Jon Harden, President – Aviation Insurance Resources
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I took off on a much-anticipated vacation out west to Montana for a family reunion in our beloved Cessna 180. I have had this aircraft so long now that she is like a family member; she is very well taken care of. En route to Rockford, IL to stay the night with a longtime friend, I experienced a small but annoying avionics problem. My #1 CDI was not working properly. Also, the shaft for my autopilot controller disconnected from the unit.
At my fuel stop I called ahead to my friend in Rockford to see if he could get the Avionics Place to take a quick look at it. I have known Tony, who started the Avionics Place, for over 30 years. Since moving back East I have not had much contact with him except for our annual drop by at his booth in Oshkosh at the EAA AirVenture convention to say hi. When I arrived, Dave came out and immediately, pulled the Garmin 430W and did a bench check and discovered it was working properly. So, what could be causing the problem?
No more than an hour and a half later, I get a call from Dave telling me the CDI is now working and the coupling on the autopilot shaft has been replaced and all is now working perfectly. Amazing! These guys are great! All I can say is if you need avionics work done, even if you are not local to Rockford IL, you need to go to the Avionics Place. They know what they are doing (over 37 years at RFD), reasonable rates and probably the friendliest, customer service-oriented shop I have ever dealt with.
Give Tony or Dave a call at (815) 229-5360 or check them out online at http://www.avionicsplace.com/. Better yet, stop by and visit them in person at Oshkosh in Building C Booth #3058D. I know I will be!