AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2013 - 30

PILOT BRIEFING
AOPA sweepstakes coverage sponsored by BANK OF AMERICA

Three ways to win
one of 76 prizes in
AOPA's Debonair
Sweepstakes
Join or renew your
AOPA membership and
you will be entered to
win in AOPA's Debonair
Sweepstakes. AOPA is
giving away a completely
restored 1963 Beechcraft
Debonair B33 with an
all-new ergonomic
interior, the latest
avionics, and an up-todate airframe as the
grand prize. Plus, you
could also win one of
75 other great aviation
prizes. Visit the website
(www.aopa.org/
Membership/Sweeps.
aspx) for ways to enter.

Leather and glass
Putting both in action

THE DEBONAIR'S brand-new front
office, complete with interior by
AirMod, panel by Santa Fe Aero
Services, and seats covered by
Garrett Leather Corporation's
finest leather.

BY THOMAS A. HORNE
AFTER FLYING THE DEBONAIR with its funky old interior for more than a year, it was a relief to experience
the airplane's much-needed overhaul. Ohio's Clermont
County Airport-based Air Mod did the work and it's
a sight to behold. Air Mod has done several of AOPA's
sweepstakes interior renovations-each one a beauty,
and this one's no exception. Ergonomically correct
leather seats with lumbar support are the first things
you notice, and the most important in making even
super-long flights the most comfortable they can be.
The added touches are nice, too. Things such as storage pockets and a large compartment for holding
charts, iPads, flashlights, notes, and other necessities. Air Mod's Dennis Wolter went an extra step and
added vintage Beechcraft logo shields (with the big
Beechcraft "B") to the side panels.
A lot of Air Mod's best work isn't visible. It's the
extensive internal cleanup and anti-corrosion measures. This is documented pretty well in my "Sweepstakes
Logbook" blog entries, where the photos show an ugly
belly with inch-deep geological layers of dirt transformed
into gleaming aluminum, which is then coated with zinc
chromate for long life. Luckily for us, there was no corrosion. But if there had been, it would have been eliminated.
"Now the airplane is good for another 30 years," Wolter
says of his anti-corrosion work.
I was pumped for the 730-nm trip from Clermont
County to AOPA Summit in Fort Worth, Texas. The
airplane was filled to the gills with 120 gallons of

30 | AOPA PILOT December 2013

fuel-more than enough for what would
be a five-hour, 11-minute nonstop journey.
It was during the runup that it happened. The Aspen primary flight display (PFD) came up with two red Xs.
For some reason the screen had died. A quick scan of the cockpit showed no
breakers popped or anything else untoward. I stared in disbelief at the Xs.
After the shock wore off, I figured it out. The Aspen Evolution system in the
Debonair consists of two multifunction displays (MFDs) and a PFD-three
screens in all. And the PFD and rightmost MFD have attitude and heading
reference systems (AHRS) of their own. So the solution was to push the red
Rev button on the MFD. This puts the right MFD in reversionary mode, and
up came the attitude and heading information. I was good to go.
After takeoff, I was even able to link the S-Tec System 50 autopilot to
the MFD. You simply move the centrally mounted Autopilot Source toggle switch to the MFD Rev position. Now the autopilot has all it needs for
heading, altitude hold, and nav tracking functions. It was as though I never
lost any capability. This was another neat feature of the Aspen installation,
as well as the panel architecture designed by Santa Fe Aero Services, the
avionics shop that made the Deb's new panel. By the end of the day, Aspen
responded to the problem by replacing the faulty PFD.
At AOPA Summit, it was time for visiting members to get a look at the
new interior for themselves. The most frequently heard comment? "Man,
get a load of that new-car smell!"
EMAIL tom.horne@aopa.org

ON THE

WEB

VISIT the sweepstakes blog (http://blog.aopa.org/
sweepstakes_logbook/) for updates and
related news.

http://www.aopa.org/Membership/Sweeps.aspx http://www.aopa.org/Membership/Sweeps.aspx http://www.aopa.org/Membership/Sweeps.aspx http://www.aopa.org/Membership/Sweeps.aspx http://blog.aopa.org/sweepstakes_logbook/ http://blog.aopa.org/sweepstakes_logbook/ http://blog.aopa.org/sweepstakes_logbook/

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2013