Air conditioning for your Baron - Aircenter, Inc

1 ABS May 2003 Page 7812 Air conditioning for your BaronBY THOMAS P. TURNER, CLEVELAND, TENNESSEET hings have changed since the Baron was a new wonderful airplane, Barons sometimes seem nonethe-less quite Spartan when measured against modern standards of comfort. After all, we drive air-conditionedautos from our air-conditioned homes to our air-conditioned offices. Many of us rarely linger unprotected inthe heat of , there are fewer hotter places than the cabin of aBaron that has spent the day on a summer s sunny ramp, a veritable Plexiglass oven. Face it you d like to crank up theair conditioning for yourself and your passengers, maybe evenarrange to have your Baron pre-cooled by the line staff before timeto board. If you want to add air condition-ing to your 55 or 58 Baron , and havethe option of cooling the cabinbefore engine start, you have a newchoice: Check out the Aircenter, L.

2 Gadberry, president ofAircenter, Inc., is no newcomer toaircraft modification. A major sup-plier and reseller of piston AeroCommander airplanes, Gadberry sChattanooga, Tennessee-basedAircenter holds literally dozens of commonly installed STCs forthe big Aero Commander twins. In recent years Gadberry has turned his attention to theBaron and Cessna s 310Q and R models, earning air condi-tioning STCs for these airplanes as well. Aircenter has alsosuccessfully earned 337 one-time approvals to install air conditioning in the Cessna 303 Crusader; Piper Aztec; BeechTwin bonanza and Twin Beech; Cessna 401; and Socata TB20 Trinidad; and is working on an STC d system for Baron SpecsThe Aircenter, Inc. Cool-Air system is an electricallypowered, environmentally safe R-134a air conditioning sys-tem approved by STC for installation in the B55, C55, D55,E55, 58 and 58TC Barons.

3 The powerful16,500 BTU system (as compared to 14,000 BTUs in factory air conditioning ) uses thesame lightweight components that are standardin the Cessna CJ-series jets totaling 64pounds, mounted aft of the rear baggage area. A prototype that I examined about threeyears ago was originally placed in the nosebaggage compartment, but Aircenter wiselydetermined pilots did not want to give up near-ly one-third of the nose baggage evaporator motors propel 400 cubicfeet per minute of cool air flow. That s a tonand a half of cold air enough, I found, toalmost immediately provide a noticeable dif-Nobody likes to climb into a sweltering cabin, only to boilwhile picking up a clearance andwaiting to take off. Making thepassenger experience enjoyableduring ground operations and Air Traffic Control delays is animportant part of airplane owner-ship.

4 Air conditioning reduces theinflight fatigue factor, keeps youfeeling better and ready to safelycomplete a trip. With that in mind,and summer almost upon us, inthis issue we have information onafter-market air conditioners forboth the Baron and the Bonanzato share with you. The editorAirCenter s components are the same as those usedin new Citation jets. ference in a heat-soaked airplane on the ramp. The priceNow for what you really want to know. Thecurrent kit price is $15,900. Installation is anoth-er roughly 60 to 80 worker-hours for older Baronsthat do not have the overhead ventilation chan-nel and outlets (the installer must fabricate achannel for your airplane), or about 40 to 60 hours(kit installation and wiring) for later-model air-planes where the air conditioning can be splicedinto the existing vent system.

5 There have been 15 Baron units and more than50 in Aero Commanders completed to says any good installation shop can a/c your airplane, although he s actively looking forpartnering installation centers around the The heart of the Cool-Air kit is a combinedcondenser/compressor unit produced by Enviro Systems, Inc.,a major supplier of aviation-grade environmental componentsfor more than 25 years. Gadberry is quick to explain that it isnot an automotive unit mounts on a kit-contained hat-shelf mountedacross the lower fuselage bulkheads, running from Station 192to 233. Original plans to mount the unit directly on the fuselage structure were thwarted by interference with servosfrom the Baron scommonly installed KFC200 , the use of the hat-shelf actually a pair of runnersfirmly attached to the structure that holds the air conditioningclear of the kit (which includes everything except the rivets), creates a strengthened air inlet and exhaust on the underside ofthe fuselage aft of the baggage area.

