Mike Spera wrote:



Are the 3 cables (power, XM, GPS) attached to the existing bundles
behind the instrument panel? Is the power cable being routed to the cig.
lighter? I assume the GPS and XM cables pop out somewhere on top of the
glareshield. Right?

I've never had the Gizmo but I have always hard wired my portable GPS.
I just lop off the cig lighter plug and wire it right to the electrical
bus. It's about as simple a thing as you can do. I run the wire under
an avionics access panel and tie wrap it under the panel to make it
neat. I don't need a remota antenna, the one on the GPS works fine. If
I had the XM capable unit I would hide that wire as well. I do have XM
in the plane but it's a standalone unit. It is attached to the far
upper right instrument panel and has three wires. The power wire goes
to a cig lighter that I had my mechanic install hidden under the panel
and it stays hot all the time so I can recharge my cell phone if I'm
camping in the woods. The antenna wire goes under the panel lip and
comes out on the windshield side where the antenna sits. The audio line
also goes under the panel lip and reemerges at my music in input between
the fron seats.



It would appear to me that routing and securing these cables would be
more of an issue than the plastic dock itself (although one person said
their local FAA critter is prepared to mount a regulations holy war
based on the plastic not being approved via the burn test regs).

I don't see that. Tell that guys FSDO inspector to read his regs, they
do not support what he's trying to do. Plus have you ever seen a
standard panel cover? It's the same damn stuff.



Another thing I thought of when I was preflighting the other day was
around yoke mounted devices in general. I have had several different GPS
units yoke mounted. When I preflight and exercise the ailerons, I notice
a dramatically different load depending on the particular GPS/mount. Has
anyone determined whether this modifies the aerodynamic balance in the
ailerons for any flight regime (full deflection, slow flight, stalls,
spins, etc.)? Yoke mounted devices seem to inspire no passionate
behavior among FAA types. Anyone have any stories to tell?

I have always wondered why people get so exercised about the Gizmo but
have no problem with a device attached to the airplanes controls,
something you can actually tell is there when you manipulate them.