Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Dean Cuke has a glass panel, I have the steam guages, Im like John kina old fashion. Deans Panel is roughly 25-30#s lighter than mine, it is Feather weight and he did a fine job on it. When I want to look at a Glass panel I look at my I - Pad, I am very old Fashion but that I-Pad I will have to say burns the charts before they come off the press. There are alot of options thats for sure, the Glass Panel is here to stay and thats good, I hope the old steam Guages will fair as well in the future, they are a little heavy, but the old buggers work well, especially for us back in the day Folks......Dan

http://aviation.levil.com/ilevil-2-aw.html

Has anyone looked at this? $1400 isn't that cheap but it weighs 11 oz and can have up to 10 tablets,phones,etc hooked up. Pitot/static connections. I was thinking of two Ipads panel mounted with the docks that have the air connection to the back to handle the overheating issue. it's Wi-fi and if your Ipad goes out, use the other one or pull your phone out and turn it on. will also hook up other displays and will tie into an autopilot down the road.

Has anyone seen/tried/played with one? It would make setting up a panel very easy from what I see. You could also take your pads with you and cut down on the thief aspect. Some of the apps will even replicate the old 6 pack guage so you could still have the look if you wanted.

Thoughts?

Personally I'm more interested in ADS-B out, it's what's going to be required in 4 years, I want something that will work with my KT76a my intention is to get what's required, spend as little money as needed and spend more money on fuel for fun. Anyone out there equipped with such an animal? If so what are you using and how difficult was the installation? we all need it sooner or later.

Lance N38DT

Here are a couple of photos of my install of a Navworx ADS600-EXP, it's so new I haven't flown it yet. I have run the config software and it is getting data from my KT76A transponder. I installed it under the passenger seat because it allowed me easy access to the transponder antenna cable to attach the Navworx TransmonSPE (Transponder monitor Single Point Entry). In the photo the main box is mounted to the bottom skin, the coil of cable is a 6' usb cable from the TransmonSPE which is mounted on the right (partly hidden by the seat rail) and clamps on to the transponder antenna cable. The other cable bundle is the excess GPS antenna cable. My transponder antenna is in the center of the usb coil. The hardest part of the install was crawling into the tail cone to install the UAT antenna cable, it needed to be 5' from the transponder antenna.


I purchased the interior gps antenna, the black one on the right. The other gps antenna is for my panel mount non-waas gps. They are both mounted on the aft part of the turtle deck under the canopy.


The other features I like about this unit is the wifi, it'll talk to my iPad and sent it traffic and weather, it has an internal WAAS gps and when squawking 1200 (vfr) it goes into stealth mode and sends tail number N0 instead of my tail number. No sense telling the FAA who you are all the time when they don't need to know. Also this unit was the least expensive ADS-B solution for me with my current equipment.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

Bruce,

I've had one of those Navworx units on order for my new project since OSH this year. Did you just very recently receive yours?

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

NavWorks has just started shipping units in the last few weeks FYI

Bill,
I ordered my unit mid April from Pacific Coast Avionics and recieved it Oct 28.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

I like the idea of "clamping on" the transponder pickup to the existing x-pndr cable and using my existing mode-S transponder . I haven't pulled the trigger yet on buying a unit , but the simpler the better ! Me thinks I'll wait a bit more as these "experimental units" will start to breed like fleas on a sleeping dog !

RB

I spoke with Rick Garcia at GulfCoast Avionics about ADS-B. His comment was " wait three years, then buy".

Bruce, nice install, let us know how it works after you fly it. How many hours for the install and did it come with a wire harness or at least an instruction sheet?

Lance

The RV guys on Vans Airforce has some threads on their installations

If your transponder is not real old it'll have an RS-232 connection and can communicate directly with the NavWorx unit, wired through that, and you won't need the "clamp-on" unit - the NavWorx unit will read the code you have set on the transponder and set itself accordingly. You don't need anything more than a Mode C transponder, but you need the proper altitude encoder also. One additional (perhaps minor) advantage to having a Mode C vs Mode S is that the necessary certification checks are more complicated & more costly for Mode S.

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

John, what do yon mean about having the"right" encoder is there a list provided?


Lance

If you have one of the very common ACK A30.5 units for instance, that won't work. You'd need an A30.9 (mod. 9). It's actually a very simple internal difference between them, and the price difference is only a little over $20. I guess what I'm saying is that you have to have an RS-232 output on your transponder, whatever brand you have.

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

It was a great day in Seattle for commiting aviation, when out this morning with my instructor for my "biannual review" and later this afternoon to do some checkout of things new to the aircraft. The Navworx box performed just fine from my perspective, screen shot of FlyQ EFB from my iPad showing traffic, i was at 2800' near my home field, the 15-33 black line is the extended center line from S36, lots of traffic in the area, I was only able to see the aircraft below me and an airliner on final to SeaTac without the traffic map.


Note: the install manual is available on Navworx web site http://www.navworx.com/documents/ADS600-EXP%20Installation%20Manual.pdf
Not sure of the number of hours as I didn't keep track. I made my own harness but you can purchase premade ones from Navworx. With the TransMonSPE only 5 wires are needed, 1 power 2 ground 3 UAT antenna cable 4 gps antenna 5 USB cable to the TransMonSPE.

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Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA