I bought my RV-4 in Aug of 2011. It was well equipped with Advanced Flight Systems AF4500, AF Pilot autopilot, and AOA Pro with Garmin SL-30Nav/Com and 396. The system performed flawlessly for two years, and nearly 500 hours of flying. Every piece of information you could want, is available at your fingertips, the EFIS moving map, and geo-referenced approach plates make IFR situational awareness simple. The AOA pro system with the panel display is very accurate and makes for simple short field landings, the base to final turn is safer, at every aircraft loading scenario, with this system installed.
The only problem I had was knee clearance from the bottom of the CB panel. Since I?m 6?3? I had less than ? inch clearance.
I decided to make a change, so equipment selection started in earnest. I settled on the new AF-5500 which adds geo referenced sectional, and IFR charts to the EFIS display, very handy in the tight RV4 cockpit. And the AF-Trans Mode S transponder, remote mounted and controlled by the EFIS freed up panel space. The addition of the AF-ADSB receiver allowed me to maintain weather information, added traffic and I got to cancel the XM-weather subscription. I took out the AOA display, and maintain that safety feature, with the EFIS display of the AOA information. While I was into that amount of work, I decided to swap the SL-30 and 396 with a GTN650. I replaced the CB based electrical bus with an automotive fuse panel, which swings down from below the EFIS. Gaining 1.75 inches of knee room, Fabulous! I had SteinAir make an avionics interconnection drawing and a wiring harness done by Redlinethegoal. These two decisions made the interconnections really simple.
As far as customer service goes, I ended up on the phone with Rob Hickman on the Sunday before Christmas with a question; he got me fixed quickly. If I?d read the manual more carefully the answers were in there. Thanks Rob!
I?m happy with the end result, and have just flown my first few coupled LPV approaches, very nice. I?m not much on forum chats, but I?m happy to answer any questions directly tomdubes at gmail dot com.
The only problem I had was knee clearance from the bottom of the CB panel. Since I?m 6?3? I had less than ? inch clearance.
I decided to make a change, so equipment selection started in earnest. I settled on the new AF-5500 which adds geo referenced sectional, and IFR charts to the EFIS display, very handy in the tight RV4 cockpit. And the AF-Trans Mode S transponder, remote mounted and controlled by the EFIS freed up panel space. The addition of the AF-ADSB receiver allowed me to maintain weather information, added traffic and I got to cancel the XM-weather subscription. I took out the AOA display, and maintain that safety feature, with the EFIS display of the AOA information. While I was into that amount of work, I decided to swap the SL-30 and 396 with a GTN650. I replaced the CB based electrical bus with an automotive fuse panel, which swings down from below the EFIS. Gaining 1.75 inches of knee room, Fabulous! I had SteinAir make an avionics interconnection drawing and a wiring harness done by Redlinethegoal. These two decisions made the interconnections really simple.
As far as customer service goes, I ended up on the phone with Rob Hickman on the Sunday before Christmas with a question; he got me fixed quickly. If I?d read the manual more carefully the answers were in there. Thanks Rob!
I?m happy with the end result, and have just flown my first few coupled LPV approaches, very nice. I?m not much on forum chats, but I?m happy to answer any questions directly tomdubes at gmail dot com.
