May 2005
Cessna 182 Skylane
Subscribers Only The Skylane has endured because it offers a rare combination of affordability, ease of operation and utility.
Adam Jet Flight Trial
Subscribers Only Think of it as a typical piston twin but with a heckuva lot more power. Still, owner-pilots will require serious training to fly it safely.
Answers About Oil
Subscribers Only There’s more information than ever about aircraft engine oils but still more heat than light. Here’s what the people who make the stuff have to say.
Cabin Sun Shields
Subscribers Only Even in northern climes, you need something to keep UV out of the cockpit. Cunningham and Sun-Foil are our favorites.
XM Datalink Choices
Subscribers Only XM Radio data isn’t the only weather game in town but it’s becoming the hottest. Here’s the state-of-the-art in XM, for both portable and panel-mount systems.
Spam Can or Used Kit?
Subscribers Only Pound-for-pound and dollar-for-dollar, a used Experimental might be faster and cheaper than a certified airplane. But there are good reasons not to buy one.
Letters: 05/05
Testing Oils Let me start by thanking you for the unbiased testing and cautious enthusiasm you gave to our product, CamGuard. Your testing, while very much more severe than ours, showed directionally the same results. I believe that corrosion is by far the leading cause of premature wear and in extreme cases, catastrophic component failure, such as cam or lifter spalling. I reached this conclusion while working for Exxon and participating in the research for their new piston aviation oil in the early 1990s. Relating laboratory bench or engine tests to the real world is a difficult task. The goal is to increase severity while accessing the correct test regime. These res...
First Word: 05/05
It’s All About Customer Service Compared to the engine shop business, the sort of backstabbing and duplicitousness Hollywood is known for is gossip over the fence exchanged between rank amateurs. Some of these engine shops really have it out for each other and if given half the chance to vent about the sins of the other guys, you can count on hearing an earful, as I did when one of them phoned the other day to complain about our engine shop survey article in the April issue. I’ll refrain from naming names but this shop is a well-respected, nationally known engine builder; you’d know it. The shop manager wanted to know why we didn’t say as much and while we’re at it, how cou...