Air Plains Offers Custom Avionics Panel for Upgraded Cessna 172s

Air Plains is offering a new, advanced panel kit for Cessna 172 owners who are planning to upgrade their aircraft engines with the company’s 180 hp supplemental type certificate.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, June 29, 2022 at 04:55 PM ET

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The instrument panel will be test fit for instrumentation, powder-coated, and laser engraved, with pilot holes pre-drilled for final fitting and installation. [Courtesy: Air Plains]

Key Takeaways:

Air Plains has introduced the 172XP “alpha” Advanced Instrument Panel Kit for Cessna 172s, designed to be installed concurrently with their 180 hp engine upgrade or for existing 172XP owners.
This kit allows aircraft owners to maximize maintenance downtime by completing a full avionics upgrade alongside an engine upgrade, providing an "essentially new airplane" experience.
The upgrade particularly benefits flight schools by modernizing trainers with 21st-century avionics, fulfilling Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) requirements for commercial pilot certification.
Featuring advanced Avidyne and Dynon components, the kit arrives largely pre-wired and configured, simplifying installation for mechanics and reducing the need for a specialized avionics shop.

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There is a common school of thought that if your aircraft is going to be down for maintenance, such as an engine upgrade, you might as well get the other labor-intensive projects—such as an instrument panel upgrade—done at the same time.

That’s the thought process behind the Advanced Instrument Panel Kit 172XP “alpha” update, developed specifically for Cessna 172 owners planning to upgrade their aircraft engine with Air Plains’ 180 hp supplemental type certificate (STC). Alternatively, if the owner has one of the more than 2,500 172XP upgrades already in the field, the new avionics panel is also an option. Both the panel and the engine updates can be installed by Air Plains at its Wellington, Kansas, facility, or it can be shipped as a complete kit for local installation.