Garmin guy goes Avidyne

My partners wanted out of the Citabria and so we sold it.  Consequently I had a wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket.  Rather than doing something responsible with it, like put it in the kids college fund, I figured I'd waste it on the airplane and buy some stuff for the T-bone.  Why not!!  I've always, always been a Garmin guy... I'm even a freakin shareholder.  I love Garmin stuff.  But...

The new Avidyne units look really cool.  The IFD 550 has a built in AHRS which would make a nice backup for my Aspen.  I thought about just adding a flight stream 210 to my Garmin 530's, but that would be $1500 at least and an install job.  Besides, the G530's just look ancient at this point.  It's like viewing a CGA display.  For a few grand more I could have a brand new Avidyne unit as an upgrade, with modern technology, hi resolution touchscreen, and a factory warranty.  Truth be told if Garmin had come out with a new G500/600 I'd probably have bought it and ripped apart my panel and done a big new Garmin install with dual 750's etc.  But alas... they left me hanging with their last uninspiring announcement of new audio panels and a bunch of cool stuff for the experimental guys.  I really don't want to spend big bucks for a G600 that already looks ancient by experimental standards.  I might as well look at other options...

The other big factor that weighed into this decision was the fact that the IFD's come with a self install kit, and literally slide into an existing 530w tray.  Since I have dual 530's in my Twin Bonanza, this is about as easy an upgrade as you can imagine.  The thought of ripping out my beautifully laid out panel just bothers me... the IFD units are a slide in upgrade.  Hard to beat that, especially since I'm completely enamored with flying this plane and the thought of weeks of downtime for a GTN install just seems untenable... not to mention thousands more dollars.  So I ordered a new IFD550 and an IFD540 on a trade-in deal from AvionicsSource (Thanks Chase!!).  Add in an ADSB deal where Avidyne throws in a free 1090 ADSB transponder and UAT receiver and it was just too good a deal to pass up.  I'm looking forward to doing the self install and seeing how these suckers work in the real world.  I must admit, part of me just wants to learn something new and these things just look like a fun project to master.

First family trip in the tbone

Well, the 2nd really. The first one was just a 35 minute jaunt so I'm not counting that one. This was a 2 hour flight each way down to Malibu where I got a crazy good weekend deal on an Airbnb on the hill overlooking the ocean.  The family of 4 plus Grandma with room to spare. I could do this mission in my former 55 Baron, but this was definitely a more comfortable trip with the load. When my boy asked for his iPad it was nice to simply say, "go get it from the back, and get me a beer while you're there". Just kidding about the beer part! Loving the twinbo. I'm finding flying her strangely addictive, nothing like it!

So long Citabria

The Champ was getting a little neglected... not maintenance wise, we took great care of her.  In fact she just got a brand new prop.  I was quite surprised to see her gain an additional 15 mph from it too!  It was revealed at the annual that the old prop was a seaplane prop and was actually 1/4 inch too long for the size tires we had.  We either had to get the bigger tundra tires or swap the prop, so we got a brand new Hartzell which seemed to boost the speed.  That plus an extensive annual and we even got a brand new rudder from American Champion.  The plane was dialed in...   the neglect was my partners neglecting to fly it.

One partner who also flies a TBM 850 added up his share of the bill for the year, and divided it by the 1.5 hours he flew the plane and decided it cost more to run the Champ than his TBM.  Long story short, my partners wanted out.  In truth I've gotten quite busy myself with real life, especially work, and so the days of hopping on out to the airport for a turn around the patch and a lunch run have greatly diminished.  In short, it was time to sell.  On the bright side, we got a great price for her and didn't lose any money (other than routine maintenance and hangar, gas etc).  She was a great plane in near perfect condition and I'll miss having a tail dragger to fly now and then!