This month’s panel for planning is in a 1978 Cessna T210M. Its owner, Scott Dyer, has been making sizable incremental improvements to the airplane over 20 years of ownership, essentially putting it at the top of the model food chain. Dyer is anticipating that meticulous engine upkeep, a TKS anti-icing system, custom interior and paint and now a flagship Garmin avionics package will some day make the airplane an attractive top-dollar buy for the next owner. But until then, Dyer—an ATP and active flight instructor—plans to make good use of the near $90,000 investment with extensive, all-weather traveling, flying behind a suite that tames some of the IFR workload.
By any standard, the avionics in this round-gauge-equipped T210 were already capable and included a Garmin GTN 750 navigator (which replaced a GNS 530W a few years ago), S-TEC 55X autopilot, Garmin ADS-B transponder, JPI engine monitor and a PS Engineering PMA450B audio panel. Dyer, who was most comfortable with the Garmin operating logic (he instructs in a wide variety of glass-equipped aircraft, including Garmin G1000 models), initially chose the G3X Touch big-screen system, but the shop concluded that the system’s 10.6-inch landscape display wouldn’t fit the Centurion’s panel without modifying the structure and obtaining FAA engineering approval. But Garmin’s 10.6-inch G500 TXi’s chassis did, although it (and the 7-inch TXi EIS engine display that sits to the right of radio stack) still required the fabrication of a new instrument panel.