With even midpriced avionics upgrades costing more than a typical luxury vehicle, who can blame buyers for demanding a lot from new equipment and even more from the shops that install them? Aside from considering price, downtime, workmanship, and how the shop handles warranty matters, there’s the responsibility of getting trained to use the gear safely. Once you ace it, does the big investment really increase the mission?
To find out how satisfied avionics buyers are, particularly with high-dollar panel refurbs, we conducted a satisfaction survey here at AvBrief. Herewith is a summary.
The Polling
Our survey, which included owners of both certified (69%) and experimental (29%) aircraft, reeled in 418 responses from buyers who had avionics retrofits done within the last couple of years. A small sampling given AvBrief’s large audience. Are there fewer major upgrades? Maybe. Still, we learned a lot from our respondents and didn’t stop at the survey alone.
Aside from the questionnaire, we talked with pilots at the recent Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, we talked with shops at the recent Aircraft Electronics Association convention, and we chatted with pilots and shops from around the country. Just as important as customer satisfaction is their buying trends. In our estimation the current avionics market seems to be cooling after the wave of huge upgrade demands that started during the pandemic. Now, shops need to work harder to keep good customers and attract new ones while also dealing with a steep interface learning curve, pressures from the FAA for running the repair station, a shortage of experienced techs, and managing a small business that’s always been plagued by cash flow problems.
Keep in mind that the caveat that applies to other surveys also applies to this one because the sampling can be skewed, attracting disgruntled buyers who jump at the chance to hammer an avionics shop or an avionics manufacturer. But it’s also an opportunity for happy customers to rave about their experience. We always want to hear it all in hopes of providing useful guidance for others who are ready to spend big. We’ve been around aircraft shops long enough to know that no shop keeps every customer happy. We heard from some in the survey. But there’s good news, too.
No matter how frustrating the upgrade experience was—including a longer than expected downtime—93% of our respondents said they would make the same eye-watering investment again. We suppose the majority of small GA aircraft are worthy of a big avionics investment, especially with total airframe, engine, and avionics refurbs that might make an aging plane nearly as good as a new one. New avionics give old planes a new lease on life.
In the polling, 69% of the retrofitted aircraft were certified and 29% were from the brisk Experimental/Amateur-Built community. With experimental kit projects, builders sometimes farm the majority of the avionics wiring interface (and even instrument panel fabrication) to third-party shops and then do the physical installation themselves. It’s a big market.
Expanding on that, 53% of builders who did their own work rated the process as neither easy nor difficult, while 20% found it difficult to pull off on their own. Documentation for experimental kits is generally well-regarded, with 68% rating the instructions as very clear or extremely clear. We agree it’s easier than it was in the bad old days of kitbuilding, especially with full-panel suites that come with preconfigured software that matches the profile of the aircraft—precisely programmed V-speeds, engine and fuel data parameters and limits, and electronic circuit breakers configured as examples. It’s a handful—and critical—to get right, but having professional eyes and hands on it helps curtail your troubleshooting when you flip on the avionics switch for the first time. It’s imperative that the avionics installation has detailed wiring diagrams. We’d probably pass up a used kit that didn’t have complete schematics.
Yes, Garmin Still Dominates
Talk about market share. When looking at the popularity of major avionics brands, our poll showed that 73% was new Garmin equipment. You can draw your own conclusions about why this is, but we’ll say that Garmin has the secret sauce to racking up lots of aftermarket STCs—from flight displays to autopilots—and Garmin’s massive archive of aircraft data makes for expansive compatibility across a wide range of airframes. There’s also an aggressive authorized Garmin dealer network spread out around the world. Frankly, avionics shops that don’t sell Garmin might be at a sizable disadvantage if big sales numbers are the goal. Garmin has rigid requirements in place for its dealers, and we’ve heard the ones that don’t perform don’t last. But as we found in the survey, other brands sell, too.
Coming in second at 16% are the Dynon brands, including Advanced Flight Systems and now Trig Avionics. Dynon’s SkyView HDX Certified integrated big-screen system has a sizable STC list with slowly growing autopilot approvals. Aside from a dealer network of FAA Repair Station avionics shops, qualified A&P mechanics with IA credentials can install the HDX Certified equipment after Dynon approves and adds them to the STC. Also worth inserting is that Dynon scored the highest in overall satisfaction.
Aircraft audio system pioneer PS Engineering was included in 12% of the installations. We wish more shops recommended these feature-rich audio panels that are built and well supported in Tennessee.
