Please enjoy an article featuring VIP Avionics, Inc.
The article was published in the January 2004 issue of Cessna
Pilots Association Magazine
and is titled “Putting New Smarts Into a Rugged Old Bird” by Mike Jones.
This article is reprinted with permission. For more information, see www.cessna.org.
Last
summer, my panel envy was self-induced. I
bought N759N, a 1979 Cessna Turbo 210 which had called Torrance, California home
for 23 years. N7591N has
spectacular paint, and elegant leather interior and a rock-solid power plant.
My plan was to use ‘91N to commute from my home in North Carolina to my
office in New Britain, Connecticut. It’s
a 600 mile trip that takes 12 hard hours on I-95 or eight circuitous hours
flying commercial; pick your poison. Cruising
in the high teens in 7591N, I zip over Virginia, dash up the New Jersey
coastline and cross Long Island Sound in just over three hours.
The
Problems
My commuting plans quickly came off
the tracks once the limited IFR capabilities of the plane’s tired avionics
became evident. Systems that may
have been fine for the “severe-clear” California desert simply were no match
for mid-Atlantic thunderstorms.
Much
of the panel was the original Cessna equipment and two decades of desert heat
had not been kind. The DME was
flaky. The RNAV was dead and the
Loran inop. Both the marker beacons
and the digital fuel flow monitor took holidays at irregular intervals.
The sluggish transponder needed 20 long minutes before begrudgingly
flashing a reply light. (My
apologies to the gracious controllers at Fayetteville, NC, too often burdened
with my transponderless departures.)
Another
worry was the lack of any significant redundancy.
Most of my flying is IFR, and having already endured both a total
electrical failure and a separate vacuum failure in my old C-182, I believe
every major system demands redundancy. Call
me old-fashioned, but a guy wearing a belt and suspenders never gets surprised.
Plus
I had that panel envy problem, too. Modern
electronics have a chin-dropping effect on passengers.
I wanted a moving map. I
wanted airborne weather. I wanted a
plane smarter than me. I wanted a
white scarf.
To
all of which my mostly-sainted wife simply said, “Do it.”
The
hardest work was to determine what to buy and where to buy it.
The
most valuable information came from other pilots, and the ultimate hangar-flying
was a 3-day Cessna Pilot’s Association seminar on the 210.
During the day, we studied schematics.
In the evenings, we walked the ramp, comparing planes and telling lies.
Gradually
the hardware selection crystallized in my mind.
A Garmin 530 with satellite weather and Mode S traffic alerting would be
at the heart of the avionics stack. A
battery-powered Garmin 295 would back-up the panel-mounted unit.
A PS Engineering audio panel would restore my marker beacons.
My wallet would take a beating, but it would be a formidable
installation.
I
selected VIP Avionics at Brainard Field, Hartford, CT to do the job.
I chose VIP because they were close to my office, their prices were
reasonable, their facility was thoroughly equipped and their hangar was busy.
They had extensive Cessna experience and the references were superior.
In retrospect, it was a great choice.
In
February 2003 I taxied down the snow-covered runway at Brainard onto the VIP
ramp. With the trepidation of a
parent delivering a child to summer camp, I gave the keys to VIP manager Rob
Lenert and left 7591N in his hands.
VIP
starts every installation with a thorough test of aircraft systems.
This inspection uncovers a wide range of surprises ranging from the
trivial – non-functional panel lighting – to the critical, such as an
inoperative stall warning horn. Years
of rain and dust had eroded the antennas. Vacuum
hoses were brittle and likely to fail. The
list of surprises grew discouragingly long.
During this phase Rob often had the unhappy task of reporting bad news;
he commiserated elegantly.
On
the positive side, VIP worked hard to deliver the most for my money.
They helped me relocate instruments while keeping labor costs to a
minimum. They resurrected the Storm Scope with only a day’s worth of
troubleshooting. The glide slope
receiver on Nav 1 was re-installed on Nav 2, saving $ 400.
Small savings perhaps, but they add up.
The
great German statesman, Count von Bismarck, said gentlemen should see neither
sausages nor laws being made. Bismarck
should have added airplanes to his list. My
first inspection of 791N’s progress was shocking.
The interior was stripped bare. The
panel was a horrendous scramble of wires and connectors.
Empty openings resembled a lifeless face. But Lenert kept me calm.
Little
procedures made a big difference. On
my second visit, I asked about the small cotton bags scattered around the
airplane. At VIP, it seems when a
tech removed a system he collects the nuts and screws in a bag and ties the bag
to the airframe, keeping everything organized until reassembly.
VIP was solving a problem I hadn’t even thought about.
Watching
the technicians was delightful, like a slow-motion ballet.
Efficient and confident, they thoughtfully moved through procedures with
every step planned in advance. They
resembled astronauts rehearsing space walks underwater.
By
late March all of the system integration was completed.
On a brisk, windy first day of Spring, the VIP techs towed 7591N into the
sunshine and began a long, systematic check-out.
They tested every headset jack and radio, the new transponder and new
instruments. They spun the compass.
The Storm Scope glowed. The
headsets were magically silent; the wingtip strobes no longer “pinged” the
headsets.
A
few glitches were discovered. The oil pressure gauge drooled hot oil onto the carpeting.
The vacuum system leaked mysteriously; the whole panel was disassembled
to troubleshoot and repair it. The
analog oil temperature gauge redlined with one last grounding problem that took
hours to diagnose. But overall the
ground tests were totally successful.
Satisfied
that everything was in working order, VIP sent the paperwork to the FAA for
their approval while Rob phoned me with the good news.
A ten-page entry was pasted into the logbooks.
As an extra bonus, the plane was fifteen pounds lighter and two knots
faster than before the upgrade.
My
first sight of the finished project was in mid-April.
The new burled walnut panel glistened with the velvety shine that
bespeaks fine waxes and a bunch of money. The
new instruments glimmered behind scratch-free glass.
Rob fired up the Garmin and for the first time I saw that beautiful,
bright display. 7591N was headed
back into the sky.
A formal presentation of the "Avionics Technician of the Year Award" was made to VIP's Rob Lenert at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on July 2000. Lenert joined VIP in 1995 as a shop supervisor responsible for the quality and productivity of the installation and service departments. He began his career in avionics while serving in the US Navy. While in the military he was designated as an Avionics Quality Assurance Inspector. After six years in the service, Lenert decided to focus his attention on General Aviation avionics and in 1992, was accredited by the State of Connecticut to teach avionics to aspiring technicians.
Lenert has developed test/repair protocol and quality assurance programs for frequency sythesizers, power amplifiers, and the ARC 200 and 400 series autopilot. He is recognized as New England's authority in autopilot service. Rob is experienced with STEC, King, ARC, Century and other commonly installed auto-pilots. Along with his expertise in the shop, Lenert also teaches, presenting his autopilot safety and routine maintenance seminar to pilot clubs, FAA pilot safety programs, and FAA maintenance personnel during recurrent training.
Lenert also ensures proper and safe operation from pilots by consistently flying with aircraft owners to align and test autopilot systems. It is no surprise to those of us who work closely with Rob, that he was recognized for his expertise and given this award!
