I'm starting my search for a reputable shop to upgrade the panel in my Cessna180J. Of course I'd prefer something close by, but for quality workmanship and good pricing I'm willing to travel. Sarasota Avionics that advertises in Trade-a-Plane seems to have good prices but I've never heard anyone here talking about them and it would be a two-day flight to get to their closest shop. Anyone have direct experience? I'm based in New Mexico. Any suggestions on an avionics shop closer to my home, say Texas, Colorado, Utah, or Arizona? We're pretty limited on options in New Mexico.

The previous owner of my 182 had his panel done at Avionics 1st at Dallas Executive Airport. I'm impressed with the work that was done and I haven't had any issues with anything since I've owned the plane. Check out this link for some of their work http://avionics1st.com/?page_id=14 my panel is the fifth one down N4032D . I couldn't tell you about pricing. Good luck!

Avion did the fabrication of my panel and eventually (very frustrating and long long long story - would NOT recommend) everything was awesome.

Give Jerry Stooksbury a call in Loveland. I have worked with him on a couple of jobs and he is great. Recommended-

http://www.avionicsspecialists.net/

Jerry Stooksbury
Avionics Specialists LLC
5297 Gulfstream Court
Loveland, CO 8053

My Bo is in for an upgrade as I type this (Executive Air East at KFTG in Denver). They appear to be doing a great job and I swing in every couple of days to look at the progress.

The proof will be in the pudding as they say... I'll let you know how everything goes, but so far so good...

Jim

bigrenna wrote:Avion did the fabrication of my panel and eventually (very frustrating and long long long story - would NOT recommend) everything was awesome.

Give Jerry Stooksbury a call in Loveland. I have worked with him on a couple of jobs and he is great. Recommended-

http://www.avionicsspecialists.net/

Jerry Stooksbury
Avionics Specialists LLC
5297 Gulfstream Court
Loveland, CO 8053

I second Jerry. His shop did my upgrade (relatively simple, swapping out the audio panel and one nav/com for a PS Engineering 6000B and GNS430W), but good work, done on schedule, and everything works just fine.

Cary

If TX is an option, Trevor is a hell of a good tech! Wish I had used him for my upgrade, but thank God he's here to fix the glitches. Great guy and team.
http://www.techaeroavionics.com

Regards,
Scott

Thanks,
I've contacted every shop that has been mentioned on this thread. Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

Aerotronics in Billings, MT. Great folks and they'll treat you right.

MTV

I did my own modeled after later model 182 - If you see one you like Get N number file from Oak city - Contact me directly at [email protected] with your cell phone number .I grew up in N.E. ABQ during 1950's . Is your airplane at Double Eagle or ? .Lots of cad file cutters can do it. Look up N5502B file (my 182) that I got field approval on panel.

Can someone clarify the process for "owner produced parts" and the difference between minor alterations/logbook entry vs having to field approve a new panel? Different between CAR 3 and FAR 23 planes?

Mike Busch has a webinar on the EAA website that is all about owner produce parts. It will answer all your questions.

Avion makes a nice panel. They've had some issues with customer service that were about to be their undoing. Since they're still around, I suppose they've made some changes. The initial layout and the end product has always been top notch, it was the road in between that wore me slick.

Re: Jerry Stooksbury at FNL: experience tells me that a second email is often necessary, or a phone call. He and his crew know what they're doing, and they do it well, but he's not always good about responding to the first email on a topic.

Cary

Speaking of panel upgrades and staying light, would anyone consider occasional IFR with a single certified GPS/Nav/Comm as long as you had a backup handheld GPS and handheld radio?

By occasional IFR, I mean like going up and down through layers in Seattle or some reduced visibility stuff in busy airspace. Also, the backups would be readily available to connect.

Maybe even just add a second comm only (no nav) and rely on the handheld for backup. Guess that works unless the satellites fail everywhere at the same time.

A185F wrote:Speaking of panel upgrades and staying light, would anyone consider occasional IFR with a single certified GPS/Nav/Comm as long as you had a backup handheld GPS and handheld radio?

By occasional IFR, I mean like going up and down through layers in Seattle or some reduced visibility stuff in busy airspace. Also, the backups would be readily available to connect.

Maybe even just add a second comm only (no nav) and rely on the handheld for backup. Guess that works unless the satellites fail everywhere at the same time.

Hehe - considering all the hours I got in IFR Cessna 152's and 172's doing exactly this, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Having a backup nav/comm is really nice, but we just used what we had available. If I was planning on doing this more often, I'd be seriously looking at a second Nav/comm for sure. A little peace of mind goes a long way - and it's nice to be able to monitor Guard, or double up local field freq's along with 122.9 in the edges of the backcountry.

Ha Ha! Ditto. We used to do a whole lotta single comm, single VOR or ADF IFR. Thought we died and went to heaven when the Apollo Flybuddy GPS came out and we had accurate bearing to station and speed to read.

Gump

Most of the new nav/comm's have the ability to monitor the standby frequency. This is cool and saves panel space.

http://www.ps-engineering.com/PAR200.shtml