Help me understand the costs of updating a panel

Jim K said:
I thought they were all certified for 7, but only the forward facing seating was ever actually available with 7 seats. There is an STC to make them a certified 6 seater and eligible for basic med. I don't have any reason to believe I won't be able to continue to hold a 3rd class medical, though.

My understanding is that if it has the forward seating, the attachments are there for the little 7th seat, which are hard to find, but more available since the basic med thing came about.

Seems like most pre 75 are forward facing and by 77 almost all were club. The earlier planes have better UL, of course. 69-73 is the sweet spot for me. The very early birds had vernier throttles and non- standard panels, and the pre-66s didn't have the aft cargo door. None of those are deal killers though.

The bad part is that the 300s seem more common in later models, so the crossover of a forward facing 300 is somewhat rare. I tried to talk my wife into a club or even a bonanza, but she really wants to at least have the option to load up the whole family. I have seen a couple 7 seat early Lances. There's also a handful of Senecas, but I don't think I could afford to maintain a twin, never mind the training and proficiency issues.

Which piper owners forum are you on? I looked into them and it seemed like one wasn't active and the other charged a fee, so I didn't join.
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Fwiw, after a quick search there's a few forward facing Six's with what appears to have what you're looking for avionics wise already in at a pretty decent price. Only caveat being those 2 or 3 were north of the border.
 
If you’re happy with steam and 430, you’ll be able to find that...if you want newer (GTN, G5s, etc), you’ll probably need to upgrade.

And definitely think of an engine monitor.
 
Racerx said:
Fwiw, after a quick search there's a few forward facing Six's with what appears to have what you're looking for avionics wise already in at a pretty decent price. Only caveat being those 2 or 3 were north of the border.
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I have 4 tabs open right now...

It's a little weird because over the last year there's been about 1 candidate a month, and now all of a sudden there's several. There was what appeared to be the PERFECT airplane back in June, but I promised myself I'd concentrate on the IR before I got serious about buying. It sold in a about a week. I really really want to go start looking in person, but at this point I probably need to get through harvest before I can focus on airplane buying. By then these will all be sold unless they're full of corrosion or something.

NealRomeoGolf said:
If you do Facebook come to the PA32 page/group.
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I'm on there. Facebook kinda sucks as an information exchange though. Facebook is for posting my certificate photo for my pilot friends and my mom.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
That may be true, but it is how I found and bought my plane. It was not advertised in other places.
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Interesting...i meant to ask you where you found yours.
 
Jim K said:
My understanding is that if it has the forward seating,
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I was a co-owner of a '75 PA32-300. Forward facing, originally certificated for 6 seats.

Jim K said:
Which piper owners forum are you on? I looked into them and it seemed like one wasn't active and the other charged a fee, so I didn't join.
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It doesn't cost much compared to any other type clubs.
 
Ravioli said:
I was a co-owner of a '75 PA32-300. Forward facing, originally certificated for 6 seats.
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Well that throws a wrinkle into things. Thanks.
 
piperforum.com is a great resource for Piper owners. Great group of people over there.
 
FlyingMonkey said:
piperforum.com is a great resource for Piper owners. Great group of people over there.
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Thanks Eric...I just subscribed over there yesterday....I figured I'd need some type specific support at some point as I get deeper into this.
 
I bought my plane on Facebook too. Looked for months on TAP and BS. Got on the Facebook group and 3 days later I was making an offer.

One option is piecemeal instead of total makeover. Dribble in new kit every year at a rate your budget supports. Garmin is doing a lot of amazing retrofit products. GTX 345 this year, pair of G5's or GI 275's next year, GNC 355 the year after, GFC 500 autopilot the year after that. Most of those products fit into standard gauge holes or radio slots, so you don't need major panel fabrication.

GI 275 is something to watch. Those little bastards do so much. You could put two GI's in the center of your stack, configure one as an AI/PFD with syn vis, and configure the other as an HSI with moving map, traffic, and weather.
 
Ed Haywood said:
GI 275 is something to watch. Those little bastards do so much. You could put two GI's in the center of your stack, configure one as an AI/PFD with syn vis, and configure the other as an HSI with moving map, traffic, and weather.
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We are getting quotes to do just that, put in two 275s. Also may upgrade navcoms as well.
 
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