My new panel

We’ve got northerly winds the same as the UK, part of the same Arctic weather system actually, and it looks as though they’re going to stay with us for a few more days with even a few snow showers possible on Sunday. It’s been too chilly to do much outside today so I’ve been doing the same as everyone in the UK – staying indoors and keeping warm. The layout of the X-Air’s current panel is a complete mess and I’ve been thinking about the layout I’ll adopt for the new one. I’ve now come up with what I think will probably be the final version, although you can never say ‘never’, can you. I’ve done a picture of it, not up to my usual level of quality, I’m afraid, but it’ll do.

Everything is shown to scale and the GPS, Vertex transceiver etc are the actual items. It uses as many as possible of the instruments that are currently in the X-Air with a couple of exceptions. The main one is the airspeed indicator, which is currently a small diameter one showing airspeed in kmh. I have a spare unit of the right size showing mph but much as it pains me to think of stripping it out, I think I’ll use the one from MYRO instead, which is a nicer looking gauge. Although it’s marked up with the AX3’s critical speeds (Vso, Vne etc), the X-Air figures are more or less the same. Anyway, I’ll decide when the time comes, but in any case, I will have to use MYRO’s VSI as the X-Air currently doesn’t have one at all.

I want to position the Vertex and VXBox in the centre of the lower console because both headsets plug in directly and the headset leads are only so-long. The compass (a Silva Type 70) is currently panel mounted and as I do not want to buy a replacement, it will have to go more or less where it is at present, in the centre at the top of the panel. This means that the switches, LEDs and starter button will have to go below it, leaving no space for any other gauges in the centre console.

I want to have my little Satnav/GPS velcroed to the panel in front of me and this more or less dictates how all of the other instruments are laid out. The aircraft currently doesn’t have a fuel pressure gauge and as I think one would be a good idea, I’ve positioned it over on the left of the panel near to the in-line bulb that you use to pump the fuel up to the carbs, and also, incidentally, where MYRO’s one was. This will mean moving the water temperature gauge over to the right of the compass on the main panel and also moving the engine hours gauge even further over to the right, as it’s not an instrument that is needed while in flight.

My Vertex transceiver doesn’t need a power supply because of its long battery life. It’s not an approved radio for use in France, as it wasn’t in the UK either, but this is one of the few areas where the French authorities are more strict and are known to carry out ramp check inspections at larger airfields. Luckily, in the areas where I’ll be flying the most, I’ll not need a radio anyway, most of the time, so all I’ll be doing is plugging the headsets into the VXBox which works as an intercom as well as a voice interface for a camcorder.

Although the Vertex doesn’t need power, the Satnav/GPS does. I’ve therefore earmarked two positions, at the extreme left and right of the panel, where I might fit a suitable cigar lighter socket. Who knows, as I’m no longer subject to the tyrannies of the UK BMAA Mod system, I might even fit one in both positions and use my own common sense to fuse them accordingly to the electrical load permitted by Rotax, without anyone assuming that I’m a complete numpty, need them to tell me what to do and how to do it and then charging me an extortionate amount of money for doing so. Three cheers 🙂

I had a cigar lighter socket and two DIN sockets in MYRO but never used either of the latter. I think I might therefore just fit the one DIN socket, just so I have one, and use the space I’ve earmarked in the pic for panel-mounted fuse holders for the various circuits.

The layout also allows for ‘expansion’ in the future. This would allow a passenger, for example, to have their own GPS in front of them if they wanted, but more importantly, the space on the right will also allow for the additional gauges to be installed. I’m thinking maybe of an exhaust temperature gauge, which although MYRO had one, I’m not thinking about fitting currently as it would need a new exhaust manifold with tappings for the sensors. What would be nice, though, would be that one day I might be able to afford a panel-mounted Mode S transponder and the planned layout leaves plenty of space for that to be dropped in should that situation arise 😉

Oh, and just in case you don’t believe me when I say that the X-Air’s current panel layout is a mess, here’s a pic I took of it the other day…