PILOT'S GUIDE BendixKing by Honeywell's KX-165A Equipped Like New Aircraft owners turn to repair shops for S T O R Y Y B Y D A V E ou've heard the phrase many times: "They don't make 'em like they used to ." Actually, aside from a couple of composite-airframe exceptions, they really still do make 'em like they used to . Today's general aviation aircraft makers largely build them exactly like they used to build 'em - and metal still dominates ... except for today's new-plane panels . Avidyne's EX600 UPGRADES H I G D O N What goes into today's panels stand out as a significant diversion away from aircraft equipped like those before the new century . Glass digitally driven instruments replace spinningmass gyros, analog air sensors and electromechanical engine instrumentation in virtually every airplane being built today - including most light-sport aircraft . Most pilots fly older airplanes that fit budgets insufficient to support one of those new planes with their magical panels . But no owner of older aircraft need surrender the affordable wings currently flown just to gain the benefits of the digital panel revolution . The avionics industry can remake virtually any old bird into an airplane with all of the same advances in today's new birds . Planned and managed to match the owner's budget, such upgrades won't cost anywhere near the value of the airplane being enhanced - and thousands less than the alternative path to a modern panel planemakers wish more could embrace . A factory-new plane . While the enhancements may not necessarily match the highest-dollar panels in every function, a budgetdriven process can still deliver most of the improvements and functions of a modern digital panel . - 36 -