I’ve been instructing in a 1965 Mooney C model for the past few weeks. The owner of the aircraft just received his Private Pilot’s license last August in a Cessna 172 and wanted to get checked out in the airplane and then continue training towards an instrument rating. His C model is an interesting airplane with a manual “Johnson bar” gear and hydraulic flaps along with a carbureted 180 horsepower Lycoming engine. The airplane is a bit shorter than our 1975 F model but makes up for it with speed and fuel efficiency.
Anyway the drawback of this particular airplane for instrument training is that typical to a mid 60’s airplane, the panel arrangement is not in the “basic T” or “six pack configuration”. The aircraft is largely restored though with a quality recent paint job, an Airtex interior with new carpets and headliner, and new Plexiglas. However the avionics are vintage Narco. Equipped with two MK12D’s, two OBS indicators- one with glideslope, an AT50 transponder and the push button audio panel typical to that equipment. Sandwiched between the audio panel and number one navcom is a Garmin 150 xl VFR only monochromatic liquid crystal GPS. Simply put the avionics date the airplane.
The AT50 transponder is intermittent and while this isn’t much of an issue for VFR flying it needs to be repaired or replaced prior to any serious IFR training in the Northeast. Narco went out of business earlier this year so the drawback with continuing using their products is the lack of parts or technical support. Now this really isn’t that much of a liability considering many companies like Wentworth or Bennett avionics still have countless yellow tagged Narco radios in stock (at very affordable prices). Additionally you could say the same drawback exists for Mooney airplanes themselves, with Mooney having ceased normal business operations a few years back.
My client expressed a desire to put a WAAS GPS (wither a GNS430W or a GTN650) in his panel along with replace the existing AT50 with a Garmin GXT330 Mode S transponder to get TIS traffic on the panel. We flew the plane over to VIP Avionics in Hartford Brainard this past Monday where we had made an appointment with Rob Lenart to see what the options were for an avionics update.
Rob as is his custom went out to the airplane with his digital camera and took numerous photos of the panel and then went to work. One of the things I had asked was how difficult would it be to rearrange instruments in the panel as to closely replicate a six pack. My concern about the haphazard placement is its impact on pilots who train with a non-standard configuration and then fly other airplanes
He was having difficulty figuring out how to put this together when we spied the Aspen Evolution demo unit in Rob’s office. Turns out the depth of rear end of the Aspen unit is greater at the top where the attitude indicator is located and shallower where the HSI. This actually would work well in the Mooney where the panel is slanted, deep at the top and shallow where the control yoke comes through. Well an hour later Rob had prepared a mock up drawing of how the panel would look when finished and provided a quote for the cost of the equipment and labor.
Investing significant money into a forty six year old airplane takes a unique mindset. The avionics upgrade proposed for this airplane would complete a restoration process started a few years back. Adding considerable dollars in modern day avionics to the airplane will not increase the resale value of the airplane by a proportional amount. Rather it will make it a useable “going places” vehicle again.
Could my client go out and purchase an equivalent airplane equipped in the same manner for the total amount he has/will have invested into it? Absolutely not, but by adding these devices to his existing airplane he will have a safe and reliable craft with all of the capability of a machine forty years newer. The avionics upgrade brings back the utility it had when it first left Kerrville Texas in 1965.
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