Avidyne, which now has STC approval for installation of the Vantage integrated glass in Avidyne Entegra-equipped Cirrus models, plus its IFD-series GPS navigators, DFC-series autopilots, transponders, audio panels, and ADS-B systems, was 11%. JP Instruments engine monitors was 9%, and uAvionix was 7%. The remainder was split up among 20 other smaller brands—including the well-regarded Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics, Aithre, Electronics International, plus Aspen Avionics, Falken Avionics, Appareo Avionics, and Air Avionics.
Will It Work With That?
A few words on compatibility are in order, and it’s something you should discuss with your installer ahead of time when mixing brands. In our survey 76% were satisfied with how their units “played with others.” That’s actually higher than we’ve seen in other surveys done in the past 10 or so years. However, some users mixing Garmin with Aspen, Dynon, Avidyne, and other brands spoke up in the survey complaining about compatibility issues. “My Trio autopilot is not totally compatible with the Dynon display or the Garmin interface. All of these should be fully compatible and controllable within the Dynon PFD/MFD,” one said.
“I’m currently having trouble with ILS glideslope display on the Aspen coming from the Avidyne GPS. Neither Avidyne or Aspen has been able to suggest a fix. If I were doing things today, I would probably have gone Garmin to reduce finger pointing,” said another. We ran this by Michael Studley, Aspen’s veteran director of customer service and field service engineering. We don’t know anyone more fluent with the Aspen interfaces than him.
“On some installations, the VLOC output of the IFD is routed through our ACU (dual and single GNAVs) and on others it’s a direct connection (GNAV with an analog VLOC2), which can be confusing for inexperienced installers. If VOR and LOC work fine, then it’s probably a user error; the CRS pointer has to be set to a front course and a valid LOC must be received first for GS to appear,” he said, while offering to help this particular user.
When mixing brands, ask the shop how many similar interfaces it successfully accomplished and if there are any issues that might surface. It isn’t always a one-and-done project and you should envision your interface down the road. If your plans include installing an autopilot during a future upgrade, the equipment you install now could play a role in the interface. This is especially true of primary flight displays. Plan a roadmap for upgrade and lobby advice from a trusted shop. Plus, given the level of teardown and wiring, it could make sense to install more equipment now while the aircraft is opened than having to tear it apart again later. Always get proposals for several options, even if it’s something the budget can’t handle. You might even consider retaining older vintage equipment to save money, which is where the compatibility issue could come in play. We asked Garmin to comment about compatibility.
“Garmin offers a range of products that leverage industry-standard interfaces, plus broad third-party autopilot support, display interfaces and select services for flight planning and engine health monitoring. We also offer innovations that are uniquely possible within the Garmin ecosystem such as Smart Glide and Database Concierge,” we were told.
We’ll say that Garmin has broadened the interconnect potential with aging analog equipment; its slim-line series of WAAS navigators can connect with analog mechanical OBS indicators and HSIs, while flight displays can work with analog autopilots through signal adapters when required.
How Satisfied?
Given the installation effort and the cost of new avionics, surely you want to be happy with your choice when the check clears. The good news from our survey is 92% of respondents said that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their chosen brand and importantly, with the support behind it. We wish shops did better.
When asked how satisfied they were with the shop that did the work, 69% of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied. It’s clear that longer than promised downtime literally doesn’t fly—35% of respondents said the aircraft was down for over a month and 22% were down for several weeks. To that we suggest anyone venturing on a major avionics project factor extended downtime into their plans. Don’t schedule important trips with the airplane until you’ve flown it enough to know it’s squawk-free and you’re competent to operate the gear under high workload. Good shops should offer the same advice up front. Many of these interfaces are complex with a lot of airframe disassembly. Staying involved in the project by coordinating shop visits can help you better understand the complexities of the work and hopefully keep your frustration level lower. Worth mentioning is 9% of respondents were kit builders for whom downtime really wasn’t applicable because the avionics installation was a major portion of the build.
What’s inexcusable is carelessness while the aircraft is at the shop. We heard about paint scratches, interior damage, and general sloppy storage. Before committing to a job, ask the shop if it plans to hangar the aircraft the entire time. Many shops can’t keep everything inside because they don’t have the space. You should bring inlet covers, control locks, and empty the airplane of unnecessary accessories, and ask the shop to use them when the plane is parked outside.
“I showed up one weekend to check on my plane only to find the interior gutted, not tied down, the cabin door unlocked, and no cowl plugs installed,” one owner said. But it’s not just about caring for the airplane. Buyers expect high-quality workmanship, which doesn’t always happen.
