Instrument Panel Planning

[spinningwrench]

Here is the preliminary layout for the panel in my Patrol. The 7” Garmin just fits in the factory supplied panel. I’ll probably be dumping the analog VSI gage.

E99A4250-55FE-4914-888B-BD1986951677.jpg

[rodsmith]

Very nice, well thought out.

[schu]

I was just studying this and a whole bunch of thoughts/critiques came to mind. If you want me to write them down, please let me know

[rodsmith]

Coming from the certified world I am familiar with Garmin avionics and was planning to go that route in my model B, but it looks like Dynon dominates in the Bearhawks with glass panels. Perhaps one of the reasons is size? I'm still in the cardboard version of CAD, but it appears the Garmin 10" display will not fit in the Bearhawk while the Dynon and GRT 10" displays will. Can anyone that has already gone down this road, or has better CAD skills, confirm that the Garmin 10" will or will not fit in the stock 4 place/model B panel? I believe Sebastian and Bdflies both used the 10" in their 4 place and Patrol, but they also modified their panels.

I would think you could have at least a 10" and 7" screen in the panel. To compare your factory panel with my custom panel (plans built fuselage) mine is 10 3/8" high, the flat portion on top is 26" wide before the sides start curving down. Two Garmin 10" screens fit well. I wish I had built it a 1/2" taller, would have allowed switch placement below the PFD.

DSCF1465.jpg

[edmo]

May kit panel is 9.75" in the center tapering to 9.25" where the upper left corner of the display would be. With the fuselage tube across the bottom and a mounting tab above that I run out of room for the 7.9" high Garmin compared to the 7" high Dynon or GRT. Before considering a flange around the perimeter to attach to the boot cowl. I was more looking to confirm that I wasn't missing something and everyone running the 10" Garmin had made a custom panel. Not that I believe making a new panel and boot cowl would be difficult, just making sure I know what I'm getting into if I go that route.

[spinningwrench]

Garmin 10 Inch.pdf

The Garmin 10" display at 10.85" x 7.82" would just fit in the panel of my Patrol as supplied from the factory. The 7" as shown in my previous post fits easily. The attached drawing of the 10"only shows the completely flat portion of the panel so there would be a bit of fudge room at the top corners.

[robcaldwell]

The bezel on the Garmin seems excessively large (wide). The Dynon seems to take up less space.

I am in the process of doing away with my Avidyne IFD-540 and replacing with 2 Dynon Skyview Radios. That will give back 13 pounds and a 2nd radio for redundancy.

[edmo]

I thought that you wanted to be IFR capable, are you going without a GPS navigator? I realize many of the systems and radios have built in audio panels and two place intercoms. I was under the impression for a four place intercom you needed a dedicated audio panel. I have seen several four place that don't seem to have an audio panel including yours and Nev's. On second glance is that a PM3000 for your intercom?

My current plan is a similar setup expect instead of the IFD-540 either an IFD-4XX or Garmin 6XX to leave room for an audio panel.

[jaredyates]

I came to the same conclusion having a 430 in the blue plane, but never got around to taking it out. You might want to verify that the Dynon intercom supports 4 seats. I really like the PSE units that allow us to separate the conversation between the front seaters and the back, plus bluetooth phone and audio functions.

[TimTall]

As of just over a year ago, the Dynon intercom is only a 2 place. Maybe they've upgraded it but it didn't sound like they were in a hurry to do that when I asked. I ended up going with the PM 3000 that I bought from Jared.

[robcaldwell]

I should have mentioned that the components I indicated for this upgrade were suggested to me by Aerotronics, my original panel builder. They state that I cannot use the ICS with dual COMS. I will need an audio panel as a switching source for the 2 COMS. I need to find out if the audio panel will isolate or not.

[svyolo]

The GRT 10 inch sport and Horizon (my choice) both fit, as does the 10" Dynon. I am pretty sure the MGL and larger Advanced (my first choice) don't fit. Not sure about the Garmin but I think it does. My panel is not stock, but is stock in dimension. If I was going to use the stock kit supplied panel I might prefer two smaller panels as the larger panels will significantly weaken the stock panel. I don't know if that is that important.

[500AGL]

One builder is looking at going full IFR in the patrol. This panel is 1/2” taller dead center then factory. Edges are the same.

[Nev]

I have seen several four place that don't seem to have an audio panel including yours and Nev's. On second glance is that a PM3000 for your intercom?

I went with the PM3000 because Dynon only made a two-place intercom. The PM3000 seems to work well.

Overall I'm very happy with my panel - it has everything I need, and nothing that I don't. I wanted a purely VFR setup with minimal redundancy. I definitely didn't want IFR. If I was going to change anything I would consider having a second radio like Rob. The Dynon radio has the ability to listen on the standby frequency which is great. However the actual button pressing to do this is an issue and can be frustrating.

Regarding redundancy, I've often thought that in aviation we place significant emphasis on having multiple redundancy in some areas while accepting a disproportionately higher level of risk in other areas. So my main focus was to ensure that engine and fuel system was reliable, and that the engine kept running in the event of a complete electrical failure. Other than that I can land very safely with no electrics.

It is very nice being able to have a full screen dedicated to a large moving map display and I find that is a huge improvement over map reading for situational awareness.

[jaredyates]

I started out without an audio panel, just using an intercom and a home-made circuit to mix all of the various audio inputs that weren't radios. When a PAR100EX came along at a good deal, I installed that, and liked it much better. That was an audio panel that also had a remote vhf radio, which was controlled from the audio panel. It had so many useful features that in building my current panel, I wanted to install one even if I only had one radio. I couldn't find the same unit but I was able to find a used PDA360EX. It doesn't have the remote radio like the other one did, but both have the three-way isolate (pilot only, front seat only, all four), bluetooth for music and phone, optional separate music for the front seat and the back seat, and mixing of other audio sources. These days even the transponder has an audio output. If I ever add a second radio, already having the audio panel will be nice too. The long term plan would include a Skyview system and a Dynon radio.

[PCScofield]

I am not a plans/kit owner (yet), but I am cogitating! Does anyone have a useable panel sketch they could share for rough planning and placement purposes for the BH 5.. I won't build from it, just plan. I run Fusion-360 so it would held me to set up a CAD file for placement...any .dxf or IGES or STEP file would be useful. Absent that, a simple PDF that I can rough scale from would be great!

In fact mine might be tougher as I really want a left hand throttle quadrant and I am willing to do the work if it can be fitted.

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks.

Best Regards, Patrick.

[RatherBFlying]

Check out https://hangarflying.com/
They have blank panel templates for the Bearhawk Models (accuracy unknown), and images / sizes for most popular avionics. You can play around with your panel layout, no .dxf export option though.

[PCScofield]

You are correct...a bit rough. Thanks, the 5 panel appears bigger.

Patrick

[coosbo]

Here's mine, if it helps.

[500AGL]

I can upload dxf panel blanks this coming week.