When at Sun and Fun last year, I got to meet Stein and some of his crew. Walked away from their booth with a good feeling and a shirt.
When came time to think about replacing the Blue Mountain Sport and associated auto pilot in our 9A, we settled on buying the GRT Horizon HX, and True Trak Sorcerer auto pilot from Stein. Getting a good price and assurance that they were there always to assist on the phone was also a good reason to purchase from them.
A good looking and balanced panel has always been a main issue with me, and I felt that I had achieved this with the BM Sport, however, living here in Cape Cod, IFR is a must for scheduled missions, and while I loved the BM for VFR, I didn't trust it for IFR, thence the decision to change, and the winter months were a logical time to do it.
This not being the first plane I've built, nor the first panel I've re-done, I'm so thankful I built the inspection panels on the port and starboard side of the plane. The job would have been impossible without them. This is also the reason I chose the tip-up for a little better behind the panel access. I mention these items for the prospective or current builder to think about.
Here's a shot of work in progress.
Make those inspection panels at least large enough to get two hands in and be able to at least install tie wraps.
When the BM Sport was removed, we were left with a hole approx. 6.3"wide and 9.25" deep, so that was a prime consideration also in the units we purchased.
It was necessary to eventually remove the G530 and G327 trays to get full access behind them.
Here's a shot before we removed them.
The GRT has a separate AHRS unit, and it's mounted in front of the panel mounted G696.
Here's a shot of the finished panel.
One of the better decisions we made was to have Mike at Steins create a wiring schematic of our new units connected to the existing units. Wiring in the GRT and Sorcerer was far more complex than wiring in the Blue Mountain.
Removing the old equipment and installing the new was very time consuming, and would have been almost impossible for me to accomplish on a finished aircraft without the access I mentioned previously.
Also for a high time steam gauge pilot like me, it was invaluable to be able to talk with Mike at Steins, and Carlos at True Trak to explain how to work with things such as interfaces,ARINC, baud rates and RS 232's and make sure every unit is talking correctly to each other.
Weather is supposed to clear here in a few days, and we should be able to find out what over a months work has accomplished.]
So, thanks again to Stein, Paul and Mike. Be prepared for a few more calls, as I'm sure there will still be a little tweaking to do!!
Regards
Jack
N99552
Stein Gave Me A Shirt, and I Gave Him The Business
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