'What I would have chosen'

Following the Buckeye Air Fair in Arizona the sweepstakes aircraft made its way to Arturo's Aircraft interiors in Kingman, Arizona, where it received its beautiful new interior. From there, the aircraft flew south to Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, to begin the panel upgrade with Garmin dealer and avionics shop Flite Instruments and Avionics.

In keeping with our resto-mod theme the team at Flite Instruments went through the painstaking process of hand-forming rolled edges of the panel pop-out sections to give the finished product more depth—along with "that retro look," said shop owner Matthew Layton.

Garmin supplied the sweepstakes aircraft with an avionics package that suits the aircraft perfectly, in Layton's view: "This is what I would have chosen for this aircraft."

The redesigned panel boasts three Garmin GI 275s to replace the horizontal situation indicator and attitude indicator—which enabled removal of the vacuum system. The third GI 275 serves as the engine monitor. In the center stack, a GTN 650XI GPS/nav/com controls the remote-mounted transponder, as does the GNC 215 color nav/com/receiver. The GMA 345 audio panel with Bluetooth is "my favorite audio panel," Layton said, and is a customer favorite also. Garmin also supplied a GFC 500 autopilot, the GDL 60 Datalink with Gamin's PlaneSync aircraft management system, USB-C chargers, and more.

Along with the brand-new avionics the aircraft also received all new electrical wiring, as well as throttle, mixture, propeller, and primer cables and engraved knobs from McFarlane Aviation; CiES fuel senders; and a suite of Whelen Aerospace Technologies LED lights.

With its new panel, the Sweepstakes Cessna 182 will make its way to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin in the coming days and will be on display outside the AOPA tent, located opposite the Brown Arch. AirVenture attendees will be the first to catch an in-person glimpse of the new panel and interior.