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also be modernizing the aircraft to remove fuel and oil lines that fed directly to the aircraft’s instrument panel – a safety upgrade that Bill sought to accomplish with newer, electronic instruments. A few functional upgrades to bring the jet aesthetic to the flight deck would make it fly like the newest aircraft off the lot.
Beginning in January of 2019 and culminating 13 months later in February of 2020 (when owning and operating a private aircraft reminded us of its importance with the dawn of the COVID-era), the ACI Jet maintenance and avionics teams would remove more than 80 pounds of wir- ing from the C340. The team redesigned and reengineered the entire flight deck, and tested the shop’s customization capabilities, including carbon fiber molding, 3D printing and advanced sheet metal fabrication, plus installed an entirely new Garmin touchscreen (TXi) flight deck.
The primary objectives were to consolidate engine indi- cations into an electronic display, modernize the panel to include electroluminescent indicators and push-button LED annunciators, and to maximize efficiency for Bill or any of ACI Jet’s pilot-employees flying the aircraft. However, with an aircraft that has systems packed together in a small package, as components were removed or replaced, op- portunities for further improvements or cleanup abounded – the “unraveling of the sweater,” as Glenn Mauk, ACI Jet’s lead avionics technician put it.
All-in, at the completion of the project a year later, there would be 11 Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM) supplements and a number of deviations from the Supplemental Type Cer- tificates (STCs) requiring extensive engineering, designs, installation mounting templates, miles and miles of wiring marked with the repair station’s Laselec MRO 200 wire marker and digital wiring diagrams – all to aid not only the maintenance at hand but for all future maintenance.
With panels removed, corresponding inspections and other maintenance opportunities scheduled, further oppor- tunities for improvement arose. It became a “choose your own adventure story” according to Brian Ford, ACI Jet’s avionics manager and technical sales director. “Nearly every day there was an ‘if not now, when?’ moment. Something that would be difficult to do now, both from the standpoint of shop time and with a hangar full of business jets, would be impossible later once we buttoned up the aircraft,” he continued. “The other thing to remember is that even small improvements, whether it be a change in a plug type or dif- ferent kind of fastener for an application, require engineer- ing documentation, diagrams, AFM supplements at times and mechanical or electrical DERs. Sometimes even from a switch that went up and down to one that goes in and out.”
Other unplanned but opportune upgrades included 3D printed scupper drains for nacelle baggage access doors, a brand new, carbon fiber overhead panel designed and fabricated by one of ACI Jet’s maintenance technicians, Tyler Kirk, and panel labeling for the Envision Avionics Panel designed by ACI Jet’s marketing and communica- tions department to ensure character spacing and style was optimized for ease of reading in all operational
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October 2021 / TWIN & TURBINE • 21