Handheld GPS auto mount OK?

What's a VOR? What's a NDB? I fly IFR -- I Follow Roads.

Just kidding. I've used a Trimble Flightmate Pro with yoke mount for quite a
while.

Henry

"Elwood Dowd" wrote in message
...
Henry, are you telling us that for all these years you have been flying
around using VORs, NDBs, and those funny colors on the chart for
navigation!?!?

For what it's worth, Velcro itself is held on with sticky tape.

If you ever want to remove it, beware trying to get that sticky stuff
off of Royalite without damaging the surface underneath---a little WD40
may help.

"Dave S" wrote in message
news
You have an experimental or certified, newps?

I have a 182. You can't possibly be worried about velcro fer cryin' out
loud, can you? For the power I took the cig lighter plug and snipped off
the cig lighter end. Ran the two wires into the electrical bus and used a 1
amp fuse from Rat Shack. Had the mechanic sign off the power cord. My
setup is neat looking because I have an avionics access panel on the top of
the glareshield. The cord just disappears down there from behind the GPS,
you don't even see it from the pilots side.

"Henry Kisor" wrote in message
...
Yeah, but what happens if you get ramped? That's my concern.

I submitted myself for a ramp inspection a year ago May. FAA calls it the
PACE program. You bring your plane and your logbooks for them to inspect.
They look over everything and tell you what concerns they have, if any.
Then you go fly with them for an hour and they put you thru a private pilot
checkride, more or less. It seems to be tailored to your experience level
and how you normally fly. I have found FSDO to be remarkably nice. They
didn't find anything on my plane that was even a minor concern and I brought
a lot of things to their attention. Such as my leather interior. Since it
has to meet FAR 23.853 for fire I simply showed him the piece of cardboard
that the sample material was attached to that I copied. He thought that was
great. I carry three weight and balance figures at all times in the plane,
on one sheet of paper. Depending on what seats I have installed you have to
look at a certain section of that paper. He thought that was pretty cool.
They pretty much only care that you have an airworthiness cert, an annual, a
medical and a pilot cert. As long as your plane isn't grossly illegal
they're pretty cool.

"Elwood Dowd" wrote in message
...
Henry, are you telling us that for all these years you have been flying
around using VORs, NDBs, and those funny colors on the chart for
navigation!?!?

For what it's worth, Velcro itself is held on with sticky tape.

You want to see something sticky look at those little 3M pads that hold
satellite radio mounts on. You can get them off but you ain't gonna just
grab a corner and pull. I have a sat radio mount on the windshield just
forward of the forward door post, copilots side. Between the panel and the
post. So I fly along with the little remote control changing channels.

"Frank Stutzman" wrote in message
...

If you get ramp checked, what the heck is the inspector doing pawing
through your cockpit? Hand him the required paperwork and put the sun
screens into place. He has no business inspecting the inside of your
cockpit.

I've never been ramped where he comes walking up by suprise but if he wants
to look inside he certainly can.

"Newps" wrote, "... I have an avionics access panel on the top of the
glareshield."

Please tell me more. I have a 182Q. Did you create the access panel
yourself?

Regards,

Jon

Newps wrote:
: amp fuse from Rat Shack. Had the mechanic sign off the power cord. My
: setup is neat looking because I have an avionics access panel on the top of
: the glareshield. The cord just disappears down there from behind the GPS,
: you don't even see it from the pilots side.

I also have an avionics access panel in the top right side of the glareshield
of my Cherokee. I ran my GPS power cord through this opening, as well. It
looks very neat, the cord stays out of the way if I don't want to use the
GPS, and you don't see the cord at all. I glued velcro to the top of the
glareshield to hold my GPS (295) because the extra weight on the yoke annoys
my autopilot. The whole setup is very nice, IMHO.
--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

"Jon Woellhaf" wrote in message
news:zv8Ac.62220$HG.3470@attbi_s53...
"Newps" wrote, "... I have an avionics access panel on the top of the
glareshield."

Please tell me more. I have a 182Q. Did you create the access panel
yourself?

No, I assumed it was standard for my year. I have a 67 182K. The panel is
about 12 inches wide and about 8 inches front to back. Held down with about
12 little sheet metal screws.

"Henry Kisor" wrote in message
...
I've just bought myself a new Garmin handheld GPS. I noticed that the auto
dash mount is stuck to the dashboard with some kind of double-stick stuff.
Is it OK by the FAA to stick the mount onto my airplane's glare shield
this
way, or do they consider it a permanent installation and require 337s and
stuff?

What about using strong Velcro? Will that pass muster with the FAA as a
temporary installation?

Sure. As (contrary to the statement of some others) will a yoke mount. It
only becomes a 'permanent' installation if you wire it into the aircraft for
power or for an external antenna.

There are some things you might want to think about, though, such as whether
the GPS sitting on the dash will obstruct your vision and whether it will
affect the operation of the compass. Also, it can get kind of hard to reach
it if it is sitting up there -- the ergonomics are not good.

Not liking yoke mounts, I considered other possibilities. I found
that my GPS (Garmin 92) would fit nicely between the old AN-type
DG and Artificial Horizon in my panel. The problem was how to
mount it there.

Looking around, I found that Garmin sells marine GPSs in the same
cases as their aviation units - and deck mounts to match. Removing
the ball swivel base from one of these provided a mount made for
my GPS that would firmly attach it to a flat surface. To provide
a suitable surface I fabricated an "L" bracket out of about .100
aluminum of similar length and width to the GPS case. The "L" is
actually an acute angle to provide an upward tilt. I installed the
deck mount on the bracket, then clipped the assembly to the brow
of the glareshield. Mounted in this the GPS is exactly where I want
it - front and center (of me), but in the way of nothing. I use an
extra large spring clip - available in any office supply store.

David Johnson