Have you guys had to overhaul the servo's yet? If you have, like me, you would see you can buy 4-5 new Garmin GFC600 servos for the overhaul price... let alone the turnaround time for an overhaul.

Serviceability would be a good upgrade by itself.

My AP selector buttons are mounted right above my PFD/MFD. This puts them perfectly in my scan line and is as close to being on the PFD as one could get.

All that to say, I agree with everything else and would definitely upgrade if given the option. Come on Garmin, take my money!

Citation has EL panels with inverters, but they are separate inverters just for the EL panels, not tied to the "power" 400 Hz inverters we normally think of as the AC system.

I would like to replace the EL panels with something LED driven, too. They are an issue if they break and while great for their day, LEDs would make much more sense now.

Mike C.

Yeah, Piaggio drives EL panels via the secondary inverter. If primary inverter goes offline, secondary gets switched to primary and EL panels are inop.

If autopilot need for inverter went away, my initial reaction would be to buy a smaller, modern inverter to drive just the EL panels and get rid of all the switching nonsense (and big old heavy 400hz inverters). Switching to LED panels would be great but seems like a big ask to get them all appropriately customized to the Piaggio switch layout etc. Maybe it’s not as hard as I think.

Hmm, not great. Kind of surprised the EL panels are off the main AC system.


Maybe not too hard:

https://aerodynamix.com/aviation-edge-lit-panels/

https://paramountpanels.com/illuminated-panels/

The main design issue is simply drawing out the design accurately to fit the use case.

The panel design is rather trivial. You cut the outline shape first, with all holes. Paint the panel some color. CNC the labeling lettering and symbols with a shallow pass with a cone point mill. The CNC tool cuts into the clear plastic past the paint and the tool leaves a rough surface which diffracts the light. Then, on the back side, where appropriate, inserts some side shooting LEDs into partial holes, wire them up to a power supply to make them dim properly.

It really isn't complex to make, just takes some time.

Mike C.

Looks like Piaggio Aerospace one step closer to selecting a new owner.

Unfortunately, none look like industry pros that can bring immediate scale. But who knows: https://www.ruetir.com/2023/11/piaggio- ... nd-grewal/

And like all things aviation, perhaps certification/STC(?).

Ugh, I would really like a Garmin autopilot. The Collins autopilot drifts, the limitations on approach mode are annoying, and I can typically hand fly an approach more "dead nuts" than it. Also, a Garmin autopilot would support full VNAV. Plus, having the full autopilot scoreboard on the G700txi would be great. Less places to look all the time. The digital Garmin autopilot I can't fly better than.

Also, I believe part of the coming (next year???) Garmin autopilot is also Garmin EIS, which will allow logging of engine data, automatic CAMP/ESP reporting, and the elimination of the analog gauges, which cost like $9k+ to replace each and can fail.

My understanding is that the Italian government was against an established aviation buyer on fear that the Italian employees would become "synergies." I have reason to believe the Porsche family would actually make for an excellent owner.

Dayrl, Yes on the brakes.. IMO the Carbon brakes were meant for the Anti-Lock system that we are all wired for, but is not installed...
I already can tell the difference, for example - with Carbon, it was hard to hold the plane and runup the power for a max gross departure - the carbon brakes would not be hot enough to hold, and it would creap foward, the new steel brakes - solid, no issues.. No grabbing after touch down and turning off the runway, etc like the carbon.. I personally feel like I would have a hard time sliding/flat spotting any tires due to not being able to feel the brakes ( grabbing ) - Not sure if that makes sense.. but on really wet days, I would find it difficult to find the sweet spot if I needed to use brakes at all.. In general, I never use them outside of parking and run up.. but my home airport has a downhill feature, so .. Probably just me being a terrible pilot, but that is my .02

New Steel Brakes - https://photos.app.goo.gl/cbD2fwvKWFo7BS2N8


David[/quote]
David,
That is really good to know. They look great in the pictures, and i think your plane looks great also!

Air Capitol Dial "repairs" EL panels but in reality they are all new. New silkscreen and new EL lamp laminated to the back. They seem like the perfect company to do a STC and convert EL to LED. At least in the Cessna the EL inverters are tied to the dimming bus so maybe there's a way to just remove the inverter and connect the dimmable DC voltage directly to the LED. Getting rid of the EL inverters would be nice as they fail from time to time and they're expensive. Also sometimes if your headset cord lays near a EL panel it will pick up noise from the inverters.

Parked next to N268TA tonight (11/15/23) at KIND.
Belong to anyone here?

Sign it off as a minor alteration.

Everybody forgets that minor alterations cover a lot of changes.

Mike C.

They want to find specifically who doesn't have experience making airplanes?

That seems dumb.

Mike C.

They want to find specifically who doesn't have experience making airplanes?

That seems dumb.

Mike C.