Richard Boyer has been around aviation the majority of his life. Raised a Navy brat, he was exposed to all kinds of aircraft because his father was a mechanic who worked on P-3s, A7s, and C-9s. Richard describes how it all started: “My first general aviation ride was south of Houston in Iowa Colony, Texas, when a tandem taildragger landed on the runway in my uncle’s back yard. I was about 10 years old and don’t remember the model, but I do remember that it was the most amazing thing ever!” This experience naturally led to his interest in flying and Richard earned his pilot’s license in 1998.
Over the years, Richard has flown quite a few single engine aircraft and he currently owns a Taylorcraft BC12D/19 and a Van’s Aircraft RV-10. He lives in an aviation community in the middle of Texas with his wife of 26 years and their 17 year old daughter. Richard remarks: “Walking out to our back yard to go fly is absolutely the best!”
Richard purchased his RV-10 knowing that it needed a complete avionics upgrade. He flew it for about a year while researching and planning what he was going to do. Says Richard: “I previously restored an original wood wing Mooney replacing the entire electrical system and did not want traditional circuit breakers in the RV. This led me to the VP-X! Configuring the VP-X was pretty easy, which made planning go well; and since I went with an all-electric panel, I included a backup battery for my primary systems which was easy to integrate with the VP-X.”
Richard continues: “I have now been flying with the VP-X for over 3 years, and I am also beta testing the PPS which works very well in conjunction with the VP-X. Support throughout the wiring and planning process was second to none; and while I might change some of my decisions on avionics, I would go with a VP-X again without a second