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Daughter needs avionics advice

Bozo

MEMBER
Daughter wants to start training for an instrument rating and is looking at a C172 to buy (our J3 won’t quite cut it). It has a PMA6000b audio panel,GNS430W with GDI206, KX155, and GTX335 ADSB, steam horizon and DG. Would like to get rid of vacuum pump so
thinking of installing two G5‘s or equivalent. I’m still stuck back in the early 80s on this so need some help on advice for her. Let me know what you think. Thank you.
 
I think the dual G5 stack is a great upgrade for a 172 - it's what we have in ours. We also have a Garmin 750xi - but that is overkill - the 650 does most of what the 750 will do just smaller. I still think the 430W is a GREAT tool and it is what I have in my 180.

There are other options to the G5's, but I am very happy with how they work given the cost and they do provide backup which is nice.

sj

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P.S. I also have the Flightstream 5xx which allows you to do database updates with your iPad to the 750 which is really nice. The ability to move flight plans back and forth from Foreflight or Garmin Pilot is really handy also.
 
Daughter wants to start training for an instrument rating and is looking at a C172 to buy (our J3 won’t quite cut it). It has a PMA6000b audio panel,GNS430W with GDI206, KX155, and GTX335 ADSB, steam horizon and DG. Would like to get rid of vacuum pump so
thinking of installing two G5‘s or equivalent. I’m still stuck back in the early 80s on this so need some help on advice for her. Let me know what you think. Thank you.

I think G5's are currently in stock. If you want to do anything else, the GTNs are out of stock till summertime. Otherwise, seems like it is already set up as a good instrument platform.
 
Last time I looked, the Uavionix unit has no vertical guidance i.e. no glideslope when configured as an HSI
 
What Steve Johnson said. Dual stack G5’s and FS510 is a great compliment to an IFR 172, and done a lot.

Something to consider is depending on the shop installing them, and what they are being connected to, the dual G5’s wire up as separate units, so dual harnesses. Dual GI-275’s, while more costly for units, wire up as a single unit and then jumped to unit 2. Lately we have found the end cost of dual GI-275’s to be equal to dual G5’s. And the 275 platform is much much more capable for years down the road.

But as Tim mentioned, the dual GI-275’s are shipping further out this spring.


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
Didn't think about the Garmin and getting rid of the glide slope indicator.

To me it's a key attribute of a good panel and surprised that the AV30c can't be configured for vertical guidance. Steam HSIs have vertical guidance pretty much standard, and with WAAS many Rnav approaches now have vertical guidance. In a 172 with no autopilot , reducing your scan by one instrument is a big deal... for me anyway.
S
 
I see from uAvionix website it is in the works. I see what you are saying. I am vfr only and have been installing AV-30-Cs as an attitude instrument in VFR panels.
 
Nothing wrong with 155's or 430's. May be older but extremely useful. If you like the G5's, they work just fine.

Web
 
I have a teeny bit of experience in advanced avionics - rated in the A-320. Admittedly, that one is almost an antique.
Every now and then I get the "pleasure" of trying to figure out a 430 or one of those recent magic panels, and I am blown away by the sheer number of "gotchas" if you are not 100% current.

My favorite Mooney just got converted, and I had the pleasure of a quick checkout. Check pilot (owner) managed to lose the tower frequency on downwind. I found it pretty quickly, but it was not intuitive.

I have a lot of time on insruments. The nightmare scenario is nighttime single pilot in weather with some ice, turning on to final and you touch the wrong part of the touch screen and lose the automatic approach. Who knows where these things go, but that is the exact wrong time to not have a button that says "raw data, please."

I will take a six pack and a handheld GPS, with maybe a slaved HSI. It can be a TV screen, but I would need a way to lock it in the HSI mode.

Just me.
 
Sounds like you have a perfectly adequate panel now. Don't screw it up! You've got the fundamentals to make a highly competent instrument pilot.
Once she learns to fly with that panel, anything else she sees will be a piece of cake.

George
 
I don't have a dog in this fight, but had some interesting conversations with some larger avionics retailers [that sold several different brands] at OSH last year. The consensus was that if you already have Garmin navigators and want to switch from analog flight instruments to glass, stick with Garmin. Their reason was that interfaces are easier to set up and more 'bug free".

Anyone with more avionics savvy than I (that would be just about everyone) care to comment on this?
 
Daughter wants to start training for an instrument rating and is looking at a C172 to buy (our J3 won’t quite cut it). It has a PMA6000b audio panel,GNS430W with GDI206, KX155, and GTX335 ADSB, steam horizon and DG. Would like to get rid of vacuum pump so
thinking of installing two G5‘s or equivalent. I’m still stuck back in the early 80s on this so need some help on advice for her. Let me know what you think. Thank you.


Thanks everybody for your comments. Been exactly what I thought and good to give me something to think about. Keep ‘ em coming. All help appreciated.
 
I think G5's are currently in stock. If you want to do anything else, the GTNs are out of stock till summertime.

I very recently purchased a Garmin GPS 175 IFR/LPV navigator. There was a couple of weeks delay for it to get to the dealer from Garmin. I now have it running on the bench in Demo mode which is a far better way to learn it than in the airplane.

I had to shoot NDB approaches for my instrument rating and CFII flight test and, at the the time, I was working on the development of one of the most advanced flight decks (MD-11). When I purchased the new airplane I wanted avionics capability as good or better than the systems I had helped develop. I'm looking forward to flying coupled LPV approaches in a "Cub".

I like the G5. I find its display much more intuitive than the smaller curved scale instruments. The downside is that it may need some panel work as a pair won't fit normal minimum instrument spacing. (Check the installation manual for more info)
 
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