three LPV approaches to minimums with winds 50° off runway heading at 26G33K with LLWS. The old box nailed every approach, and the approach corrections were smoother than they would have been, with the previous Sandel 3308 providing the signal info.
A new circuit breaker panel was installed; I bought one from the FB fellow in UA. All the breakers are the pullable type. The Aspen's require independent master switches, so all the avionics masters switches are now over-center switches rather than the large rocker switch Cessna used. I haven't taken a picture of the panel yet.
The placards on the panel pictures are paper, but I have several color options for placards on hand and wanted to apply them myself. So I am going to do that today. The shop chip my EL panel, just the black overlay; I told them not to worry about it, as I can fill and refinish that.
I'm not sure what happens from here. I'm a pro pilot flying a jet and helicopter, but that has changed. I was offered an opportunity that provides me with personal use of a new TBM 960; all expenses covered, up to 75 hours a year. 704's sole role was to provide transportation to our grandkids spread across the country. I'd rather travel in the TBM, which was delivered two days ago. I'm headed to school on it.
