he would expect a seasoned homebuilder
could complete an installation such as this,
but would caution against anyone less experienced taking it on. The entire job took him
and his shop about four and a half weeks.
New paint is next on the list for Somerset Air Service’s 1981 Arrow, but its new custom leather
interior is already an attractive draw.
It’s now an interior that would make any
Lexus owner feel at home, and that means
a lot in their market.
$30,000. The work was performed by Terry Good’s Avionics One, a
local shop based at nearby Blairstown (New Jersey) Airport. Terry
said this was his second G500/600 installation, and he negotiated
most of the learning curve on his first job—a Meyers 200. “The
critical part is getting the AHRS [attitude heading and reference
system] in the optimum spot,” he said. “That placement is much
more sensitive than a magnetometer in a remotely slaved compass
installation. The AHRS has to be carefully checked for level in pitch,
roll, and longitudinally.” Having learned where to focus his efforts,
Terry said the second installation went much more smoothly. “The
book [Garmin’s installation manual] is very specific,” he said.
Terry also chose to fabricate an entirely new panel face for the
left side of the Arrow. “It made it a lot easier to move things around.
The FAA requires three backups: an attitude indicator, airspeed indicator, and altimeter. Having new sheet metal to work with made it
simpler to accommodate all that.” He used the old panel face as a
template—or rather, one of his employees did. “I’m fortunate to have
a real magician in sheet metal working for me—an artist.” Terry said
INTERIOR
At the same time of the panel upgrade, Steve
and Chris also chose to refurbish the
Arrow’s interior with new custom leather
upholstery. That added another $9,000 to
the investment, but again, in their minds it is
worth the cost. It’s now an interior that
would make any Lexus owner feel at home,
and that means a lot in their market. They
turned to Mark Zito at Top Stitch Aviation,
based in Mountville, Pennsylvania, near
Lancaster County Airport. Mark traveled to
Somerset, where he removed the old interior and transported it home to his shop. He
said he started doing upholstery on custom
cars, but in 1979, he fell in love with working
on airplanes. He started at Garrett Aviation
in Santa Barbara, California, working on a
Boeing 737-800 project, and later worked
for Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah,
Georgia. He opened his own traveling
upholstery service in 2010 and completes
about a dozen projects per year, ranging
from full interiors to partial refurbs. “For
the Arrow, we took the seats down to the
bare frames. One of the things we do is to
custom contour the conforming foam—that
makes a big difference in comfort on a long
flight,” Mark said. He added that his experience working on corporate jets worth
$50-plus million taught him the value of
quality workmanship. “I learned to keep the
stitches straight,” he laughed.
THE FUTURE
Chris shared a tinge of regret regarding their
timing on the Arrow’s engine overhaul.
“When we were deciding what to do with
the engine a couple of years ago, Lycoming
was just introducing the new IO-390, which
is rated at 210 hp. That would have put the
Arrow into the high-performance
category—a valuable asset as a trainer. But
the engine wasn’t available yet, so we did the
overhaul on the IO-360. When it reaches
TBO next time, we’ll upgrade.” Chris also
said they plan to grace the Arrow with a
fresh paint job this fall, rounding out the
face-lift.
