Please don't laugh at my MS paint skills. I took a picture of the panel of an Aerotrek, but it could be any side-by-side LSA. I am considering this or the ICP Savannah. I want the Rans S20, but I am getting more and more uncertain if would be able to finish it. Besides, the USD to NOK is awful, so it would cost a stupid amount of money.

While my savings are slooowly growing, I am toying around with panel designs. I want to keep it simple, yet modern. It should be oriented around the guy in the left seat, but whoever is in the right should be able to help out. I like handing my passengers the checklist and have them do tasks. I think it makes them feel a little more in control, and when they are engaged in something I think they have less capacity to imagine themselves falling out of the sky. So radio, transponder, ignition, switched and circuit brakers should be easily in reach.

A 3 1/8 PFD and EMS should cover everything I need, and then an ASI for backup. I think I could have added a slip indicator below the PFD too.There's enough real estate still to att a RAM ball mount for my ipad. Maybe the ignition could be moved to right next to the throttle, but I don't want it so close you could inadvertently turn it. The ignition would be the off/on/a/b/ab/start-type (Could this be used on an injected engine with a/b busses and not mags?). It could maybe be replaced by adding master and mags to the switch panel, and have a starter button right next to the throttle. Choke is missing, but thats because I think I'd spend a little extra and go for either a 912iS or an Edge Performance EP912i.





So what do you think? Have I missed something? It's minimal, but fly just for fun and want it simple. I never HAVE to fly. This does meet the requirements to fly on top and VFR night in Norway as well. It's minimal, but I would not plan for either. It would just give me more options if I made poor planning and ended up in a difficult situation.

For the price, I’d score a Garmin 430W and put that in there instead of the little com

Looks nice HOWEVER, how are you going to get to the that little stuff above the instrument's? Looks like lay on your back and pull everything out to change that little red light. Split into 3 main drop panels. Notch that Glare screen lip for the GPS so you can push it up as high as possible, better vis when scud running/heavy traffic. By having drop panels you can remove a section and do all the work setting in the pilot seat and not laying on your back after removing everything in your way. Electrical panel should also be a drop out panel on its own. Don't go for pretty go for practical you will thank yourself when you need to fix something or upgrade.

Really good advice, DENNY! I though the layout was practical in regards to operation in flight, but I see what you mean!

What if the entire left and mid-section was hinged? I’ve seen a few planes where the entire panels was hinged and thought it was a good idea. The charge lamp, fuel alarm and that stuff is put there by the factory. Not entirely certain I want all of them. Could also easily be moved.

I will have to have a closer look at the 430W. I’m not very familiar with it. Only time I have been in a plane with one, I only used the radio. Even used it seems quite expensive, and it might be overkill.

Plus with the 430 is you could have nav abilities on a attitude indicator if it can take the input (most can), this gives you the ability to practice (some) instrument stuff or in a bad situation you could shoot a LPV/ILS and get back on the ground if the unexpectedly weather tanked

Another nice thing is the database in the 430 has all the freqs and other details for airports, and can display ADSB weather and traffic if you have input for it


Also would be more attractive to a buyer if you ever sell

Lots of publicity lately re the garmin 430/530 factory support going away in the near future.
I dunno if this is a real concern, or just hype so they can sell more 650/750's.

They discontinued support for the ol’ KLN a ways back, but you still can get nav updates. Most of the KLNs I’ve seen people remove were for newer boxes with extra features not because the KLN stopped working

Howdy All. I haven't been on the site for several years, no longer having an aircraft. But I did have a Savanna, and put about 800 hours in it. Here is the way I arranged the lower panel, the main panel, and the upper panel. The radio went in the space between the lower panel and the main panel. I mounted the portable GPS on the dash.

Tom

NineThreeKilo wrote:Plus with the 430 is you could have nav abilities on a attitude indicator if it can take the input (most can), this gives you the ability to practice (some) instrument stuff or in a bad situation you could shoot a LPV/ILS and get back on the ground if the unexpectedly weather tanked

Another nice thing is the database in the 430 has all the freqs and other details for airports, and can display ADSB weather and traffic if you have input for it


Also would be more attractive to a buyer if you ever sell

That DOES make it interesting. I am sort of waiting for my life to line up so that my main mission will require something more than an LSA/two seat experimental with an economical Rotax. Spending a little extra if it has a clear future benefit makes sense. I’ll look closer into it!

I've put some thought into my panel, and worked it to the point where it is in my plane right now.

The Garmin 430 is a great product and I considered it early on. The main thing that took it out of the running is that people still ask heinous amounts of money for a 20 year old radio, which Garmin has already announced they will not support any longer.

In my case I wanted my panel to be as symmetrical as possible, because I will mostly fly it from the right seat. Everything you need to reach with urgency is in the center. Light switches are on the right side and fault indicators for low oil pressure, charge system and battery faults are on the left. But it's a narrow cockpit so it's not much of a reach for people on friendly terms.


The panel you see in the upper middle covers a pair of fuse blocks. Yes fuse blocks, not breakers. When was the last time your (unmolested) car blew a fuse? When was the last time your airplane blew a breaker, and everything worked perfectly when you pushed it back in? Exactly.



Those are MGL MX1 displays you see. They come with self contained GPS, air data (including AoA), ADAHRS, and autopilot. They are touch screens and you can use their utility to design your own screens if you want to. (I did). Because they are self contained they offer redundancy. I don't need a standby airspeed indicator or turn coordinator.
I'm using the MGL RDAC engine monitoring "hub", and that information will also show up on the EFIS display. My MGL COM radio and my Sandia trasnsponder are both headless, so they will also be controlled from the EFIS. Of course ADSB "IN" will also show up on my moving map.
With the turn of a knob I can have an EFIS display with engine monitoring. An early version of my screen design is shown here when I was mocking it up:

Pretty bad image but you get the idea. Note: There is no ghosting on the display like you see in the image above. They are quite clear.

I have a page which is a full screen moving map (but still shows the COM and TXP controls at the top), and I have a page which looks like the one above except it has a moving map instead of the attitude indicator. Because when you're VFR and poking your way to that $100 hamburger do you really need pitch and bank? No. But it still has the altitude and speed tapes, COM and TXP, and engine gauges. Then I have a page which is entirely engine parameters. I'm not using an autopilot, but I am hooking up the AoA.
Entire cost for my avionics including COM and TXP was under $8k in 2021 dollars. A Garmin 430 and used steam gauges would have cost more and weighed more.