Tips When Making Upgrades To An Aircraft's Avionics System

Posted on: 9 September 2021

The avionics system of an aircraft is a critical component because it includes the electrical systems, which could be considered the brain of your aircraft. If you ever plan on upgrading this part of your plane, here are some tips that can help.

Make Sure FAA Approves

There are certain standards all avionics systems need to meet for the safety of pilots, passengers, and crew members. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is in charge of making these rules, even in regards to aviation upgrades.

So before you go full steam ahead with a particular upgrade, it helps to verify that your renovation is FAA approved. You want to do this before starting any sort of renovation, whether it's to the display screens or telecommunication systems your aircraft relies on. Then you can abide by these rules and stay out of regulatory trouble.

Have an Aviation Technician Conduct a Formal Inspection

In order to really narrow in on certain upgrades for your avionics system, it helps to have your plane looked at by an aviation technician that specializes in these systems. They'll put the avionics system through tests to see what areas can be improved upon.

Maybe it's the way rudders are controlled or braking components aren't responding as quickly as they need to. An aviation technician can find out these shortcomings and also show you which upgrades to make. That saves you time and ultimately helps you get better performance out of your aircraft.

Carefully Monitor Upgrades Post-Installation

Whether you decide to switch out the displays in your aircraft or change up the layout of flight controls, you need to monitor your avionics upgrades for a reasonable amount of time. Then you'll see how they're impacting real-life flight experiences.

Thorough data recording will be necessary to effectively track the performance of your avionics upgrades. You'll also want to continue working with an avionics technician as well because they can give you another set of eyes to monitor relevant flight and performance metrics. If the upgrades are performing adequately, then you know your efforts were worth it and are ultimately satisfactory with flight standards. 

If you have an avionics system in a plane that's outdated or just giving you performance issues, you might decide to upgrade it in certain ways. As long as you take a calculated approach and analyze the results of these upgrades, you'll get a better-performing aircraft. 

Contact a local aviation technician to learn more about aircraft avionics systems.

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