In the News

Dave Fetherston’s NexAir, an avionics shop south of Boston at the Mansfield airport, specializes in upgrades to older aircraft revolutionizing their instrument panels with the latest in “glass”. NexAir was even written up in a recent edition of Flying magazine for an upgrade of a Piper Saratoga panel with a full Avidyne R9 system.

Since NexAir is still working out certification issues with the FAA, I didn’t get to fly the Saratoga. But Dave offered me the opportunity to fly a 1977 Cessna 182Q with a panel incredibly updated with a Garmin 500 display fed by the very latest touchscreen Garmin GTN 650 and GTN 750 navigators.

The NexAir 182 mod may be one of the first completed panel upgrades in the country to use the GTN 650 and GTN 750 touchscreen units. Fetherston got the GTN 650 and GTN 750 at an AEA convention. The units were installed and fully integrated in an aircraft panel not much more than a month after Garmin announced them. The 182 is an airplane he co-owns. It was set up as a demonstrator aircraft for the 2011 AirVenture at Oshkosh, and is intended to be sold after Oshkosh. (His “fun plane” is a beautiful blue and yellow Stearman which he keeps in a hangar across from NexAir.)

The old Cessna plastic was removed from the panel and a new gray aluminum panel was installed. The 2-screen Garmin G500 was installed, plus the GTN 650 and GTN 750. A GMA 35 remote audio processor and a remote GTX 33 transponder, controlled through icons on the face of the GTN750, were installed. A JPI EDM 830 electronic engine monitor and an STec System 30 autopilot were also installed. Backup steam gauges were retained, including the artificial horizon, altimeter, and airspeed indicator on the left side of the panel and all of the original engine gauges on the right side, including the tach and manifold pressure gauges. Fetherston said he thought that it would be easier to get FAA certification if he left the steam gauges, and it provides a nice balance of the latest high tech displays and traditional steam gauges.

The Garmin 500 is just a display, although a very impressive one. It needs a Garmin 430/530 or GTN 650/750 to provide nav data. Charts, including instrument approach charts, can be displayed.

Fetherston said that the three big improvements in the GTN 650/750 were the FMS capability to display airways; the integrated transponder and audio panel in the 750 (integrated transponder but not audio panel control is available with the 650); and greatly improved screen resolution.

Getting to my favorite part, we fired up the 182 and headed out for a demo flight. Fetherston let me fly from the right seat, and I was glad to see that my takeoff was smooth despite not having flown 182s for a while. Fetherston programmed a triangular course from Mansfield Airport to Hopedale Airport to North Central Airport and back to Mansfield Airport. He began by demonstrating STec System 30 autopilot Heading and then GPSS hold functions. The Heading function accurately maintained the heading set in. When the GPSS function was selected, the autopilot turned the plane to intercept the programmed course to Hopedale Airport. When we arrived near Hopedale Airport, the autopilot smoothly turned the plane onto the course line to North Central Airport. The autopilot also has a minimal altitude hold function, with the ability to move the elevator. If there is too much altitude hold commanding required, a “Trim” yellow light will illuminate, indicating that manual trim is needed.

The GTN 650 and GTN 750 were intuitive and very easy to use. The icons were large, and I had no problem using them to program functions. (My impression of the GTN 750 was that it was not as large as I had expected it to be.) One of the main improvements over the GNS 430/530 is that the new units can program flights on airways, which the 430/530 could not. If I were upgrading my plane’s panel now, I would put in the GTN 650 rather than a GNS 430, even if the older 430 was less expensive.

As we approached Mansfield Airport, Dave loaded the GPS Runway 32 approach. A procedure turn for a course reversal was required. The entry to the procedure turn and the procedure turn course was depicted on the GTN 750, and the autopilot flew it smoothly.

Fetherston was very open about the prices of the units as installed in the demo 182. The total installed price is $80,000. The installed prices of each of the component units are:

a. G500 $21,000
b. GTN 650 $14,000
c. GTN 750 $18,000
d. Remote GTX33 Transponder $4,000
e. Remote GMA 35 Audio Panel $4,000
f. JPI EDM 830 $5,000
g. STec System 30 Autopilot $14,000

If you have an old airplane you love and a desire for a “glass panel” and some money to spend, contact Dave Fetherston at NexAir at 508 339-7077 or by e-mail at sales@nexairavionics.com.

Check out their website at www.nexairavionics.com.

Source:
Atlantic Flyer, August 2011
Pg. 10
Jim Ellis

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