Ed_Wischmeyer
Well Known Member
The plan was to fly the -9A up to Orangeburg, South Carolina to get a Garmin extended squitter transponder installed to replace the old KT-76A, and to do a few minor wiring cleanups while the center stack was all apart for avionics work.
Being a realist, I took a change of clothes for overnight, and as expected, the work was mostly done at the end of the first day. Lesson 1 was to take two changes of clothes as, not surprisingly, the battery was run down and it wanted a nice, long overnight charge (the second night) with the Genius charger in one of its fancy modes. Even better would have been to take two changes of clothes, just in case. And I'm glad I brought my charger with a harness connected to the battery as the battery is otherwise a real pain to get to.
My canopy doesn't seal well on the ground, but fortunately, the plane was hangared the second night when it rained so no fault, no foul. Wasn't prepared but got away with it.
We took the top cowl off, and reinstallation really likes an awl to get things aligned behind the spinner. Wanting to avoid tool confusion with the avionics shop, I left *all* my tools at home. Bad call. Special tools should always travel with the airplane.
As commonly happens, the bluetooth got confused during the installation, but the ADS-B in was hardwired to the left PFD so the loss of functionality was minor. The fix is easy, but even if I'd known how to do the fix at the time, I was on an IFR flight plan and that's not the time to quit flying the airplane to play technician.
But the really good news is that the weather was super easy IFR (.004 hours of actual, lot of ground visible from the air), the now-familiar Garmin G3X was great and the autopilot flew the plane nicely, the weather cleared at the destination so I got a visual approach, the FBO had my hangar doors open for me. Just like it's all supposed to be. Happy campersville.
Ed
PS. For sale, King KT-76A transponder with all the mounting hardware, encoder with recent IFR certification, and wiring harness.
PPS. Janson at South Carolina Avionics Services is recommended, and the town was a great place for a quiet RON. Or two.
Being a realist, I took a change of clothes for overnight, and as expected, the work was mostly done at the end of the first day. Lesson 1 was to take two changes of clothes as, not surprisingly, the battery was run down and it wanted a nice, long overnight charge (the second night) with the Genius charger in one of its fancy modes. Even better would have been to take two changes of clothes, just in case. And I'm glad I brought my charger with a harness connected to the battery as the battery is otherwise a real pain to get to.
My canopy doesn't seal well on the ground, but fortunately, the plane was hangared the second night when it rained so no fault, no foul. Wasn't prepared but got away with it.
We took the top cowl off, and reinstallation really likes an awl to get things aligned behind the spinner. Wanting to avoid tool confusion with the avionics shop, I left *all* my tools at home. Bad call. Special tools should always travel with the airplane.
As commonly happens, the bluetooth got confused during the installation, but the ADS-B in was hardwired to the left PFD so the loss of functionality was minor. The fix is easy, but even if I'd known how to do the fix at the time, I was on an IFR flight plan and that's not the time to quit flying the airplane to play technician.
But the really good news is that the weather was super easy IFR (.004 hours of actual, lot of ground visible from the air), the now-familiar Garmin G3X was great and the autopilot flew the plane nicely, the weather cleared at the destination so I got a visual approach, the FBO had my hangar doors open for me. Just like it's all supposed to be. Happy campersville.
Ed
PS. For sale, King KT-76A transponder with all the mounting hardware, encoder with recent IFR certification, and wiring harness.
PPS. Janson at South Carolina Avionics Services is recommended, and the town was a great place for a quiet RON. Or two.
