We ended our avionics discussions for 2024 talking about the unique decisions a twin owner needs to address when equipping or re-equipping the avionics in their aircraft. Decisions about upgrading audio panels, GPS, ADS-B, Transponders and EFIS, big or small, are not influenced by the number of engines on an aircraft.
While radar is available in high-end singles with the use of a wing pod, the radar market is primarily a twin-engine market and limited to an aircraft that came out of the factory with a radome. The alternative for weather avoidance in a single or twin, especially a legacy single, is generally limited to a Stormscope or similar device, or satellite weather like SiriusXM or ADS-B. You can add active lightning detection to a single or twin with the Insight Strikefinder with gyro stabilization for about $7,000 installed. Adding or upgrading radar is a significantly larger investment. We discussed radar in December including Garmin’s new “StormOptix” technology. Updating your existing legacy radar to something like the Garmin GWX 75 is closer to $22,000. Add StormOptix enablement and you’re looking at $40K.
On the other hand, managing and monitoring your engines in flight in a twin, especially a legacy twin, means rpm, manifold pressure, fuel flow, oil temperature, oil pressure, volts and amps, times two. Why do I single out a legacy twin here? It took both Piper and Cessna a number of years to get the factory panel right in my opinion. Engine instruments were often scattered throughout the panel or by the pilot’s knee. The majority of my clients over the last eleven years have been flying singles. I had a Navajo client a number of years back, but the twin owners I most often talked to were flying Piper Senecas. If you look at the Seneca Panel in 1975, engine instruments are at the bottom of the stack and one instrument provided data on both the left and right engines. Compare it to a 2007 Seneca II panel (above) and you’ll see that engine instruments are all in one place and in front of the pilot in a format that is much easier to see and interpret. There is a separate instrument for each parameter (rpm, manifold pressure, oil pressure, etc.) for the left and right engines. Some do remain low on the panel, hopefully the less critical ones. Bottom Line: important engine data is in front of you and easier to interpret.
What I am suggesting here is if you are considering an avionics upgrade in your twin, it is an opportunity to simplify engine management and reduce pilot load with an engine management system that puts everything in one place and at the same time adds “digital” accuracy in an instrument that actively monitors the situation. For example, old school was a passive oil pressure gauge that requires you to watch it. I lost an oil cooler on a breakfast flight in my Stinson Voyager in 1974. My good scan caught it and I landed safely with a lot of oil to clean up after. Having a modern, digital engine analyzer or management system means the instrument monitors your pre-set parameters and notifies you if something changes. That’s a significant reduction in pilot load in IFR!
You have the option of upgrading your engine management system in a format that fits into an existing panel without redoing your panel. It depends on the original instrumentation. For those that are doing a significant avionics upgrade, the opportunity to create a new, more functional panel in their legacy twin allows for the larger format twin engine management units. Let’s look at the options for upgrading engine management in a twin.
Upgrading the Basics
Often missing from a factory panel is the ability to monitor cylinder temperatures (EGT/CHT). The single channel EGT provided by the factory doesn’t cut it. I frequently suggest that having a single channel EGT is like having an alarm system for your home that only monitors one room! For even Light IFR, the ability to see individual temps for each cylinder and then, the ability to correctly lean each engine is basic with today’s fuel prices. I had a client recently who lost a cylinder in his single on a cross-country to Florida. He had completed everything in the upgrade I recommended except the EDM-830 engine analyzer. He got it down safely. He called me and suggested that the EDM might have given him a lot earlier notice and a lot less stress.
Fuel flow in legacy twins can be unreliable or non-existent. I consider this a must for IFR.
JP Instruments EDM 790 Twin EIS
JPI EDM-790 Twin Engine Analyzer at $5,000 (4) / $6,400 (6).
Installed: 40-50 hours at approximately $10,300/$13,000
If you fly your twin Light IFR and want to just upgrade the basics, The JPI EDM 790 Twin is the answer.
Upgrading Twin Engine Management to an Existing Panel
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