“The shop is very good; however, it’s a little sloppy in the installation. Some wiring bundles were attached to fuel injector lines and these discrepancies were discovered during annual inspections and corrected,” he told us. That shop is good?
Some stories about avionics work are head-shaking. “I would not recommend the avionics shop. The airplane was down for a year to have a navcom, transponder, intercom and two uAvionix AV-30s installed. When we finally got it back, almost all of the install had to be rewired due to the job not being done correctly. And after almost another year I’m still trying to get all the paperwork from the shop for the work he accomplished so we can fly it,” one respondent wrote. Others had a fairy-tale ending. “Bevan Aviation assigns one technician to your airplane with a group of necessary backups if needed. I liked that—and my installer has become a friend who I trust,” said one respondent.
When choosing a shop, accept that you are buying into what should be a long, working relationship. You want a well-established, healthy shop that not only knows their trade, but will be around when you need them to support the aircraft.
“We had continuing difficulty getting the Garmin GSB-15 power hub to work at all. We eventually found that the shop that installed it used normal 22759 avionics wire, and not the CAT 5 wire required by the Garmin STC. That shop folded a year after our installation was completed,” said the owner who couldn’t catch a break even after finding a new shop. “We have had continuing failures of Garmin GI 275s to maintain Bluetooth connections to our iPads. Neither Garmin nor our otherwise excellent second avionics shop have provided any resolution,” he told us in the survey. We’ve used that described interface several times, with current software, and it works for us.
We heard about other shops who nail it, and it’s what longstanding relationships are made of. “I have always been very satisfied with Muncie Aviation’s avionics shop—I’ve been going to them for 30 years or more,” said one respondent. “I couldn’t be happier with my all-Garmin upgrade. It was done with a well-experienced shop that hit deadlines and cost estimates. One issue nine months after installation was a fuel flow sensor failure, easily handled via warranty. Flawless installation and performance,” another said of VIP Avionics in Connecticut.
But you can bet the owner who dealt with shoddy workmanship at a careless shop wants to tell the world about it—and he did. “The shop damaged my interior while the plane was in for the work,” he told us in part. He didn’t say how the shop made good on the repair. The right shops own the mistake and take care of it. Sometimes complicated interfaces and frustration send a relationship off the rails and the frustrated airplane owner to competing shops to get it fixed. Awkward.
“I used a shop (that will remain nameless) in Florida. They made multiple errors in the installation that led to problems requiring repairs at another shop. Their customer support was terrible and they had little interest in supporting their work once the checks were written,” we heard from one respondent.
Ask a new-to-you shop for references and follow up on the experience. While few projects are smooth sailing, it’s how the shop handles the communication along the way and the warranty support after the sale that pleases customers.
“Sure, I wasn’t happy to have my airplane (it’s a business tool) down for three weeks longer than promised, but at least the shop gave me progress reports nearly every other day by texting me photos of the install,” one owner told us. Seriously, with everyone connected, there’s no reason not to send a simple status update by text or email.
We prefer Aircraft Electronics Association member shops because of their exposure to the latest training, installation practices, FAA regulatory guidance, and other resources.
Return on Investment, Training
For what avionics cost, we really hope for a big return, and 78% of respondents said their upgrade has successfully expanded their mission capabilities. This might include safer IFR ops, better situational awareness through more presented data, the ability to fly more approaches, better engine health data, or the ability to confidently fly through more complex weather thanks to a modern autopilot.
“I had a completely new panel with a 10-inch Garmin G3X Touch, GTN 650xi, GFC 500 autopilot and a Garmin AOA system. Overall, the safety factor has gone up by an order of magnitude. But when you have an AOA installed in the field, there doesn’t seem to be much of a consistent calibration,” a respondent said in the survey. (We’re preparing a report on AoA systems in the near future.) With so many choices, choosing the right equipment doesn’t always come easy and this means leaning on the right shop to guide you not based on what it wants to sell you (dealer sales incentives are indeed an influencer) but instead what better suits you and your plane.
Choose a shop partly on its ability to brainstorm different configurations (a shop member who is a pilot often yields the best outcome) and explain how it affects the price, growth potential, and installation complexity. This might start with a product demo, and some shops stock popular gear wired in kiosks for you to try.
Garmin recently added a dealer demo locator utility where you can search dealers that stock demo equipment. Additionally, the shop might be able to pair you with another customer who had similar equipment installed, so you can get an in-flight demo. Our suggestion is to not buy any system without trying it first to make sure you get along with the feature set, the display, and the general operating logic. Even with the right choices, the learning curve might be steep, and you might be on your own to deal with it. It’s a growing problem with safety at risk.
