The International Cessna^® 170 Association

The panel is not structural but it holds all your flight instruments.
To make an area big enough to fit an iPad, you'd have to move some instruments around. There are rules for where certain instruments need to be in relation to the plot so the new arrangement will most likely need to comply with that.
There is an AC out there giving guidance on adding hand held devices to the panel but I can't find it right now. But it doesn't really cover relocating other instruments to make room.
Talk to your IA and see what he thinks. After all, he's the one that will but his signature next to it at annual time.

If you Velcro mount it, the conversation will just be about cutting a new floating panel with a new instrument configuration and NOT about panel mounting an iPad. A much easier conversation IMO.

I think it's a great idea and looks good in the later 170s.

Any work performed must be documented. If you manufactured a new panel the same as the old would just be maintenance, If you modified it by not cutting some holes it would be a minor alteration. You would have to approve the part as being an airworthy replacement under the owner produced parts rule.

Because of the changing technology and to keep some versatility built into having a moveable device, I prefer a RAM mount combination. Here is a link to my IPad set up. http://www.cessna170.org/forums/viewtop ... 171#p90983

Show me an inspector who knows just exactly what an original panel is supposed to looked like.

blueldr wrote:Show me an inspector who knows just exactly what an original panel looked like.

Bingo.

Just so you can see my setup I posted this pic. It's the best one I have right now. The iPad is suction mounted to the window on the right side. It's not covering up any instrument in my plane and easy to reach over in flight and operate. The control yoke has full range of travel with no interference. Just a different way of doing it.

Seafeye wrote:...So if I get a piece of aluminum the same thickness as the original one and have it cut to specs, would it need an A&P sign off or a 337 by an IA?

I replaced mine on a logbook entry: http://cessna170.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7951 I just bought a piece of 0.125 2024-T3 Alclad and went at it.

Is there any requirement for distance between instruments? Just curious as myself and a neighbor are cutting new flight instrument panels.