OK, so I’m not logging any actual time for this, which is pretty much in keeping with what I’ve been doing all along. I only really log time spent actually out in the shop. Time spent doing random research/reading/design/admin stuff I don’t keep track of (if I did I’d probably be over 2000 hours by now).
Anyway, after continuing to tweak and move stuff around in the panel design, I decided it was time to update the mockups in the plane. I decided I didn’t like the intercom in the right console after all, and put it back up on the panel. So now all my physical switches are either on the right console or at the lower left of the panel.
Basically, the left-side switches are all what I’m considering “immediate action” items – things I’d need to hit immediately in case of an emergency. Fuel pump and starter arm switches would come into play in case of a loss of engine power, autopilot servos might need to be disabled in a hurry if they went bananas for whatever reason.
Right-side switches are all less-urgent things. I might need to move these in response to an issue, but not necessarily urgently. It’s not depicted here, but what I intend to do here are sprinkle in some guards in strategic spots to help group the switches and allow for finding them by feel if necessary.
I didn’t really do any chair-flying with the new setup tonight, just climbed in long enough to get the photo and make a few token airplane noises. From here I think I’ll do some serious chair time, working through checklists and such to see how everything flows. The one concern I have at the moment is that the rearmost switches on the console seem like they might be awkward to reach. I don’t think I can put the switches much closer together, so I may end up moving the ignition switched to the right wing to live beside the CPI2 controller they’re associated with.
Always something more to think about…
