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Show us your (non-certified only) panel

The Panel: once comfortably installed in your pilot seat, the panel becomes the centrepiece of the aircraft, the information and control center of your steed, in all its forms.
You will be staring at, maybe wondering at, reading from, surely learning from, flying/navigating/communicating with… your panel. For many fun and joy filled hours, hopefully.
All this whilst leaving plenty of time to scan and take in the fantastic 3D sights of the outside world, realising how privileged you are

Probably most of us will remember when, as a kid, we were looking at cars. Color and shape sure came first, but then that panel, and above all the speedometer. “Whoaa! 200 Kmh, that is a fast one!” – “hey, come over here, this on is doing 220!”.
Still a kid, your first bewildered look into an airliner cockpit, “man, all those dials, levers and knobs! How do they?”. The seeds were sown…
We are all a few years past those times, but have probably retained most of the fascination and curiosity for technology, and the mystics enveloping an aircraft’s operation.

Aviation panels have evolved a long way, from basically nil, to today’s touch screen glass. Non-certified aviation has been leading the way into the evolution, and continues to do so.

This thread is not intended as a “mine is (suitable adjective) than yours” thread. But any homebuilder put a certain amount of thought in, designed and manufactured that very panel. And maybe will let a little bit of pride shine thru

So I’ll start. I’m not the builder of my RV-6.9i. I acquired her on December 1st, 2018. She is exceptionally well built (airliner standards). But the panel is strictly VFR, and the radio/navigator not 8.33 able.

One thing concerning building or modifying a panel, most builders have either access to the rear of it (tipper canopy), or the panel as a whole, or by section, is removable. Supplemental access openings are also sometimes installed.
Well, my builder strictly followed the plans, and the panel is riveted to the structure, not only on the top flange, but also the 2 forward bulkheads as well as the roll bar brace. In return this means that the installation of any big screen would mandate modifying the invisible structure, and that at present all work preformed is either done thru holes by removing present instruments, or lying on one’s back… it sure is good fun trying to place and close some cable ties close to the firewall. One handed, that is. All whilst enjoying the lower vertebrae being massaged by the manual flap lever, and the rib cage being crushed by the throttle quadrant Still, all in all, very satisfying work.

Over the course of the last 5 years I made the panel mine. It was built the way I like it, using components from a brand providing clear, concise, top quality displays. The G5s are a perfect (but smaller) replica of the PFD/ND behind which I flew behind for a few thousand of hours prior to retirement. The Navigator/Transponder was specifically installed for The Tour as it provides ADSB in/out as well as LPV approaches. And the 20 year old VM1000 display was now slowly dying, and been replaced by multi-function engine monitor/map system.
Normal flight configuration is with an iPad mini, oriented vertically at a ~ 45° angle and mounted in a cooling case from X-Naut mounted on a RAM ball/arm. Basically it blanks the line of CBs off, but I can peek behind the iPad by moving my head towards the panel to check on the CBs status.

What does your panel look like?

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

I love it, looks brilliant. Is the panel “Boeing grey”?
With the data from the G5 and G3X you should try FlySto.net 👍👏👏👍

always learning
LO__, Austria

Below are two pictures – one of the panel before I bought the plane, the second is a picture of my panel after the upgrade – previously it had an LXnav eCopilot panel, Garmin SL40 radio and Garmin GPS 696. I liked the performance of the plane but didn’t like the lack of Autopilot.

As part of the upgrade, we didn’t just replace the eCoPilot with a Dynon Skyview HDX, we also fitted a new transponder (ADS-B), radio and the Dynon Autopilot with both control panels including Level button. We removed the ignition switch and replaced this with a starter button, had the switch gear laid out in a logical fashion, grouped left to right to follow the stages of startup. The warning lights have been grouped such that on approach, the 2 green LEDS become 3 green LEDs (when the backup fuel pump is on, it lights the third green LED allowing me to call “3 green” on final as I would with the Arrow). Any warnings on Lane A or B or from the Dynon show up as a red LED in a row next to the green LEDs – previously all warning lights were above the eCopilot panel.

We also had a flarm / ADS-B traffic system installed showing traffic on both the Dynon + the Garmin GPS 696 as well as dual USB charging ports. Apart from the logical flow of the switches, what I particularly like is that the handbrake lever is directly in front of the throttle – you can’t take off with the hand brake on. A nice redesign of the panel, I think that the only part left where it was prior to the upgrade is the BRS lever – to the right of the fuel selector. All in all, took its time to be done but am glad we did it…..

EDL*, Germany

Looks great, Dan! Very nice photo, too. Looking forward to seeing it in person when the fog lifts.

Fly more.
LSGY, Switzerland

Looks great Steve. After having spent this amount of money on an upgrade, I hope there’s something left to upgrade your CO-detector

Private field, Mallorca, Spain

I love it, looks brilliant. Is the panel “Boeing grey”?
With the data from the G5 and G3X you should try FlySto.net

Thanks Snoopy. No, it ain’t Boeing, I’m more of an Airbus, Apple, and Garmin guy
Seriously now, it’s called platinum grey.

I had a go at FlySto a couple of months ago, and was flabbergasted. Really. That is an amazing piece of kit, and I’ve been recommending it since I tried it out.
OTOH I spent my whole professional career (as a pilot) being FDMised, and sure can do without for my private flying… hey, I’m retired
And my style of flying sometimes requires privacy…

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Sooo… anymore takers? Am I almost the only one here with a non-certified panel to display?
Come on xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, and xxxxx, don’t be shy, show us what u have, let us dream, criticize, discuss, admire

Dan
ain't the Destination, but the Journey
LSZF, Switzerland

Here’s mine:

Last Edited by eurogaguest1980 at 20 Dec 21:51
Fly more.
LSGY, Switzerland

Mine is pure Experimental

EDLE
34 Posts
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