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Planning the Panel ... Advice needed

bkervaski

Hellloooooooo!
Testing
Hi all,

I'm planning my panel, VFR only.

I know I want all Garmin gear, but after some research and confused as to what roles some of the equipment plays.

I want the following:

- Garmin G3X Touch
- ADS-B In/Out w/Traffic + Weather
- 2 Axis Auto Pilot
- Dual comms

I want a very minimal panel so looking at using the remote-mount units and this is where the confusion comes in.

I see that for the AP the G3X does have control functionality but I read it's limited and that the actual in-panel controls may be needed, any of you have experience/clarification on this?

Also for dual comms, just use the remote mount radios?

I'm hoping there is a way to just basically use the G3X's and keep a clean panel without a bunch of stuff installed.

Am planning on a IFR upgrade later but not a requirement in any way for this first panel setup.

Thanks for any advice or help!

Bill
 
Very similar setup

I'm going with a very similar setup, mine is an 8 so I don't have the real estate upfront. I'm remote mounting the two radios, GMA245r(intercomm), and GTX45R(adsb/inout/trans).

Most of the functionality is there, it just isn't on device buttons, it's soft keys. So there will be menus to dig through for some items that would be single buttons on the device. One potential downside is you have a few less pixels to dedicate to other info. There are discrete inputs on the systems that you can wire for specific tasks is you find them critical. IE frequency flip flop,pilot isolate, etc.

Call Garmin and ask them about what you can/can't do with the autopilot in the G3x vs the head unit. After talking to them it does everything I need. I'll be wiring my stick to a discrete input for wings level,the one physical button I want to have.

I'm not flying but I've sat in the fuselage and gone through all the normal/emergency procedures over and over to make sure that the screen has what I need. This works for me, may not work for you or your mission.

Aaron
 
Agree with mturnerb. Just because you "can" make these settings on the G3X screen doesn't mean you will want to. I would definitely put the autopilot control head (GMC307) on the panel. You're going to be fiddling with it a lot, especially during IFR. Doesn't take up that much room and you'll want that space on the G3X display to play with other things.

Rich
 
One BIG plus for the GMC307 controller is the "blue button" for straight and level. If you accidentally go IMC or just need to troubleshoot a problem, that alone is a big reason to have the controller.
 
I am going minimalist with flight instrumentation centred in front of pilot and centre stack.
You might think about a G5 for redundancy and a transponder.
When I say minimalist I'm talking for this day and age. The information capacity of one EFIS panel is incredible.
On the left I am putting a Gizmo mini iPad flush mount and a glove box with a Rubix cube to give the passenger something to do.
 
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