Michael wrote:

Personally, I consider backup vacuum/gyros to be a low priority for
something like a Cherokee. I suspect that the same money spent on
regular recurrent training would have a significantly higher payoff in
safety. I would put the backup vacuum/gyro for something like a
Cherokee lower on the list than some sort of weather avoidance
capability (spherics, datalink, etc.) and lower than a good handheld
GPS with fresh batteries.

Funny, you just listed my major purchases over the past six months: I bought
a Garmin 196 in December, and just ferried my plane back from Montreal this
afternoon with a (used but factory updated) WX-900 Stormscope installed by
an experienced shop. It was the perfect afternoon for it: solid IMC above
1,200 ft AGL, with a small risk of occasional embedded TCU and CB (normally,
I cancelled flights under those conditions).


All the best,


David