December 2011
Used Aircraft Guide: Cessna 421
Subscribers Only Like the Lockheed Constellation, Cessna’s 421 Golden Eagle is an airplane of another age. Impossibly sleek, fast and comfortable, it’s hard to imagine such a thing ever being built at all, never mind again. But owners rave about the 421’s exceptional combined capabilities and even though many of them could easily afford turbines or light jets, they stick with their Golden Eagles for delivering the best value for the money spent. But that’s not to say owning a 421 is cheap. Far from it. The engines alone can amount to $50,000 or more each and with known ice, pressurization and even a lav of sorts, there’s a lot to maintain. Said one owner: “Don’t even ask what it costs to run it. That just shows you can’t afford it.”
Premier’s XLS Upgrade: Improving the DA40
Subscribers Only The aircraft mod business isn’t what it used to be. Hell, nothing’s what it used to be in a world where aircraft sales are struggling back from the abyss. In the heyday of mods, dozens of companies offered all sorts of upgrades—fuel tanks, intercoolers, wingtips—were available for new airplanes, but lately not so much. One new mod that caught our eye recently was Premier Aircraft Sales upgrade to the Diamond DA40, a popular entry level cruiser that also has legs as a trainer and personal transportation aircraft.
Rain-Repellent Cleaners: All Kleer, LP Are Tops
Subscribers Only Single-engine airplanes don’t have windshield wipers and neither do a lot of twins. While it’s true that prop and airblast blows the water off, that process can use a little help and that’s where windshield cleaners and polishes come in. There are literally many dozens if not hundreds of these products, some intended for glass, some for plastic and some both. To keep this inquiry under control, we’re testing only those cleaners that claim some degree of rain repellency, on the theory that if you’re going to clean your windshield, you might as well do it with something that makes it easier to see through when it’s raining.
Garmin’s 796 vs. iPad: Purpose-Built Still Wins
Subscribers Only Imagine a NASCAR-style race where only one car is built from the ground up by a pro team with heavy corporate backing. The rest of the field consists of modified street machines borne of garages where three gearheads worked through the night and drew straws to see who was going to drive. Would it be a surprise when the pro-team won? The surprise would be if the little guys even came close, yet that’s just what’s happening with aviation apps for the iPad and the latest aera 796 GPS from Garmin. We don’t think any aviation app running on an iPad can truly supplant a 796. But not everyone needs the hottest vehicle or is ready to pay the price that comes with it.
Rotax Overhauls: Simple Options
Rotax 912s have become all but the standard powerplant for light sport aircraft, with some inroads into the experimental market. The market for overhauls is developing, albeit slowly.
Subscribers Only When Diamond introduced the two-seat Katana to North America in 1995, it might as well have been powered by alien technology. The 81-HP Rotax 912F3 was about as familiar to aircraft mechanics as brain surgery is to a plumber. But all that has changed. Rotax has made serious market inroads and with the advent of light sport aircraft, it has become more familiar to maintenance shops and an overhaul infrastructure has sprouted. In North America, there are two sources for full overhauls. Rotech Research in British Columbia owns the North American territory and in Sebring, Florida, Lockwood Aviation Supply is a Rotech dealer for overhauls.
Is the Navcomm Dead? Not Quite Yet
Bendix/King’s Silver Crown Plus line, the KX155A, left, proved a capable box, but is limited to 28-volt airplanes.
Subscribers Only Back in the day, you were top dog if your panel sported dual KX155 or MK12D digital navcomms. These days, that same panel begs to be upgraded to all-in-one navigators while the standalone navcomm plays second fiddle as backup. But that doesn’t make the navcomm radio extinct. For IFR flying, you’ll want the second comm radio while a backup nav receiver could be handy for raw data crosscheck on an RNAV approach. For basic LSAs, a standalone navcomm might be the only radio you’ll ever need.
Free FAA charts: The Party’s Over
Subscribers Only A green oasis in the bleak landscape of data is the availability of government charts for cheap on portables like the iPad (ForeFlight, WingX) or for free on the internet (RunwayFinder, SkyVector, Airnav). The fuel for this micro industry has been digital charts and other products free for the downloading from the FAA’s Aeronautical Navigational Products Directorate, a.k.a., Aeronav. But after April 5, 2012, the products will cease to be free. Initial reports were that this decision stemmed from concerns about safety. We spoke at length with Abigail Smith, Manager of Business Development for Aeronav, concerning this policy change.
The Data Debacle: Hidden Costs, Fine Print
At left are at least 12 separate—yet often redundant—databases. And that’s not counting an aera 560 (five databases) for backup and the iPad in the lap (gobs of databases). Total yearly cost to keep all that data current (assuming U.S. Jepp coverage): $3600. Datalink weather not included.
Subscribers Only Way back when RNAV for light aircraft was the Bendix/King KNS80 rho-theta system, keeping current charts was easy. For 20 bucks and a stop at the local FBO, you replaced all your data: One sectional, the local approaches, an A/FD and an enroute chart or two. If you were a serious traveler, price, weight and hassle escalated if you paid a premium to get updates mailed to you—in big packs or neat little envelopes—so you always had the latest charts. Those quaint days are gone forever, done in by the “convenience” of modern digital navigation where all your data lives on cards that you plug into your navigators.
Letters: December 2011
Subscribers Only One thing not emphasized in the article in the Cessna 150 is that the non-aerobatic 150 is a great little spin machine. The straight-tail models in particular are wonderful. William Kershner’s book describes how an extended spin will get going faster, then slower, then faster in a cycle. Climb up to 10,000 feet and you can demonstrate this for yourself. Given how long it takes to get that high, it’s not something you’ll do more than a couple of times, but it’s certainly educational. The straight tails will recover from the spin more or less on their own—I never quite had the nerve to let go of the controls and see if it’s completely true. But that doesn’t seem to be as true of the swept tails.
Convenience: A Government Subsidy
Subscribers Only Two of the tenets of good habit formation is that you give people a motivator to do the right thing, and you make it easy to do so. Up until the fall of 2010, the Aeronav Services branch of the FAA could have been a poster child for building good pilot habits on keeping current with airport, approach and charting data. Printed charts were available at virtually every FBO and digital charts were a free download for all.