AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2021 - 33

AOPA NEWS |

IFLIGHT PLANNER
FUEL UPDATES NOW
OFFERED DAILY

OUT WITH THE OLD AVIONICS, instruments, and wiring-all to be replaced with digital
avionics and instrumentation. The bundle on the floor weighed 62 pounds; the wiring
alone weighed 12 pounds. The vacuum system also will be removed.

equipment and installation costs can equal
or exceed larger flight displays, such as the
7-inch G3X Touch. You'll want to do a cost
comparison to determine which upgrade
route makes the most sense for your situation and budget.
Although the GI 275 option was compelling, we will install a full glass cockpit
in the sweepstakes airplane. A new instrument panel will be filled with two Garmin
G3X Touch flight displays (a 10-inch
primary flight display and a 7-inch multifunction display), a G5 back-up attitude
indicator, a GMA 245 audio panel, a GNX
375 all-in-one GPS navigator and transponder with ADS-B In and Out, a GNC 255
back-up nav/com radio, a GMC 507 autopilot control panel, and two GSB 15 USB
chargers containing a total of four charging ports.
With our plan confirmed and the
required equipment ordered from Garmin,
the AOPA Sweepstakes Grumman Tiger
was delivered to J.A. Air Center in Aurora,
Illinois. Soon after arriving, the Tiger was
stripped of its avionics, engine gauges,
and all associated wiring. The mass of

antiquated equipment and wiring weighed
an astonishing 62 pounds (the wiring alone
weighed 12 pounds). The new avionics
weigh a mere 17.3 pounds, increasing useful load by at least 32 pounds and providing
significantly more reliability. Because
electronic flight displays do not require
vacuum to function (as certain analog
flight instruments do), the vacuum system will be removed, saving more weight.
Even the Tiger's fuel gauges were
removed, since G3X Touch flight displays
includes fuel quantity indications. CiES
Inc. fuel sending units will replace the
stock units to provide increased accuracy
and reliability.
The old 121.5 MHz ELT will be
replaced by a new 406 MHz unit by ACK
Technologies Inc., its satellite-based
emergency locator signal significantly
narrowing the search area for any rescue
teams trying to find a missing aircraft.
We'll demonstrate the capabilities of
the new glass cockpit as soon as the Tiger
takes to the skies again.
EMAIL kollin.stagnito@aopa.org

GET MORE ACCURATE fuel prices-100LL,
Jet A, mogas, and UL94-in the AOPA
Airports and Destinations Directory
and iFlightPlanner for AOPA with daily
updates that will now be provided by
iFlightPlanner. The switch from data
provider 100LL.com to iFlightPlanner allows AOPA to display availability
and fuel prices for mogas and UL94, the
unleaded fuel alternative produced by
Swift Fuels. Information about 100LL,
Jet A, and Jet A with Prist will continue
to be available.
The prices will be updated daily,
rather than weekly, providing pilots
with more up-to-date information for
planning fuel stops. AOPA and iFlightPlanner will be working to add real-time,
on-demand pricing information in the
future.
" We know prices play a role in where
pilots decide to stop for fuel, " said Eric
Rush, AOPA director of product development. " With iFlightPlanner, we can
provide the most up-to-date information possible for a wider variety of fuels. "
In April 2020, AOPA switched its
legacy flight planning tool to iFlightPlanner for AOPA, a mobile-friendly
online planning tool that depicts temporary flight restrictions, displays
fuel prices, allows route rubber banding and airway waypoints, and enables
flight service briefings. The flight planner is free to AOPA members. Members
also have the option of upgrading to
iFlightPlanner Core or Premium to
send flight plans from the tool to electronic flight bags including ForeFlight
Mobile, Garmin Pilot, FlyQ, FltPlan Go,
Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro and Jeppesen
Mobile FliteDeck, and WingX. 

-Alyssa J. Cobb

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2021
