With AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, coming up soon, we had to work long hours to make the dashboard display body section ready for the world’s largest aviation celebration. The partial body went from this:

To this:

With the help of RK Performance Restoration in Prineville, Oregon, the Samson Team developed another winner. Ferarri red, of course!

The partial body was used to establish the boundaries for the dashboard itself. You can see the unfinished dash set into the partial body in the shot below.

With the fiberglass dash sized, and ready for the upholsterer, the cut-outs for flight instruments (avionics) and other controls were made. A sneak peak of this is shown in the image below. The larger screen is the Dynon Skyview Multi-Function Display (MFD) that will provide the moving map, navigation, and communication radios all in one. Below that are a series of four special purpose knobs that are used to make fast work for auto-pilot, commonly used settings, communication management, and the radio frequency control. This makes using the MFD easier and faster.

Before we sent the dash to the upholsterer, Casey of Stitch Craft in Redmond, Oregon, presented us with the two leather seats for the display dash mock-up. We did a custom design for the seats, so check them out and let us know what you think. They are Lancair Evolution 19G seats, modified for the Switchblade. Adjustable and very comfortable.

 

Blue Skies!