On 15-Apr-2004, "Casey Wilson" wrote:

I have a recommendation for a good mechanic who has never seen the
airplane but know nothing about avionics shops.


Others are offering good advice about shopping and prebuys, but you also
asked about avionics shops. Apparently, you are thinking about having the
avionics "checked out." While it would certainly be possible to have each
"black box" bench checked to verify conformance to specification, this would
be quite costly. Fact is, aside from knobs, switches, and such, solid-state
avionics don't "wear out" in the sense that engines do. A bench checkout
today in no way reduces the probability of failure tomorrow. Were it me, I
would check out operation of all of the avionics myself during flight
testing. Make sure everything works, the radios sound good (both receive
and transmit -- ask ATC for a radio check), the altitude encoder works
properly (ask ATC for verification of altitude readout). You get the idea.
It might be a good idea to make up a list of tests to perform to make sure
that you check all of the onboard avionics. Pay particular attention to
autopilot operation if there is one, and don't forget to check out the
glideslope receiver and indicator.

One other thing I would do is poke my head up behind the radio stack to see
the condition of wiring harnesses. What you should find is neat and secure
wiring, not a rat's nest of wires going every which way.

Then, the only reason to involve an avionics shop would be to give estimates
for repairing any faulty equipment, or to perform a transponder check if one
is due or near due.

--
-Elliott Drucker