I admit it, I’m spoiled. For a 33-year-old airplane my Cessna Cardinal RG is very well equipped. Fitted with a Garmin (née UPS) GNS 480 navigator, a Garmin GMX 200 multifunction display and an S-Tec System 30 autopilot with a Pitch Stabilization System, my airplane doesn’t give up a whole lot to the new kids on the block with their Avidyne Entegras or Garmin G1000s and GFC 700 autopilots. Sure there are some nice advantages to the boxes with the latest technology, but we got along without them very well before we met them and we can get along without them now.
For years I flew my Cardinal single-pilot in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) with a pair of VORs and an aging Cessna Navomatic 300A autopilot that with luck and constant monitoring would hold a heading. Theoretically capable of intercepting and tracking a VOR or localizer course, it rarely deigned to add those functions to its to-do list.
