Well, we're over halfway to Oshkosh now since the last update (yes we keep track of time using Oshkosh as a reference), and although unfortunately I don't have a ton of progress to report, I thought I'd make a quick update. I think we left off complaining about the basement flooding...again. Fortunately, it wasn't too big of a mess or hassle, and within a week or two things were pretty much back to normal in that department. Both Sarah and I have had a number of things going on though, keeping us mostly away from the garage. Every now and then we'd sneak out there and sand a bit on the cabin cover, but really hardly any measurable progress has been made.
So let's see... where to start? Oh yeah, we got a new puppy!!! Guess what we named him?
Our new puppy - Cleco!!
I don't have to explain to this audience why we named him Cleco... but unfortunately everyone else we run into needs a quick explanation, always with the same unenthusiastic reaction of "oh... cool." It's alright, we think it's a good name for him. We got him from the local animal shelter, and he has adapted to our household very well, and gets along great with our other dog Mesa. Training and housebreaking is going "ok" so far, as I'm sure anyone who's raised a puppy can agree it's no small task and takes no small commitment!
Shortly after bringing home our new pup at some point in early April, I ended up getting in touch with fellow RV-10 builder Ed Kranz up in the Minneapolis area, and he very graciously offered for Sarah and I to come up and see his plane (now completed and flying) in person before it went in for paint. That was an offer we couldn't pass up! One of the primary things I was interested in seeing was his G3X avionics setup, which was very similar to what we've purchased, except for the fact that he had opted for the "whole hog" and has three beautiful 10" screens in his panel as opposed to my two. He is an advocate of the three-display approach, so that you can have a full-screen PFD and then use the center screen as the MFD. In a two-display setup like ours, the second panel is too far off to the right to contain much useful data for the person in the left seat (and vice versa).
Ed's three-display RV-10 panel in action
It was so cool to be able to get up there and see the very airplane I had been watching come together online over the past few years, and not only that but get a chance to go flying in it! Thanks so much again to Ed for your generosity and hospitality... we are truly grateful to be part of such a cool community of builders. Can't wait to "pay it forward" for some future builders in our plane when it's done... but now I'm getting ahead of myself :-)
Anyway, after a short flight back home in "Julie" the Archer, I had to step into the shop for a minute with some mockups and start playing around:
N165MJ with three 10" displays
N165MJ with a 7" center display
It's tempting... very tempting. We'll see how things go. Another thing to point out is I've gotten rid of the GRT Mini-X in favor of the new Garmin G5 EFIS, as well as swapped out audio panels from the GMA350c to the GMA245. I've actually been able to sell off those new-in-box items I had already purchased, and place an order with Stein for the new stuff. It should work out pretty close to a wash, maybe even a few dollars in my favor, and I'll have all the "latest and greatest" Garmin stuff. The audio panel may be regarded as a bit of a step down from the flagship 350c, but the new 245 actually has all of the features I wanted out of the 350c, and it interfaces better with the rest of the G3X system. And it's cheaper, so it's really a win-win! I think basically the only thing I lose is the voice command feature... which I wasn't really too excited about in the first place anyway.
So after the trip up north to see Ed and his plane, our schedules became almost completely filled up with "stuff" to do, and so we never really got any time to get back into the shop. I participated in a spot landing contest and LOST. Ugh. I landed about 2 feet short of the line, which is disqualifying. The winner landed about 20 feet beyond the line. Video of my attempt here:
Even two months later, still sore about this :-)
After that whole ordeal, I spent about the next 3 weeks holed up in my office, coding up and designing a new website for our EAA chapter. Back in February, I had been elected President of our local Chapter 33 (sounds pretty cool when I say it that way huh?), and the first order of business I wanted to achieve was improve our method of communication and simplify our website, making it easier to browse and maintain than before. It's just a basic Wordpress-powered site, but don't let the simple theme fool you... it still took weeks of work and thousands of lines of PHP code to make it all work the way I wanted. Fun stuff!! See the site here: http://www.eaa33.org.
At some point in here, I built a new cutting table and storage rack for rolls of fiberglass, peel ply, and upholstery that rolls around on the floor and collapses for storage. It also has a rack along the top that holds a number of wire spools for when we get around to wiring everything up. I'll throw a picture of it in here soon.
