Exterior View

The Archer in the staging area in front of the hangar.

 

Doing a thorough preflight before the second leg of a short cross country.

 

Combined Interior and Exterior View

Sunset over Ligonier, Pennsylvania with the interior lights turned off and only the GPS visible in the panel.

 

Interior View, Instrument Panel

Left View

The instrument panel from the pilot's side at 3,500 feet, wings level, full fuel, and all indicators in the green. COM1 is set to Latrobe Tower and NAV1 is set to the ILS at KLBE. We must not be far from home!

 

Center View

Here's a good view of our Garmin 430W GPS in flight. We're doing 124 knots and are 47.4 n.m. from our waypoint. You can see the Storm Scope on the right and the DME in the bottom center.

 

Right View

Here's the view from the right seat showing that the Piper is equipped with dual controls. Have you ever carried a passenger who didn't rest his hand on the instrument panel at some point during the flight?

 

Full View

The full instrument panel photographed from the rear seat. This photo was taken on the ground but it gives the appearance that the pilot has abandoned his post and the aircraft is in a steep descent.

From the photographer's position the fingerprints on the GPS screen really stand out, but with the unit powered on and from the pilot's seat they're not visible. We'll add wiping down the GPS screen to our post-flight and our pre-photography check lists.