Panel upgrades

[Antoni Deighton]

What panel upgrades are available for an early model Avanti? Are there options beyond the G600TXi?

[dsgroi]

Good question, I'll bite the bait...

I would distinct between: 1) upgrades supported by an OEM and 2) Third party STC's.

1) The only commercial retrofit I'm aware of, is a Honeywell Primus Epic system provided in the early 2000's.
The system was quite "hybrid", retaining most of the existing Rockwell-Collins COM/NAV equipment and control heads.

As far as I know, only the Canadian Marinvent P.180 (C-GJMM MSN 1037) was ever fitted with that suite and, for this reason, I don't believe it is still a real commercial option.

Inside Piaggio, some preliminary studies have been conducted considering different suppliers, of course the Rockwell-Collins PL21/IDS or the newest Pro Line Fusion, being the options that granted the maximum potential compatibility with the existing APS-65 autopilot, but without a final
commitment (both for costs involved and for the marketing differentiation between the current production and the in service fleet).

Last Piaggio OEM update to the original Avanti Avionics was the P-RNAV capability certified for some flavors of UNS-1 FMS and EFIS.

2) From the STC's standpoint, Garmin suites are the only practical and affordable choice available today.

I've seen everything ranging from GTN750 interfaced to the existing EFIS to a complete panel rebuild with G600(txi).

All those STC's suffers of the limited integration with the existing APS-65 autopilot that obliges to keep the existing electromechanical gyro's which are day after day harder to service.

Another limit of those STC's is the lack of RVSM Air Data Computers, leading to the preservation of the existing ADC-85, altitude preselector and related indicators.

To conclude I would just add that, in my personal opinion, even if the existing avionics is so old, many of the new STC's still lack of the existing ergonomics and the coherency of the instrument panel layout. Under these aspects, Piaggio always did a good job to obtain a clean, functional and coherent layout.

Single control of some functions via touchscreens only, is often overestimated in both the operational and reliability aspects and could lead to problems in some situations (e.g. control in turbolence).

Furthermore, even if the P.180 is a Single Pilot Part 23 airplane, it is complex as a CAT, and really fast (well, you know this!).
Sometime those avionic STC's shows the limits of a systems that "grew up" from a VFR design to be installed into a complex airframe, while the original P.180 systems, even the old Avanti ones, were "scaled down" from Part-25 platforms.

Of course the original Pro Line II can't fulfill some of the aviation mandates (ADS-B Out, PBN, etc.), so the STC's are becoming a necessity.

Even the Pro Line 21 starts to show it's age. Let's see what's will happen...

For sure, the low number of P.180 Avanti flying today is not pushing OEM's to provide customized solutions and all the available STC's have integration capabilities limited to what the stock units are offering.

EDIT: The Honeywell brochure. I was unable to upload it here because of the size: https://we.tl/t-b8lVR1AISt

Daniele

[tmbm50]

Here is a link to a full panel upgrade for an Avanit I. This quote is current as of 2020. It should give you a good overview of what all they can include for a Garmin retrofit. I tried to attach it, but it doesn't allow PDFs.

https://file.io/5EhtaTA61UMR

[Antoni Deighton]

I clicked on the link, but it said the file was deleted.

-ad

[tmbm50]

Ok, I converted the PDF to images. See attachments.