Piper PA-46 1988

This customer’s photos (click for larger image window):

Piper Aircraft PA 24-260 Comanche 1967
N9133P
Owner: Richard Doehring

About Me

I am a Commercial, ASMEL, Helicopter Instrument, CFII with 15,000+ hrs civilian and military time and have been licensed for 49 years. I now fly primarily for pleasure in my Piper Comanche which I have owned for 34 years. I am based at Houston Executive Airport (KTME) near Katy, Texas.

My Panel (Before and After)

Until recently, the last time my panel was “state of the art” was 1982. I had a high tech Bendix BX2000 system with ADF, DME, Transponder and Century IIIB autopilot but it served me well for all those years and hours. In 2007 I renovated the aircraft with new windshield, paint, interior and avionics. The panel remained the same as when originally delivered except for the new Garmin 430, GMX 200 MFD, GTX 330 Transponder and SL30 Nav/Com. Until installation of the Aspen in 2008 I still had conventional mechanical instruments arranged in the odd configuration that was typical of Piper when the airplane was manufactured. I wanted to upgrade to the Aspen to get the HSI/RMI capability as well as eliminating the gyro compass system. Additionally, I was drawn to the fact that the Aspen had an altitude/minimums audio/visual deviation or warning system.

My Aspen Experience

The Aspen bright display is one of its most outstanding features. The large scale of the attitude indicator allows for very fine adjustment of pitch and roll with the end result of smother control. One of the most useful items for me is the ground track diamond. It really helps with planning a strategy for approaches. The Aspen took some getting used to but after 3 or 4 hours I was very comfortable with it. I did not have an HSI before but used an RMI extensively in the Military so I got a little of the old and new at the same time. I was drawn to the altitude alert feature of the Aspen which allows the pilot to preselect an altitude and get an audible alert when a deviation occurs. Also the minimums warning feature is very handy. My biggest disappointment in the Aspen is that the alert system cannot be routed through the audio panel thereby making it useless when using noise cancelling headsets. I am working with my avionics people to install some sort of warning light that is easily noticed when the tone alert is sounded. I think this was a bad oversight. The best for last, the Aspen installation had a big fringe benefit for the Comanche because of the way the old Comanche panel was laid out. We were able to locate the Aspen directly over the control wheel with minor modifications to the old floating panel that was original equipment. The stall warning light had to be relocated and the plastic sub panel had to be cut to fit around the square PFD. The net effect is that it modernized the panel allowing all the flight instruments to be arranged in the standard “T” configuration without having to fabricate a whole new panel. This is a huge benefit to the Comanche. The retention of the old floating panel insures access to the controls and equipment located on the backside of the firewall, something most newly fabricated panels do not provide for. The original plastic false panel was retained and was cut perfectly so that only the most discerning eye would notice that the original cut-outs were not exactly centered on the PFD.