Next up was a Young Eagles Rally, held at our "home" airport in Marion and sponsored by our Chapter. It ended up not as busy as we had hoped, but I did have the opportunity to make a flight that I think easily counts as the most rewarding thing I've had the privilege to do yet in an airplane... take my friend Jenny's son Dylan up for a ride. Dylan has autism, and at first I wasn't sure how things were going to go on the flight. Those concerns melted away as we performed our takeoff roll... here's one of my favorite videos that I've ever taken (there are a couple others from the flight on my youtube channel if you're interested):
Young Eagles flight with Dylan - Takeoff!
That was a flight I will not soon forget... so happy that it worked out the way it did! We're looking forward very much to the next Young Eagles Rally!
So let's see... other than that, I took my friend Brannen on a surprise "Bachelor's Day" flight the week before he got married. We went to Lone Rock, WI (KLNR) for breakfast at the Piccadilly Lilly Airport Diner, followed by a day in Oshkosh (KOSH) to visit the EAA museum, and then finished the day with dinner in Prairie du Chien, WI (KPDC) at Jones Black Angus, a nice steakhouse right across the street from the airport. Fun times!
Brannen (left), Roy (center), and Me (right) up to no good flying "Julie" the Archer all over WI!
Memorial day weekend came and went faster than I could have ever imagined (thanks in no small part to Brannen's wedding... congrats to you and Becca!), propelling us straight into June now, again with very little progress to report on the plane. Lately, I've been sneaking out to the garage a bit more and continuing on the cabin cover. The A-pillars are nearly complete, and they are finally contoured the way I had envisioned, with very few high or low spots remaining. Again, will get some pics on this soon.
Lastly, we're getting more and more excited for OSH16 as it approaches... we even got a new tent!
Our new OSH tent, set up and ready for waterproofing in our hangar
That's about it for now. Unfortunately, the hits just keep on coming as far as distractions go. This weekend, we have a benefit to attend for a good friend in need of a heart transplant, followed by a deep-cleaning of our house in preparation for the upcoming Father's Day weekend, when my parents are coming to visit from NY to spend the week. HOPEFULLY, when that is all over with, by the end of next week, we can get back to spending some serious time in the garage.
See you all then!
Finally someone else (other than me) who's trying to fit 3 10-inch displays plus a GTN750 in their RV10 :) That mockup with them attached is a great reference, especially since it also has the G5! (I don't have my fuselage yet to try it).
ReplyDeleteTwo questions:
I know that on the certified world, there's a maximum viewing angle from the (standard) pilot's head between the PFD and the IFR navigator (I think it's 30 or 35 degrees) - have you measured that by any chance? I'm hoping DARs will not try to enforce the same rule on us, but there's always the chance. The GTN install manual specifies that angle as well.
Also, I'm thinking of using a modified version of the Aerosport panel (the one that Ed Kranz used) by removing or having them remove the division to the bottom part so that the GTN can go immediately below the MFD). If you (and maybe others) happen to have any interest, we could try asking them, and I'm hoping it'd be cheaper than having just one made?
P.S.: You may not care, but I'm planning to put my GMC307 at the bottom so it's quicker to move my hand between that and the throttle.
Hey Rodrigo! Glad you were able to find those photos useful. It's still kind of a game of shuffle for me, I've spent hours in the shop just swapping those mockups around. I'm even entertaining the idea of getting a second G5 to put on the right side, so the plane is truly capable from both L and R seats... we'll see about that though, that might be a bit excessive. It will probably go into the "future" pile haha.
DeleteAs for your questions... The positioning of the GTN isn't really an issue, because as far as I'm aware, that requirement only applies *IF* there are no annunciators to display things like navigation modes and flags, etc etc. Since the HSI on the G3X will contain all of these items (transmitted from the GTN750), it does not have to be within the line-of-sight angles you mentioned. As for whether the rule even applies in E-AB, I believe it does if you wish to fly IFR, since your equipment needs to be "up to code." People tend to have different viewpoints on this though-- my take is it's better to play by the rules and do it the "certified" way. I've done enough research to be fairly confident that what I'm doing is acceptable for this.
