Cessna 421 Cockpit Modernisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cessna 421 Cockpit Modernisation - Essay Example It uses geared Continental GTSIO-520-D engines. The gearing is such that the drive shaft drives through a set of reducing gears instead of being directly connected to the propeller. The 421 series was first produced in May 1967 followed by the 421A in 1968 which was redesigned in 1970 and sold as the 421B. The 421C came into service in 1975 replacing the earlier versions 421A and the 421B. The aircraft had wet wings, the absence of wing tip fuel tanks and landing gear which was changed from straight leg to a trailing-link design which was produced from 1981 onwards. Its production came to halt in 1985 after 1901 aircrafts had been delivered. The 421C is a light passenger transport aircraft which was approved on October 28, 1975. The aircraft is powered by two Continental GTSIO-520-Ls or Continental GTSIO-520-Ns which are turbocharged, fuel injected and geared six-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled piston engine that produce 375hp each. Some general characteristics of this aircr aft include a crew of one or two, a capacity of six passengers, and length of 11.09, wingspan of 12.53m, wing area of 19.97m2, empty weight of 4501 lb, height of 3.49m and a maximum takeoff weight of 3379kg. It has a maximum speed of 256 knots with a cruise speed of 240 knots and a range of 2755km. the service ceiling is 9,205 m and a rate of climb of 1940 ft/min. (Cessna 421 Golden Eagle: Cessna model 421C information manual. 1979) Aim The main objective here is to upgrade the existing avionics panel of the Cessna 421C to the Garmin G600 display in order to reap the benefits of this modern design. Some of these include improved situational awareness, pilot safety and workload reduction. The other objective is to introduce modern avionics to the display panel for the venerable Eagle to make it more modern and efficient. To achieve this, we will employ the G600 together with some other retrofits to come up with a cockpit that is not only modern but also perfect in operation. Addition ally, further improvement of the passenger In Flight Entertainment System is also conducted to bring it to modern levels of service. The upgraded panel offers much more capability and comfort to the pilot. With the space so created from the reduced clutter, the interior design is refurbished. It is fitted with new light gray lather seats, writing tables, refreshment center and a belted potty. Discussion Cessna 421C Cockpit Diagrams are shown here bellow. Before retrofitting Fig 1: Cessna 421 Cockpit before upgrade Source: http://sarasotaavionics.com/panel-gallery/cessna-421/ After retrofitting Source: http://sarasotaavionics.com/panel-gallery/cessna-421/ The cockpit of the Cessna 421 in figure 1 above has several instruments cluttered across the main display panel making it rather tedious to the pilot to work. Most instruments here are mechanical and thus time consuming to read and interpret. Some of these instruments include: a Comm. Dual King KTR 905, Nav Dual King KNR 630, MFD Av idyne EX500, King KLN- 90B Approach GPS, ADF Dual King KDM-805, and Transponder Dual King KXP-755. It also includes autopilot King KFC 250 with Flight Director and yaw. Other important features are the dampener, the HIS Dual Cessna 1000 and a fuel management system. For instance, the altimeter which measures the aircrafts barometric settings, the attitude indicator, the horizontal situation indicator, the gyroscopes, all engine and emergency equipment are all mounted in the basic T fashion. It is therefore my desire to retrofit this window to a modern digital panel by using the Garmin G600 display. With this upgrade, we expect a safer, easy to operate