In our survey, 66% of new avionics owners taught themselves to use the equipment, with 67% leaning entirely on manufacturer training material. From what we can tell by talking with owners and from what we collected in the survey, learning advanced autopilot functions like VNAV and approach automation can be a handful for some. It’s one more reason to slowly expand your flying missions until you figure it out.
Less than 20% said the avionics shop and/or flight instructors provided training on the new equipment. Garmin’s dominance could make it easier to source training. “Avidyne is not very well understood by CFIs because many only seem to know Garmin,” one buyer told us after he bought an Avidyne package. We don’t think it should be that tough to get Avidyne training. There’s a fairly strong online community resource at Avidyne Live, where you can find help.
We should reiterate that shops aren’t in the training business. They’re in the business of turning out safe, high-quality installations and while some do have instructors on staff who can work with you, this is generally an exception. In general, don’t expect a post-install flight test to be a training flight—if the shop will even fly with you at all. Some do not because they simply don’t want to take on the risk. Can’t blame them … we’ve flown some scary shakedown flights with even scarier owners.
“I give every customer a checklist, based on the manufacturer’s checkout procedures, and have them fly and tell us what needs to be addressed,” more than one shop manager told us. Others said that flying with the customers is the best thing they can do to know for themselves (and show the customer) that everything works correctly. You should ask the shop if it plans to fly your aircraft without you on board. If it will fly it, ask about insurance, and of course experience in type.
EFB Apps
With all of our ongoing tablet app coverage here at AvBrief, we used this survey as opportunity to sort out the popularity of the various EFB programs. In our survey, ForeFlight dominated at 70% and Garmin Pilot was second at 21%. The rest were split among FlyQ, iFly EFB, and FltPlan Go.
Turns out shops aren’t very good with making suggestions on which app you might consider, and that’s understandable because a lot of it is user preference. On the other hand, when it comes to Garmin equipment, the Garmin app is integral to a big part of the operation. While you might not choose an avionics package based entirely on the app it works with, it should be a consideration. If you have a portable ADS-B receiver that you want to connect with the new avionics, ask the installer ahead of time if it’s compatible.
Do You Really Want To Rush This?
You need the experience of completely gutting an aging airframe and then putting it back together again to understand why these big avionics projects take so freaking long. Make no mistake, your avionics shop wants to get rid of your airplane as much as you want it back. They need to collect your money and move on to the next aging airframe. It always amazed me how fast flagship avionics shops like Elliott Aviation and Blackhawk Performance Centers can pump out a Garmin G1000 NXi retrofit for King Airs and other turbines. Then again, it’s all about staffing.
Larger shops often work in crews, maybe pre-wiring during the second shift so the incoming installation first shift can lay the harnesses in the airplane. Techs at small shops wear many hats, and it’s impressive that some one-person shops get raving reviews. But understand their limitations up front. When the two lead install techs go down with the flu—ahead of a holiday weekend when you planned to have your airplane back—it’s work stoppage. And that’s when the shop/customer relationship can go off the rails, with customers losing their cool because of a blown trip scheduled too soon after the project.
Shops understand customers want their airplanes back, but they don’t like to be pressured. It’s a distraction and you don’t want to put on the pressure when the shop is working on the fuel system while installing an engine and fuel display … or installing autopilot servos. Every task is critical and human factors is the biggest risk to safety.
The other time burner is working in an old, broken cabin. A challenge is dealing with brittle and cracked plastic trim pieces way beyond useful life. Or an ill-fitting interior with stripped and missing hardware left over from previous work. Installers don’t want to hand you back an airplane with broken pieces, even if it’s only cosmetic. Walk around the airplane with a shop rep and point out defects when you drop the plane off.
Last, we’ve been reading NTSB wreck reports for years, and just when we thought we couldn’t get any more paranoid about flying an aircraft away from big maintenance, we read another report where people augered in because of maintenance mistakes. It’s the best reason to accept that an avionics project will take longer than you want and that pressuring the people who are working on your airplane is a bad idea. —Larry Anglisano
The Takeaway
We’ll close with a few words of advice for avionics shops hoping to earn more good customers and keep the good ones they already have. Whatever you do, maintain a high standard of quality, but also work hard to communicate with the customer. After doing these surveys for many years, we learned the shops that reel in the highest scores are the ones that nail the communication. And, just take good care of the customer’s aircraft.
