upgrades

[slam555]

I'm looking into buying this taylorcraft plane in Lincon MO so far the plane is EXACTLY what the owner presents it to be, being a new pilot and this would be my first purchase, I took 2 of my friends with me for the prebuy inspection, right now I'm waiting for the weather to clear up for a test flight, everyone I've spoken with on this plane or this model of plane has had good things to say about it and how nice they are to fly
there are several things I would like to have after I buy it though first would be the disc brake conversion, they say the drum brakes are tempormental, the second is and intercom and radio system, due to the fact that theres no electrical system on this plane its not required, but I would like to comunicate with a tower, if needed, 3rd would be a transponder for adsb out, since I am new would like to have flight following while I finish my solos. the electrical supply shouldn't be a issue, there are wind generators and 12 volt supply systems that are light and cheap. its the other stuff and I'm sure there's others that have these systems rigged in there planes already, any way I have found affordable insurance, and hopefully have a place closer to me to hanger it any help is appreciated

[3Dreaming]

I have a 1000 plus hour of Taylorcraft time, and unless you are trying to be a bush pilot with big tires the original brakes are fine. We use a Garmin 225 in ours mounted in a removable console on the floor ahead of the seat. It has a built in intercom that we use. It is powered by a small Earth X battery. Having some kind of radio is not a bad thing.

Instead of buying a transponder and ADSB I think I would get something like this, https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...YaAslVEALw_wcB .Then have someone local track you on your ventures.

Please don't try to turn the Taylorcraft into something it is not. They are wonderful little airplanes, that are capable of going somewhere. The lighter they are the nicer they fly. If you want disk brakes and updated avionics you should look for an airplane that is better suited for your desired mission.

[Hank Jarrett]

Hand held radio and stock brakes are all you need. ADSB adds lots of weight and complexity. I have a wind generator for both my planes and never put them on, rather use teh weight for fuel. A sealed 12V battery will last just fine for lights and recharging the hand held radio and a hand held GPS if their batteries run out. Just recharge it after you use it. I have also never flown with the battery since flying at night isn't that much fun anyway and I have never run out of battery in flight. Most flying is local and honestly I never look at a GPS either. Wrist watch and Sectional are fine, just keep an eye out for the nut case in a Bonanza on autopilot who is reading a book instead of looking outside! YES! There are a LOT of them and ADSB doesn't seem to help much with them, besides, they seem to like to go high and a Taylorcraft is FUN below 5,000'.