For this month’s panel planner, we’re looking at a big-screen glass makeover on a 1965 Mooney M20E. An old gal that came off the Kerrville, Texas, line nearly 60 years ago, it may be worth the big investment because the airframe and engine have low times, and owner Donald Beirdneau and his partner plan to fly it hard IFR. After demoing the gear at Garmin’s tent at AirVenture last summer, the partners are sold on Garmin’s latest glass—lots of it. Let’s noodle the project.
GUT IT OUT, CLEAN IT UP
The avionics have already been worked over, sporting an Aspen flight display, Garmin GNS 430 and a GTX 327 digital transponder, not shown in the picture below. But all of it—including the engine and fuel gauges, Mooney vacuum-driven wing-leveling autopilot and the Narco MK12D navcomm—are coming out. The Aspen, GNS 430 and transponder might fetch $10,000 on the used market.