Piper PA-28 181 Cherokee 1984

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

Piper Aircraft PA-28 181 Cherokee 1984

Owner:

About Me

Flying since 1992. IFR qualified. Take a lot of AOPA online courses-they are well done. Enjoy taking trips - Alaska, Hudson Bay, California, Grand Canyon, Texas, BVI

Live in the Boondocks where I can get out to do flying many days, weather permitting.

My Panel (Before and After)

Had a rather standard mid - 80’s Piper panel with King Radios, etc, Northstar Loran, Garmin 396 and S-Tec 30. Wanted to upgrade to a panel mount Garmin 430. The avionics shop mentioned that the Evolution would be a great additional upgrade and would enable GPSS on the Aspen and could also tie in the 396 so that I would have weather plus music and a moving sectional map. Did the 430 and Aspen at the same install.

My Aspen Experience

Doing the 430 and Evolution simultaneously has made transition a bit more challenging. GPS has been relatively easy to integrate and approaches are a quick learn. ILS, Localizer, and VOR take a good bit more training, but it is coming. Since you are coordinating GPS and VOR1/2, exiting GPSS, changing from NAV to HI/Lo on the S-Tec, it takes some additional thinking and coordinating and I find that I am still making way to many mistakes (some of these changes have to be made rather quickly and if they are not rote it is easy to hit the wrong button, forget to punch this or change that. It is coming, but takes some repetition to get it stuck to the memory bank.

The Evolution is a great tool and I am getting rather familiar with the readout after the normal re-scan familiarization. Now the horizon, rudder needle, speeds, winds, heading indicator, buttons, knobs and keys are starting to fall in place. Most of the training has been OJT since my avionics shop is a two hour flight away.

In sum, I really believe the Aspen will come to be a great tool and addition to situational awareness. Like with all computers, it would be great to buy the “mechanic/trainer” with the unit and have someone at your side as you learn. Maybe Aspen will volunteer to send someone to Boondocks USA where I live to assist me!