RV-8 with rear seat G3X

jonweisw · #1 08-31-2017, 06:50 AM

Couldn't help myself. And with a coterie of people with enough interest in flying in varying degrees, this made sense to me....Plus, it looks really cool.

TREMENDOUS thanks to David Buchwalter at Avionics Systems in Leesburg, VA who designed and retrofitted BOTH panels. His work is absolutely impeccable, prices reasonable, and he completed the work ahead of schedule in both instances. Can NOT say enough good things about him.

Jon

Av8rRob · #2 08-31-2017, 06:54 AM

Very cool!

YvesCH · #3 08-31-2017, 06:55 AM

Looks great! How is the space to enter the rear seat? I am also installing a G3X in the back seat but I cut out some space for the knees to slide in.

jonweisw · #4 08-31-2017, 07:17 AM

Doesn't seem to be a problem. I am most definitely including in my 'boarding briefing' the need to be cognizant of the knobs which, undoubtedly not cheap, I don't want to replace. Looks good whatcha got there!

AviatorJ · #5 08-31-2017, 11:43 AM

That's pretty cool. You can train your kids to be a RIO/WSO....

mike newall · #6 08-31-2017, 01:51 PM

Wait until you put the upholstered seats in.....

RV6_flyer · #7 08-31-2017, 03:20 PM

"Beautiful Doll" RV-8 was on display at the Garmin Tent AirVenture 2017 with a G3X Touch Portrait display mounted for the rear seat pilot. I like the way it was done I did a short video of the installation. I plan to steal the idea and copy the install when I get around to doing avionics installation in the RV-8 I am building.

The link to the video is "Unlisted" but I have not problem with sharing it with other RV builders.

Chkaharyer99 · #8 08-31-2017, 03:52 PM

Can the GIB with access to a G3X change the radio & transponder from that screen?

Maybe if a get my wife to take the pitch hitter course I could convince her "we" need a panel upgrade.

Looks very nice. It would make flying backseat much more interesting.

YvesCH · #9 08-31-2017, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chkaharyer99

Can the GIB with access to a G3X change the radio & transponder from that screen?

Maybe if a get my wife to take the pitch hitter course I could convince her "we" need a panel upgrade.

Looks very nice. It would make flying backseat much more interesting.

I checked it with the Garmin guys before I bought my GDU450 for the rear seat and it will be set up as PFD #2. So it should be possible to change the radio, transponder and autopilot from the rear seat. Only the NAV frequencies won`t be accessible from the rear seat. This was the reason I bought the GDU for the rear seat instead of a IPad with the Garmin Connext Data.

I hope everything will work as planned as I did not yet have done the "smoke test"....

jonweisw · #10 09-01-2017, 06:59 AM

It totally does EVERYTHING the front panel PFD does. It also does everything the MFD does (ie, all the maps, engine parameters, approach charts, etc...). You can completely drive the autopilot including altitude and heading adjust and mode select, which means the the back seat guy could totally fly the plane from just after takeoff until just before landing in an IFR setting. The ONLY thing it doesn't do in that setting is allow you to make modifications to the flight plan, which is done on the GTN650 and not (easily) accessed from the G3X. So if the controller modifies a clearance or asks for direct to a waypoint, that has to be accomplished from the front (which touches on my only real issue with the G3X/GTN650 combination - that flight planning for IFR plans has to be done on the small GTN650 screen as opposed to the the larger G3X and then pushed into the GTN. This is apparently due to the fact that the G3X is not IFR certified).