Thorp Air Command - T18.net

We finally flew 78WG after a 4 month, intensive annual. Prior to the annual, several instruments had gone the way of the dodo, including the Narco 122, ADI, CHT, and DG. There were also several unused antennas and an avionics tray from an old Apollo. Needless to say it was time to clean up the wiring and panel. The intent was to do a full vacuum delete, be capable of light IFR, shed a few pounds, and build it like Walt would have if he had access to the avionic available today.

We removed:
2 Antennas
3 Coax Cables
2 Wiring Harness
8 Go-Pro mounts
Full vacuum system
The old ADI, DG, ASI, T/B Indicator, CHT gauge, and VSI
The old Apollo tray
Lots of degraded foam insulation
A few vintage pieces of FOD

We installed:
Garmin 175
GRT Sport EX
GRT Safefly WAAS GPS/ECHOUAT combo (yes I know its redundant, I didn't know I was putting the Garmin in at the time)
AV-30 as a back-up ADI
FC-10 fuel flow
An AUX battery and bus

The original idea was to replace the radio with a Trig Nav/Com that was suppose to be released in November of 2019, but that came and went and they hadn't gained certification nor did it look like that would happen for a while yet. Hence the Garmin 175. The panel blank was made to match the original pop out six pack. The actual install wasn't terribly time consuming once I developed a firm grasp of the manuals, and the old wiring harness were relatively easy to separate after spending a night or two tracing wires. The GRT products are generally very homebuilder friendly, while the Garmin stuff is very much geared towards someone who does it for a living (not me). The AV-30 was delightfully simple to setup and configure, I'd highly recommend it to anyone. Now it is a matter of getting everything to play nice with one another. The GRT serial ports have been a pain to configure, but that is likely due to user error. I think the end product came out nice and looks like it was always meant to be there. I'm not sure how much weight came out in the end, but I'm sure I made up at least a knot or two with all those Go-Pro mounts gone!

Looks good, Andy. I had many good trips in my T-18, sometimes with my wife, flying somewhere as a flight of 2 with Walt & Bev in that airplane. He was a good friend... sure miss him.

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

Well done! That’s a lot of work. She looks nice.
Cubes

How many hours are on 78WG? Was my goal at one time to catch up to Walt.

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Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

Thank you! It has been quite the project. She has just under 2900 hours now, I've put ~250 on the tach since I bought just over 2 years ago. I've been emailing Bev back and fourth some keeping her updated on the plane. Hopefully I will be able to fly it out to Pueblo after the military lifts their travel ban...

Szekely,

Andy

Let us know. Maybe we can fly a few of the Thorp Air Force birds out of Vegas and meet you there!
Cubes

I've had that bird off my wing as well - The PUB is within range of my bladder - probably couldn't decimate the Air Force with this ADS-B stuff though. Cubes would see me coming. I'll have to start working on a jamming system.

Really nice job on the panel!

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Fraser MacPhee
N926WM
Serial #279-1
Angel Fire, NM (KAXX)