[gkey]

And in case anyone is wondering, I'm still waiting for GKEY to be finished. Good thing the winter up here in Cold Lake (no pun intended) is so bitterly cold (- 31 C) that nothing can survive outside, so no flying would have been possible anyways.

The avionics shop is waiting for the powder coated instrument panel to return, and then the assembly of the panel can begin. The harnasses are all in, new radio racks fitted and the new windscreen is ready for installation. They did find one last problem though (that once known about, if left un-corrected would have invalidated the airworthiness): a previous person working on the plane had disconnected the wires to the windscreen defrost unit the way Cessna intended it to work, and hardwired it directly to the battery and the switch. This is dangerous, since the defroster can work while the plane is not moving, and has no airflow over the windscreen, thereby damaging or even cracking or melting the windscreen. The factory-fitted way dictates that the defroster cannot work when (a) the wheels are down, and (b) the front engine is not running (aka my shop). So they changed the wiring back to the way it was supposed to be. Airwothyness saved.