Here I am at Advantage Avionics, where the Crossover Classic’s panel is getting its final touches. Barring the unforeseen–and the weather–the plan is for me to leave the airport here at Chino, California on Friday January 28. The route? Still noodling with that. Direct Albuquerque, then direct Wichita sounds doable. More on the final plans later, when the winds and weather are better defined.

As for the panel, it’s a knockout. I can’t wait to see it at work…..which will be tomorrow, if today’s predicted Santa Ana winds kick up. Right now, the installation staff is plugging in the 182′s V-speeds, aligning the AHRS (attitude and heading reference system), and plugging some pitot-static leaks. Seems the last pitot-static inspection left a lot to be desired. The leaks in the pitot-static system reached a level worth 1,400-fpm!

Tomorrow will also be activation day for the XM WX datalink weather, and during the test flights I’ll have a chance to check out the G500′s electronic charts. These include Garmin’s SafeTaxi airport diagrams, plus their ChartView arrival, approach, and departure charts. Garmin’s GTS 800 traffic advisory system will also no doubt be given a workout in the airspace around Chino.

There are always potential glitches in the best of plans, and in this case it’s the airplane’s heavy right wing. A re-rigging sounds definitely in order, and I certainly hope it doesn’t take long to perform. In any event, there’s plenty to see at Chino. There’s a Paris Jet in the Advantage hangar, getting its new G600, an F33 Bonanza getting the GTS800, an F90 King Air getting a dual G600 installation, and a new Robinson R44 being fitted with Garmin’s G500H–the helicopter version of the straight G500. Hmmm, this is news! I’m told this is the first-ever, testbed installation of a G500H. Does this mean it will be featured at the upcoming Helicopter Association International show in Orlando, from March 5-8? We’ll soon find out.

Then there’s the Planes of Fame museum on the field. If I have a chance, I’ll swing by for a look.

Check back tomorrow for a rundown of the flight checks. That’s all for today!

Mark Krueger heads up Advantage Avionics, and as I’ve said before his shop came highly recommended. By both Garmin and previous customers. So what’s the key to Krueger’s success? Enthusiasm and motivation top the list.

Back in 1992, Krueger began working in a business you wouldn’t ordinarily associate with a career track in avionics. He installed car stereos and alarm systems. He knew nothing about airplanes back then, but the bug bit when the owner of a Piper Cherokee came by the shop. He wanted to know if Krueger would install a stereo in his airplane. That job got him hanging around airports, and he developed an interest in learning to fly. By 1999 he’d earned his private pilot certificate, then came his multi-engine rating.

He walked away from the car business and developed his avionics acumen by working at several avionics shops in southern California, and in April 2003 he opened up Advantage Avionics. Now he installs 15 to 20 full-blown panel overhauls per year–many of them involving G500s. He has six full-time employees, three of which specialize in installations.

He also has a 1965 Cherokee Six–which looks a great deal like the “Win-A-Six” Cherokee Six that AOPA gave away in our 2006 sweepstakes. Needlesss to say, his has a top-notch panel and a brand-new interior that features video screens in the headrests. Kruger’s Six is parked in Advantage’s large service hanger, and if you stand outside you can see some of the Chino Airport’s unique attractions. These include warbird restoration specialists Aero Trader and Allied Fighters, plus the Planes of Fame museum.

When asked to elaborate on his success, Krueger came right to the point. “I have a marketing background, so I know how to promote the business on our website and other ways, plus I’m very energetic and enthusiastic. A lot of avionics shops don’t make the extra effort to get business, and in this downturn a lot of them just burned out. But I just keep on plugging away,” he said. In a refurbishment project like the Crossover Classic, it’s nice to have Krueger and his team aboard. Two more weeks and the panel will be finished for all to see!

The sweeps 182 is now into its fourth week at Advantage Avionics, a shop located at the Chino, California airport. While almost all of the new avionics components are at Advantage, the panel still is in its gutted stage. The work these days is focused on installing the many antennas and airframe-mounted components that will serve the Garmin G500, the Garmin GTS800 traffic advisory system, the Cobham/S-TEC System Fifty-Five X autopilot and flight control system, and the new comm radios.

