There’s a long way to go on the avionics panel.
MAINTAINING YOUR AIRPLANE Part 2:
Cessna 172 Skyhawk Avionics Repurposing serviceable material to fly again has always been a thing with GA owners.
by Richard Scarbrough
U pgrades are supposed to be fun. You and your significant other are lugging carry-ons, purses, and laptop cases, slugging them back to steerage, praying for a sliver of overhead space to avoid flying with your knees up in your chest. A flight attendant spots you and comes racing in for the rescue. You and your companion have been se- lected for an upgrade to first class. Mimosas, here we come! Yeah, those are not the aviation upgrades we are talking about today. No, these upgrades don’t come with steamy towelettes and tons of legroom. The upgrade on the docket is a little more involved as we go about removing legacy components that have been in place for decades—ah, the stories they could tell— and replacing them with repurposed avionics from a once hangar mate. Out with the old and in with the new! When last we left Corey, he had received the pull-off avionics parts from Ste- phen’s Saratoga and was prepping to install them in his 1966 Cessna 172H Sky- hawk. All set up in his T-hangar, it was time to get down to business. You heard
me correctly, ladies and gentlemen. After months of planning and a can-do atti- tude, Corey got busy pulling apart his panel. Careful, Diligent Removal Disassembly is easier than it sounds though one does not simply go ripping and snatching on aircraft components. While it is true these are pull-off units, they do have value. Corey could pass them along to another, as Saratoga Stephen did for him, sell them as cores, or keep them as souvenirs. The first order of business was to map what was to be accomplished before laying wrenches on it. As the pieces come out, it is important to take time to tag them with relevant information. Part number, serial number, condition “AR” for as removed, the date, and N-number of the aircraft. This is helpful if you need to identify the item later, especially if Corey passes them on to someone else. Once removed and tagged, Corey placed them out of harm’s way and began the task of preparing the panel for installation. Installation Prep Step one for the installation is to inventory everything. Steve and the crew from
4 Aircraft For Sale | May 2024
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