Talking about positioning, this kind of goes hand-in-hand with your final comment about the GMC307... from the beginning I've always had my heart set on having it up top. Many people put it down lower for the reasons you mentioned though, and seem happy with it that way. For me, I figure having the GTN down lower will actually be easier to use the touch functions and make navigation selections, etc. I spent a number of years working on avionics for the "big jets", and although I've never flown one, I've spent many hours using mockups of our flight decks with the autopilot control panel up top and the navigation computer in a heads-down location by the throttles. Of course, I do realize I'm building an RV-10 and not a 737, but it still seems like the right way to go for what I want. Same reason I'm going to all the trouble of making an overhead switch panel and a TOGA button on the throttle lever, I guess... :-)
I truly believe it comes down to personal preference, and there aren't really any "wrong" solutions unless you do something really crazy.
For the Aerosport panel, I'm not too familiar with it since I'm "rolling my own" so to speak. I would guess though that there would be a similar limitation to what I've run into when designing mine: There is a stiffening flange that runs across the bottom edge of the panel, and crosses right in the middle of where your GTN750 would need to be if you located it directly below the center display. On my setup, this flange "sneaks" right between the audio panel and the GTN750. In other words, it isn't possible to put the 750 any higher, unless you went completely above that line, which of course would mean no center display. A GTN650 would fit there though of course (if there was no top GMC307, and the center display was moved up, as with the Aerosport panel and Ed's plane).
DeleteIf I remember Ed's comment correctly (you may want to check with him to confirm), he wasn't too concerned about the smaller screen of the 650 since so much functionality is integrated with the G3X, there isn't really much need for a large screen on the navigator. It actually made me second-guess the decision I made to go with the 750... but again, we all have our own preferences and decisions to make. It's still too early for me to really know if I've made all the right decisions with respect to this.
If you did want to put in three displays with a GTN750 immediately below the center display, you could probably figure out a way to cut out that supporting flange in that middle 6.5" area. I'm pretty sure Van would frown on this though, as it would significantly weaken the integrity of the panel (it would be very easy to push it inwards). But, perhaps some kind of bracing could be made to go back to the firewall or something to support it. I've thought about taking a route like this myself, but decided not to pursue it. Would be interesting to see though!
You're right about the annunciations, I had overlooked that - I assume you checked that the G3X displays all the annunciations (source selection, TAWS, GPS) that Garmin requires? (I haven't dug into that)
DeleteAbout 750 vs 650 - I've flown with both (a dual 750/650 system), and I feel that entering data on the 750 is *a lot* easier than the 650. The 650 brings up a scrolling type of keyboard, where not all the letters are on the screen at the same time. That said, if you plan to do something like upload your flight plan from Foreflight directly, it may not matter. The 650 is also not suitable for viewing approach plates (but you can do that on the G3X anyway).
I hadn't realized about the flange, but that makes sense - I wouldn't want to mess much with the structure either.
About the dual G5 - I'm thinking of putting mine near the center so either side can use it, plus it's near the GTN for when I'm heads-down reprogramming it. Now that you mentioned the flange, I may put it just above the flange and the GTN just below.
Just curious, which company did you work for? Rockwell?
Happy building!
Going off of what is in the G3X Pilot Guide, yes I'm nearly positive that all of the necessary annunciations are provided on the HSI. Ed and I had discussed this too, and he seemed to be in agreement.
DeleteThe center G5 seems like a good option. I've been toying with the idea of putting it dead-center in our panel too, and then fabricating a tablet mount to go over the top of it. Sort of a "poor mans" triple display. Under normal operation, I'd have my iPad completely covering the G5 instrument, and the iPad would be used as a center MFD (although I don't think there is a way to get EIS data to it yet from the G3X, which would be AWESOME). In the event I needed the backup EFIS, I could simply take the iPad off the panel, revealing the G5 underneath.
This was the idea I was working with for a while, but I've sort of drifted away from it because I'm concerned it may not work out as well as I have pictured in my head, plus having the EIS data in the center display seems to be the most valuable thing. At this point, I think I'm leaning more closely to buying a center display... but may hold off on that until the last moment possible, maybe even until after it's flying (but still wire up the harness for it). Same for the second G5.
I worked for Rockwell Collins here in Cedar Rapids, IA for 9 years almost to the day (Jan 2006- Jan 2015), in the commercial systems FMS department. It was a long journey there that began with me really not knowing a single thing about flying and aviation other than having a mild curiosity and interest in it, and by the time I left they had subsidized my private and instrument pilot ratings, and basically turned me into a complete aviation nut haha. Making the right friends along the way helped too, of course :-)