The Long Install Wait

As one of the first to make the R9 upgrade, I knew to expect that the installation would be slow.  And, I also should have known that my service center (sc), Eagle Creek Aviation in Indianapolis, would want to be painstaking in the process.  Bill Frank's plane was in line ahead of me.  After attending the Transition Training in Melbourne, FL in late April, Bill left his plane in Indy to get started on May 4th.  I had it in my mind that the sc could put my plane in the same bay and go from one to the other, and aimed to deliver it to them on about the 8th.  But, they were not ready for that when I called, and asked if I could bring it in on the 11th. 

I left the plane at Eagle Creek on the 11th, and checked back on the 15th.  At that time I was told by one person that they would get started shortly, but the shop foreman said that they would not start until they finished with Bill's plane.  While I wanted the 1st opinion to be right, I knew it would be a better install if I exercised as much patience as possible.  So,  I spent lots of time watching Bill's installation, even to the point of filming a good part of it.  Jeff Schneider of Eagle Creek did a great job of working with the plane, carefully documenting each step.  Jeff provided several suggestions to Avidyne to correct portions of the drawing, schematics and processes.  I was really impressed with his patience in testing each wire, hand fashioning each connector, and staying on task even with me and the Avidyne team checking on him daily. 

Bill's plane required a WAAS upgrade, so the time involved was bound to be longer than mine.  This video is of the composite repair needed on Bill's plane.

As I checked in every few days on the progress of Bill's, it became more and more apparent that mine would not get started until they finished with his.  I kept filming his, and submitted the film to Avidyne for use on their Avidynelive website (http://avidynelive.com/default.asp).  The progress seemed very slow, but at least there was progress.  My plane was not flying in the meantime though, and at times my patience was strained.  In the meantime, I posted a forum item on COPA to see if there was any interest in my used audio stack, as I would no longer need my audio panel, Garmin 430 W gps units, or transponder.  To my surprise, I received many calls and e-mails, and eventually found a buyer in Texas for the whole system.  It was sold by the 20th, and the buyer was standing by for the parts to be removed from the plane.  The sc was good enough to "yellow tag" them, marked removed from service for upgrade, so that the buyer would have good documentation when he installed them.  I also sold my spare data cards and Skybound adapter.

While waiting for the install to begin I was still working to reduce the price.  One bone of contention was the new instrument panel, quoted at over $1,000.  I first questioned the need to replace the panel at all, but the new IFD units attach with different hardware, and the attachment points needed to be changed.  In addition, the holes are slightly different shapes.  While the old panel could probably be patched, it would look patched, and for a major upgrade that did not seem desirable.  So, I queried Avidyne for a different source.  They had done the experimental plane, and Alan K's.  They referred me to Herold Precision at http://www.heroldprecision.com/, and said the panel could be gotten for about $350.  I passed this on to my sc, but they said that when they check with Herold the price was for a panel with just the IFD holes, and that the cost to recut it for the additional holes required for my specific installation and to get it screen printed would not save anything, and would delay the panel.  I am inclined to think I should have insisted, but the finished panel does really look good.

Another option discussed and set aside was the ELT.  I had asked about installing a 406 ELT along with the R9 upgrade, but so far the R9 software won't communicate with a 406.  This defeats the GPS coordinate delivery designed into the 406 concept.  Also, the ELT replacement is relatively easy, so it does not need to be done with the install.  The last major option decision had to do with provisioning the plane for eventual EVS (infared) camera install.  The software is free to me as an Early Adopter. But, the additional cable would have run almost $1,000.  Originally I was ready to do this, but I found that there is no conduit into the left wing on a G2 plane to run the cable.  I was also told that there was no engineering for creation of a conduit.  This meant that the cable would be left below the pilot seat, waiting for a future install into the left wing. (Forward Vision told me at Migration that they had the engineering already done as part of their STC, but by that time I was past the decision)  I had always been hesitant to purchase the camera, anyway, so I canceled this portion of the upgrade.  These changes dropped about $2,000 from my quoted price.

All the while, Bill's plane was nearing completion.  Finally, at the end of May Bill's plane was finished.  I missed the final stages as I was gone to visit my son in Washington.  But, I was elated to see that work was going to finally start on mine.  It was too bad my plane sat for a month, and that just goes to show that communication with the sc is a key part of the process.