Planning for ADS-B Out

Allegedly, the propeller should be put on today, which should be seven weeks from the time I brought the plane home.  If you told me I would have gone without being able to floy the plane the entire month of September, I might have reconsidered buying it, but here we are.  I'm scheduled to take a young woman up as a part of Stem Flights on Saturday, which means I need to do a shakedown flight on either Thursday or Friday, so if it isn't ready by then, I may just call a mobile mechanic to install the propeller for me.

So what have I done these last seven weeks?  Mostly study for the CFI-Initial, but also strategize about next steps with 4TV.  

I made the decision to do the annual inspection early in November.  It's not technically due until May, but there are enough lingering questions about the aircraft and what's going on inside that I want the assurance of a thorough annual before putting the plane through stalls and spins, and before doing some longer cross country flights with it.  The A&P had openings in November, so I put down a $600 deposit.  That also means that I'll only be able to fly it in October before it goes back in, which isn't ideal, but seems the best move right now.

The other reason for doing the annual now is that I want to know that the aircraft is mechanically sound before investing in upgrades.  I've had a lot of time to think about upgrades, and have been itchy to make investments, but the sensible play is to just to confirm that there isn't anything that's going to ground the airplane long-term.  Based on the pre-buy and my A&P's initial look around, I'm not expecting that, though I do know two days of work is going to be required to add doubles to the seat mount where it has cracked based on my mechanics visual inspection.

So what's first on my wishlist?  ADS-B.  While I have an ADS-B In solution in my Sentry, I do like the added safety of having Out as well - particularly in a world where so many FNG pilots look to traffic displays as their primary means of seeing and avoiding.  Also to enable me to fly into Class C & B airspace.

Before I got the plane, I inquired with a local avionics shop about options, and they recommended the GTX335, which is a solid solution from Garmin with a nice interface and easy to use functionality.  The quotedc price for the transponder, equipment and installation came in around $5K - reasonable, all things considered.

Garmin GTX335 ADS-B Out Transponder

While $5K is reasonable, there is a less expensive option - the uAvionix tailBeacon (tail) or skyBeacon (wingtip).  Each runs $2.2K new, though Gulf Coast Avionics has them on sale for $2K.  You can also find them on the used market for about $1.5K on average.  The advantage here is that these options only take about 2 hours of install time (or less), so we'll save roughly half the price.  Additionally, they would both integrate seemelessly with the AV-30 artificial horizon and DG if I were to decide to go that way.

uAvionix tailBeacon TSO

Which brings forward another option.  uAvionix also makes the tailBeaconX, which integrates the transponder with the unit.  The tailBeaconX weighs 3.5 ounces, compared to the GTX335 which weights about 3 pounds.While it's not much, on the 150, 3 lbs is 3 lbs, and the idea of freeing up that space in the panel is nice.  The tailBeaconX does require an AV-30 as a transponder control unit, however, and combined the two are packed together for $4.6K.  The AV-30 would also require what I've heard is around four hours of installation time.  As the AV-30s become even more reliable with upgrades from uAvionix, I'm inclined to go that route when it's time to switch to glass to kill the vacuum pump, so this is a viable initial option with benefits down the line.  The only drawback with this is that the AV-30 transponder interface is a bit clunky and requires more steps than just typing in numbers into a transponder's buttons.  But for the weight and cost savings, I've decided it's likely an ok tradeoff .

A middle of the road solution would be to purchase the standard tailBeacon for $2K and then either trade it in for $1K in credit to uAvionix or sell it to a third-party towards the eventual taibeaconX/AV-30.

Good options to consider - and I might invest in the tailBeacon now simply to have it during the month of October while it's on sale, or potentially keep waiting - not sure at the moment.  That's why I'm so interested in having the annual done (right) to see what I'm up against.