AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 36

PILOT BRIEFING
2020 SWEEPSTAKES

|

Step one: Sweepstakes RV-10 panel overhaul
Avionics light up for the first time in Oregon
B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N

THE MATTE-BLACK carbon-fiber instrument panel seemed far too light to do its
job. This precision-molded piece weighed
just ounces, not pounds like the flat slab
of metal it replaced, yet it was to be the
foundation of a three-screen, digital IFR
avionics suite that would transform the formerly VFR-only AOPA 2020 Sweepstakes
RV-10 into a modern traveler.
The box holding the pretty piece arrived
on the loading dock at Advanced Flight
Systems (AFS) in Portland, Oregon, and I
wondered aloud whether the panel could
stand up to the punishment it would take
traversing North America to attend aviation events during the next year and a half.
"Carbon fiber is actually a lot stronger than steel," said Rob Hickman, AFS
founder and president, who has a similar model in his own Van's RV-10. "It
wins on looks, strength, weight, and

36 | AOPA PILOT October 2019

durability. Carbon fiber looks delicate
but it's really tough stuff."
The panel was custom made at
Aerosport Products, an Ohio prototype
shop owned and operated by Geoff Combs,
an RV-10 builder and pilot. Combs also
designs and produces accessories such
as the carbon-fiber center console in the
Sweepstakes RV-10, overhead panels, and
aerodynamically streamlined door handles.
Hickman placed the barren panel on
a long wooden table in the AFS assembly
area where it would soon be fitted with
avionics. The extreme panel makeover
was beginning in a warehouse thousands
of miles away from the actual airplane
at AOPA headquarters in Frederick,
Maryland. And that's the way AFS prefers
to do business.
"We assemble the panel and avionics,
integrate them, and bench test everything

at our facility here in Oregon," Hickman
said. "Then we box up the completed
panel and send it to the customer for
installation. When it arrives, we know
that everything works the way it's supposed to work."
Panel overhauls-particularly total
changeovers such as this one-typically
take months to complete. But the AOPA
Sweepstakes RV-10 didn't have that kind
of time, or budget. And even if time and
money were plentiful, U.S. avionics shops
in late 2019 are so overwhelmed with
last-minute ADS-B installations that they
simply can't take on a major project like
this one.
AFS offered a better way. In a single intense afternoon, Jeffrey Hickman,
the founder's son, loaded the carbonfiber panel with an Avidyne IFD550 GPS,
two 10-inch AFS primary flight displays,



AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019

Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 10
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 12
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 20
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 26
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 28
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 30
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 32
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 34
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 36
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 46
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 50
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 55
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 58
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 65
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 67
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 71
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 74
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 76
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 78
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 98
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 99
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - 100
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2019 - Cover4
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