“The panel work comes last,” says Advantage’s Mark Krueger. “We have a lot of boxes still to install,  but we’re closing in on the last of them.”

The accompanying photo shows two of those boxes. The photo is of the interior, aft of where the rear seats would be. The large box on the left is the GTS800′s processor unit–the one that detects nearby transponder returns and generates warning symbology on the G500. To its right is the Garmin GDL69A datalink receiver, which handles inbound signals for depicting XM WX satellite weather information.

But there’s something else about this photo. I want you to look at the interior of that tailcone. It is as bright and corrosion-free as the day it left the factory, back in 1974. This is a quite remarkable state of preservation. And, frankly, it’s the main reason we purchased N52832.  When we bought it, the panel was ancient, the paint was shot, the interior was dreadful, and the engine had seen better days.

But in restoration projects like the ones AOPA performs for its sweepstakes airplanes, none of that matters. All those items can be replaced or otherwise improved upon. But corrosion? That’s a deal-killer. Repairing corrosion–or even worse, replacing corroded parts–is too costly and time-consuming for a 10-month upgrade project. Then there’s the ugly fact that’s the title of a Neil Young album: Rust Never Sleeps. You may think you’ve fixed corrosion, but chances are it’ll be back.

We sure didn’t want that. So a sight like that tailcone interior was a green light to go ahead and buy N52832.

I always get unnerved by those in-progress photos you see of instrument panel restorations. I mean, there are wires everywhere, none of the old instruments in sight, and the appearance is one of total chaos. Will they ever be able to put the panel back together again? Or will the technicians throw up their hands one day and take a long lunch?

Old spaghetti gone! The panel awaits the G500, and much more

Not to worry. Advantage Avionics of Chino, California has things under control–although the accompanying photos make you wonder. Advantage has done more than 25 Garmin G500 installations, and that makes them the most experienced G500-retrofit shop in the nation. Annually, Advantage does more than 40 complete panel restorations of all kinds. So the Crossover Classic is in good hands.

This restoration, though, will be one of Advantage’s bigger projects, and it will be late January-early February before the job is done.

A close-up of the now-empty center stack. This is where the GNS 430s will be located.

Here’s why. The list of components to be installed is a lengthy one. Here goes: The two-tube G500 and its wing-mounted magnetometer, dual Garmin GNS 430s with WAAS capability (these feed navigation, terrain, and obstacle data to the G500), Garmin’s GTS800 active traffic advisory system, the Garmin GDL69A datalink receiver (for datalink weather from XM WX), Garmin’s GTX330 transponder, plus all the racks, antennas, and wiring to go along with all that gear. Then there’s the L-3 Trilogy ESI-1000 Standby Instrument System and the PS Engineering PMA8000B-T audio panel with Bluetooth capability. Am I forgetting anything? Oh yes, the Cobham/S-TEC System Fifty-Five X autopilot and flight control system. And a CO Guardian AERO 553 carbon monoxide detector.

Oh, and all the old wires will be chucked in the trash. It makes no sense to install the latest avionics, then hook them up to 40-year-old wiring.

All the components are of exemplary quality. The GTS800 deserves mention because it can report traffic conflicts anywhere. It’s a self-contained unit that reads nearby transponders for advisories. It doesn’t need ADS-B or TIS-B to do its job, so you’re not reliant on ADS-B-equipped aircraft or uplinked approach control radar for traffic information.

Stand by for more progress reports from Advantage Avionics. So far, all components have arrived at the shop–save the autopilot and the AERO 553. I’m working on getting new control yokes so that the autopilot and trim controls can be located within the yokes–rather than mounted on tabs, so wish me luck. Looks like we’ll have to buy a new set from Cessna or Van Bortel Aircraft at this point.

It will be slow going for a while, what with the holidays coming up, but as you can see, the work has begun. Let’s hang in there.