Mods

This page will document any modifications I make to the airplane. These mods may be considered “upgrades”, “modifications”, or “solutions”, and I’ll document them here for the benefit of other owners who might be interested.

Check the index to the right for the list, both completed and planned. Note that the SLSA -> ELSA conversion is listed first, which will enable most of them.

On this page:

Completed:

Phone mount

Nav/com system

Planned:

SLSA to ELSA conversion

Completed mods

Phone mount — This isn’t really a mod, but rather a solution, and as essentially a cockpit accessory I don’t need the manufacturer’s approval, in fact I don’t even need the airplane! I’ve been flying for quite a few years now with Bose ANR headsets with Bluetooth and I’ve learned just how useful making and receiving phone calls from the cockpit can be. So, having my phone readily accessible in the cockpit will be a priority. I believe I have found a great solution in the form of the Flight Gear Smart Suction Mount. I think it’s going to be perfect on the right hand cockpit reinforcement panel but will post a picture of it here once I’ve used it and have the position optimized.

Nav/com system – This is another one that really is a “solution” rather than a mod. Like most of you I’ll be using an iPad mini for my flight planning and navigation. Though I’ll have a Sentry Mini installed for ADS-B in as well as FIS-B and live NOTAMS, I bought the iPad wifi + cellular version of the iPad so that I’d have the built-in GPS as a backup to the WAAS GPS in the Sentry. The iPad is my primary navigation instrument with my iPhone as a backup. My headset, phone, and ship’s com radio are my communication system, and since they are all tied together, I needed to do some homework on how they’d integrate. This graphic lays it out.

Planned mods

Complete LSRI course — Allows the aircraft owner to take an FAA-approved Light Sport Repairman Inspection (LSRI) course and then perform the required Annual Condition Inspection on any ELSA aircraft. This is not to be confused with the standard Light Sport Repairman Inspection course which is much more comprehensive and qualifies you to then do all required inspections and work on SLSAs. I’ll be taking this course from Rainbow Aviation.

SLSA to ELSA conversion — Spirit Engineering sells the SE-1 as a Special Light Sport Aircraft (SLSA). Though not well known, any aircraft first given an SLSA airworthiness certificate by the FAA may at any later date be converted to an Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (ELSA). This is a one-way process that provides two main benefits:

Allows the owner to make modifications to the aircraft without any approval from the manufacturer, which is required for any changes to an SLSA. (essentially just like a Part 23 certificated aircraft). Note that most of these of these would not be legal without the ELSA conversion, they would require a Letter of Authorization (LOA) from Spirit Engineering which they are entitled to charge you for. Lastly, they may not have the staff headroom, whether they charge or not, and might just decline your request which is what most SLSA manufacturers would do.
Allows the owner to take an FAA-approved Light Sport Repairman Inspection (LSRI) course and then perform the required Annual Condition Inspection on any ELSA aircraft (not SLSA, that requires a much longer 120 hr course).

The conversion process requires submitting FAA Form 8130-6, receiving a new airworthiness certificate from a DAR (Designated Airworthiness Representative), and updating aircraft placards. The process also involves your DAR inspection of the aircraft to ensure it meets original factory specifications. Technically, you will be moving the aircraft from Part 21.190 to 21.191.

This an important decision to make, and it is important to complete all the steps correctly. I’ll therefore document it here thoroughly.

LEMO headset jack — The SE-1 comes equipped from Spirit with only a conventional headset and mic jack, there is no provision for any of the powered ANL headsets. Rather the use needs to buy the pigtail that provides battery power and enables them to use the standard jacks. This is crude, the LEMO jacks are wired to ship’s power and then you don’t need to worry about changing batteries!

AHRS-1 upgrade — As supplied, the AHRS-1 provides heading and slip/skid information. It is possible to replace the SP-6 module with an SP-7 which will then enable it to provide both AHRS and g-meter info as well as heading and slip/skid. This upgrade will be considered in context with the next, new panel designs are already conjuring themselves up in my mind, stay tuned for details.

New instrument panel — There are no two pilots that, if asked, would ever design exactly the same instrument panel. Spirit Engineering chose MGL Avionics to build a functional and affordable panel with, and I’m sure most owners will be happy with it. But could it be even better? In today’s market we have quite an array of electronics choices to build our panels with. The SE-1 has quite a small instrument panel, and there are structural considerations with the space behind it as well. Still, I will no doubt be at least exploring ways to build even a better panel.

Propellers — The Sensenich propeller supplied with the SE-1 has been well tested and should provide excellent service on the plane. In search of more performance I ended up doing quite a bit of prop testing with my RV-8 however and learned that there is likely additional performance to be realized optimum twist profiles, thinner airfoils, and perhaps a bit larger diameter. A metal prop would almost certainly be too heavy, but a composite or composite/wood solution designed specifically for this aircraft and speed range could yield some additional speed and efficiencies. I may well begin researching this once I’ve had the plane for a year or so.

Above is just my preliminary list, there will no doubt be more!