Direct Avionics won't return my GPS unit that they haven't installed. I paid for it in advance and no longer want it installed during my Aircraft's Annual in Direct Avionics's hangar. The owner has not answered phone calls or e mails read more

I own a Cardinal 177B II. I was lucky to find one at a decent price with low engine hours (~30). New paint, new seat covers, fresh annual... BUT the stock ARC Nav/Com, Transponder, 300A Autopilot old ADF and DME and a old GPS. In short, it flies. Radio calls ... sucked, Transponder did not broadcast ALT, the Autopilot was not even connected to power, same with the GPS. So I played with the idea to upgrade all out Garmin. New Nav/Com, new ADS-B IN/OUT transponder, a G5. Take out the Autopilot, ADF, DME, don't get me started on the non-existing audio panel. Well clean it up. I talked to Jeff at Direct Avionics (there are not many Avionics shops around in my area) who worked with me on configuring my setup. Jeff, knows all about the latest and greatest and recommended the GMA-350 (BT) instead of my selection of the GMA-342. Long story short, Jeff tore down the whole panel. ripped out 45! pounds of old fragile 43 y/o wires. Wires broke by just looking at them, leading to electrical "issues" prior to the upgrade. Yes, 43 y/o bridle vacuum lines/fittings broke but that's what one should expect. It's an old plane! Imagine you have a 15 y/o car. It's at the mechanic more often then in your garage. He took out the servo of that coffeemaker wannabe autopilot while at it. I do hold a mechanical engineering degree from Mercedes Benz ( Stuttgart, I'm a royal German pain in the rear and hard to fool) and the CTO of a tech lab. What impressed me about Jeffs work was the attention to detail! The wiring harness is a piece of art. What was a bees nest behind the panel (I do not know how it could have be signed off) is now an empty space. The fit and finish (what you look at) is perfect. Everything old (43 Years) that could fail has been taken care of. He even found a refurb DG. Why only 4 stars. Not Jeffs fault. Rather me being sour about the price upgrading (Garmin). But, everything plane, boat, expensive cars has its price, so I should shut up. What I do know, every time I take the plane out I can fly with piece in mind in regards to my Avionics. Just knowing that I do not need to think about a short causing a panel fire is the money worth spend. GREAT job Mr. Rothman! read more

Flying this weekend I just discovered Jeff also stripped the phillips head screws which mount the face of the instrument panel. Another hack job. A clean job would have been to use a hand held driver to avoid stripping the heads. Now I have to track down replacements. read more

After receiving a notice form the FAA about an ADS-B signal issue on my aircraft, Direct Avionics was logistically a great choice for my repair. I made an appointment, flew in that morning and before lunch he had found the problem and corrected the issue. He and Ruth communicated quickly and in details that I could understand concerning the problem. I was alarmed by the review I found online here, but know that only the bad reviews sometime show up, so I thought I would balance that out for him. I hope to do business with him again, well hopefully nothing else will break. Fat chance. read more

I have visited Jeff for software upgrades on my Garmin GTN650 and Aspen EFD. Also a pitot-static check which required work to my altimeter and airspeed indicator. I found Direct Avionics was responsive and professional with the work and in my case resolved failed equipment with economical repairs that I was very happy with. I'd recommend Direct highly as other shops I have dealt with always seem too busy to communicate promptly or deal with smaller issues which we all have. read more

Went there, big mistake, to have ADS-B installed in my aircraft. Not only did he screw up the installation of the ADS-B but the standby attitude indicator and elevator trim position indicator no longer worked when I got the aircraft back. Appareo who makes the ADS-B system that I installed was very proactive in finding out why the system would not work. They had me take the aircraft to another shop and they found the problem right away. Direct Avionics had crossed up some of the wires during the install making the system useless. DO NOT USE THIS SHOP, YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU DO! read more

I had Jeff install a GTX345 in order to give me ads-b. He did the job quickly, very well and twice, due to "pilot error" in my settings showed me what I did wrong, without charge. read more