72’ PA-28R-200, N4792T

DevBrooks

I bought this last year, first-timer. I got a few hours of flying with the traditional steam gauges before going into its annual and then straight into a full panel makeover. Love the improved SA but I have to admit…….it’s a lot of data to process in the beginning.

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Currently working on my instrument ticket and should have that wrapped up in the next month or so. Flying around here, IFR rating is a necessity because of the swift changes in wx.

griff390

DevBrooks;

Wow, beautiful makeover! The lighted switches really set it off!

epowell

Wow that's a change!

DevBrooks

Thanks.

BTW, does anyone know why I can’t see the pics I’ve uploaded? I only see icons.

Hmmm?

Scott Sherer

My guess is that you used "upload files" rather than "upload pics". Use the second icon below, not the fourth.

Rocky Landsverk

adding the pictures in a different way (using the second icon, photos, from the row at the bottom when you post)

empannin

Looks great! For learning new avionics systems I recommending first learning how to get back to a "home" page and then "teaching" your hands how to do this. This will take some of the stress out of transitions.

The G5's are nice as the presentation is much like an attitude indicator. Roll, pitch, airspeed and altitude. Practice with the blue button VFR to see how it recovers. Your IFR test will all be hand flown but in actual use the AP will be of great assistance once you have your IFR ticket. I would recommend making some of your IFR training AP heavy or continuing with your instructor post ticket with a focus on AP use.

The trick is not to have the AP fly the plane. The trick is to hand tasks to the AP that you can pull back and fly manually anytime. The dialog should be "I have my approach set and I am vectors to the final approach course expected in 5 min. I am going to let the AP fly the approach until 500 AGL. Speed on target, trimmed for hand off, autopilot on"

If the dialog in IMC is "I am going to press this button and see what happens" the AP is flying the plane and not you. Of course, when you are learning there are lot's of times when you will press buttons and see what happens. IFR panel integrations can be complicated and not intuitive. One of my instructors told me he used to get requests all the time from VFR pilots stuck in IMC where they wanted him to fly the plane back. He would turn all of these down unless he had prior experience in that specific plane and was convinced it was IFR current. In IMC is not a good time to find INOP equipment or confusion on what NAV couples to what NAV head.

Flying IFR in IMC is serious business (and serious fun). Flying IFR you are permissioned into the national airspace system used 24/7 by professionals and the expectations are professional piloting from 787's to 152's.

Have fun getting your IFR rating. You now have the perfect platform for it!