Finding anyone today that is proficient in landing and takeoff in a tail-dragger aircraft is about as hard to find as trying to find a Millennial that knows how to drive a stick-shift car !

 

VFR only ?

I would love to see a photo of the instrument panel ...

 

I decided to have a real traveling machine, full IFR, triple GPS, Autopilot, Moving Map Display, TCAS, dual com radios, ADS-B, etc.
Not that we plan on flying in hard IFR conditions, but it is nice to be able to climb through a cloud layer and get "on top". This Mustang is two place, with full controls in the back seat.
The avionics are all Garmin, except for the backup GPS, which is GRT.

 

Dang....that looks NOTHING like an original Mustang cockpit. Wow. It's almost Cessna simple. I like it.

 

Excellent, and very well equipped ...





Here is the mess we had to deal with ...

 

I flew B-727's and MD-80's, plus DC-10's early in my career. This photo is not much different from the earlier Boeing cockpits.
My career was finished up flying the Queen Of The Fleet...the B-777. God's gift to pilots! As cool as the 777 is, my plane has better avionics. Synthetic vision on the Garmin, with full terrain advisory capability.



I had two choices, go period correct, 1940's instruments, or go modern with full GPS. The old round gauge analog instruments are heavy, prone to failure, and they are not cheap. My two axis autopilot will do everything the B-777 autopilot does, except make an "Auto-Landing".
It will fly a "hands off" coupled ILS approach right down to the runway threshold.

 

Nice .....

 

Your avionics stack is worth more than my old airplane (Cessna 172K) !!

 

I know what you mean, my avionics package actually cost more than the entire Mustang Kit. That's including all the labor for the custom panel build, and wiring the aircraft.
We owned a C-172 for 11 years, and we did a major upgrade on the radios back then. The total price (1985) was $15,000 for the Narco Mark 12 D package.

That Skyhawk was a great airplane. There is actually an LS3 conversion for that!

 

Jeeeze .... Wasn't the Cessna 172 about 150 massive HP pumping out of it's 4 cylinders ?

And then install an LS3 .... WoW !

 

Yup. O-320 Lycoming in mine. I got to fly one with an O-360 Lyc. 180 hp on that one if memory serves. It was a beast compared to mine....Couldn't imagine one with an LS3 up front.

 

The O-360 Lycoming is a popular conversion, especially with the constant speed prop option. My Skyhawk (150 hp) was a great one or two person airplane. If you had four on board, with full fuel, it would take forever just to climb to cruise altitude.

Here it is...a Corvette C-172!

 

Nice read. What was the cost to do just yours?

 

Not sure what you are referring to...to build the plane? Total cost? Or to have the custom cam installed and the engine put on a dyno?

 

Very cool project. Following!!

 

LS376-525. MoTeC ECU.