If we had advice for customers it would be to go into any project with extra patience for downtime, pick the right equipment by getting thorough demos, and pay your bill on time. From our discussions with shops, collecting payment before releasing the aircraft is a bigger problem than it should be. These are small businesses with large overhead that count on promptly collecting on the work they do.
If you missed the survey or want to share more on your experience with an avionics upgrade, we want to hear about it.
Really enjoyed that article, which I’d been looking forward to checking out. I’m considering an upgrade, although I still get plenty out of my 530W, which Larry Anglisano and his team installed, back in the day.
Jack, the difference between the old Garmin 530 and the current Garmin 750 or Avidyne IFD 540 is night and day. The later iterations you would expect to be more dynamic and they are. I am an Avidyne dealer and I find it better than the Garmin product. They do the similar thing with a touchscreen, which makes all the difference. I frequently get changes to my flight plan with ATC and with touchscreen all I need to do is to drag the magenta line across to the next intersection and it automatically populates.You cannot do that on a Garmin 530. You really should upgrade.
With today touch screen, people should not need to do the twist and press drill like in the older Garmin product. Garmin doesn’t feel the need to innovate because it dominates the market. Garmin has spotty support of Foreflight.
The VOR-A approaches at the two closest airports to a new client 5.5 hours away were being decommissioned leaving only RNAV/LPV approaches at both, the closest with an ILS 2 hours drive time away. An IFR GPS was finally justifiable. I found a new/unused in the factory box GNS430W with installation kit for the price of a used one then and took it to a shop for install. There were problems with the install including a dimmer circuit that blew breakers (cross wired into a ground). I was able to work out the bugs and we flew on, but the experience of prolonged downtime coupled with hours spent troubleshooting and under the panel cleaning up the wiring mess made me ponder the next step: Glass.
After extensive research and a bit of hope, I learned about Dynon at a seminar attended by 8 people at OSH in ’16 and the choice was made. I discussed the installation with several shops and ultimately with my local IA/A&P, combined with my background (PhD, Physics, ham radio (advanced) and my propensity to tinker, along with the never ending “it could be done better” curse, I decided the Dynon documentation and support would make it possible to do a homebrew in my shop. While I was at it, the KMA24 was put in in ’84 along with a standalone intercom. It was time to upgrade. ADS-B I/O was provided by a Lynx NGT9000 so it was set.
I gained a very high level of respect for the radio shops and enough time in my maintenance logs/diaries to get an A&P rating.
What I found: wires, many wires. wires to nowhere. under the panel, down the fuselage. After I pulled 32 pounds (weighed) out, I had only wires with something attached to each end and a picture not unlike the one in the article. Why, again was I doing this? Because of the wires to nowhere of course, cut and clipped and left because it was cheaper to do it that way.
The new audio panel, the integration of the intercom was the biggest part of the job.
The design of the new panel was perfect, and the installation time consuming, but workable. Before, during and after every step, the A&Ps/IAs were consulted, reconsulted, AC43-13B read and re-read, and the plan, work, and end result was inspected and approved by the masters.
The project took me about 3 months with my mechanics, crew and the manufacturer’s strong support, and when it finally left the hangar for it test flight, it worked. I had the same It took me a year and some really heavy weather before I stopped wishing for my six round instruments back, but now am comfortable with the system, and after hand flown this airplane for more than 4000 hours in all kinds of weather having an autopilot to help is nice on those 5+ hour legs.
Everything in the article is on point and anyone planning this upgrade should read this article a few times, print it out and paste it on your hangar/shop wall. I should probably write up the whole project, but there’re just a few more tweaks…
Excellent article, and excellent information, and when I finally did fly it the first time, I was sure nothing would work and the airplane wouldn’t fly right. Everything worked, and the airplane did fly right. Keep ’em coming Mr. Aglisano, keep ’em coming!
on my recent avionics upgrade there was significant difference in the knowledge/capability of the person you talk to and whoever in the shop doing the technical work. Additionally I had the interior out pending total interior refurbishment which I thought was smart scheduling but rather than routing cables under the floor the avionics shop tie-wrapped cables to the mounting bosses for interior components thus preventing reinstall of the interior- sheesh. It is a small but highly regarded shop serving a large somewhat rural part of the country. Beats me how they achieved such regard.
Well written Larry, especially the side bar about cleaning up 30+ years worth of old, unmarked wiring. I still see brand new installations with wiring bundles improperly supported and routed up against flight controls. Many shops employed untrained “helpers” who do a lot of the wiring and install work.