6 Intake air is drawn intothe condenser by electric fans. The electric air-conditioningcompressor circulates cooling refrigerant, but this compres-sion causes the refrigerant to heat hence the condenser,essentially a radiator used to re-chill the refrigerant and condense it into a liquid. Now-liquid refrigerant then isexpanded back into a gas through the evaporator, where itstemperature is just above freezing similar to the effect thatcauses a spray can to cool as its contents are expelled. Fan-driven cabin air circulates through the evaporator(another radiator, used to cool cabin air); chilled air then isducted to the passenger compartment. Air conditioning isavailable through adjustable outlets above all passenger the air isn t freezing, Aircenter does claim a 20 Fdrop in air temperature over the evaporator.

7 It won t make icecream, quips Gadberry, but it is enough, as I alreadyobserved, to make a noticeable difference right after start-up ina hot airplane on the kit includes an air-conditioner control panel on theinstrument panel, but the control is more than a simple the panel is an electronic load-shedding device thatconstantly samples the alternator output. If the device sensesloss of a single alternator, it will automatically cut off the airconditioning compressor and a light warns the pilot. Lose analternator or a voltage regulator (or an engine) and the unit willautomatically shut off to avoid overpowering the remainingelectrical fact, the air conditioner does draw a fair amount ofelectricity. Gadberry recommends 90-amp alternators on theIO-470 (belt-driven alternators) Barons, and 100-amp alterna-tors on the IO-520/550 Barons (the same alternators neededfor factory air conditioning ).

8 Unlike factory engine-drivenunits, however, there is no loss of engine power when usingthe air conditioner. Despite the logic that it doesn t affect aircraft performance, the FAA nonetheless requires the Cool-Air airconditioner to be turned off for takeoff and landing a holdover from engine-run compressor 7813 ABSMay 2003 TAX INCENTIVESAs part of the post-9/11 economy stim-ulus package, Congress has passed what iscalled a Bonus Depreciation. According toGary Gadberry of Aircenter, Inc., aircraft own-ers depreciating their aircraft for business areeligible for this bonus in addition to normal business asset added investment incentive canpay for as much as 92 percent of the cost ofthe Baron Cool-Air system. ContactGadberry for more information that you (andyour accountant) can review on BonusDepreciation, which is scheduled to be elimi-nated in air flows to positions above every and balanceAs stated, the kit weighs in at 67 pounds, almost all ofwhich is concentrated between Stations 195 and about Station 201, the 67 pounds exerts roughly135 (x100) pound-inches aft of the datum.

9 The slight transla-tion of the center of gravity aft is easily countered with weightin the nose baggage area if needed. You should, of course, ref-erence your own airplane s weight and balance data to make adefinitive the engine-driven factory air- conditioning system,the Cool-Air unit can be run on external power. You can callthe FBO and ask them to hook up the power cart and turn thepower and the air conditioning on while you perform your pre-flight inspection. Then the cabin can be cool and ready for youand your passengers before you components carry a one-year warranty by EnviroSystems, administered through Aircenter, Inc., which hasPMA (parts manufacturing authority) for the device. For moreinformation, contact GaryGadberryatAircenter, Inc. at 423-893-5444 or /< > Air conditioning for your bonanza BY MICHAEL FITCH,SALES MANAGERKEITH PRODUCTS,DALLAS TEXASA ssummer approaches and the mercury in the thermometer begins to rise, we see less and less activi-ty around the nation s general aviation airports.

10 Why?The conditions inside the average cockpit can becomenearly unbearable as temperatures can reach well over100 F. Fortunately, there is a solution. Once available only asa factory option, air conditioning can now be added to manymodels of the bonanza . Keith Products, , located at Addison Airport just northof Dallas, has obtained FAA STC approval for installation ofan R134a air conditioning system, approved for V35, F33 Aand A36 Bonanzas. Once a rarity, air conditioning in light aircraft has become a necessity for many bonanza are the days of heavy, inefficient systems, which onlyworked on occasion. Systems today function much the same as they do in automotive applications, requiring only slightly more atten-tion than the average car. In this article, I will address somecommon questions and provide a little information on how air- conditioning systems are designed to much does a system weigh?