If you plan to use ForeFlight for backup flight instruments the Mini probably isn’t the device for you because it doesn’t have the AHRS sensor to feed the app. It does, however, support the full range of FIS-B weather and data, including animated NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, AIRMETs/SIGMETs, PIREPs, winds and temps aloft, TFRs, NOTAMs, SUA information, turbulence, lightning, cloud tops and center weather advisories.
Magnetos always fire the spark plugs at the same point-on the order of 25 degrees before top dead center (TDC)-and rely on the combustion event to carry on by itself to reach maximum pressure by the time the piston reaches 11 to 17 degrees past TDC. Mags put out a spark of on the order of 12,000 volts. The downside: At 500 hours it’s time to pull mags for inspection and repair or replacement. That’s not cheap.
The AV-20 fits into a standard 2.25-inch clock hole. This instrument is available in two versions, the AV-20 at $499 and the AV-20-S at $895. The difference? The AV-20-S has pitot/static input so it can display real airspeed, not GPS-derived groundspeed and it also functions as a capable attitude gyro. The entry-level AV-20 lacks the plumbing input and has no gyro, but it has multilevel clock and timer functions. Both are approved for installation under the FAA’s NORSEE rule-non-required safety enhancing equipment. Technically, that means it can’t replace a panel clock if the airplane requires one, nor can it provide a legal attitude source backup if one of those is needed.
We asked uAvionix about this and were told that it released a skyBeacon firmware field update in March 2019 and the company has been shipping new units with that updated firmware in place since the February 2019 timeframe. There isn’t firmware specific for 24-volt aircraft, but the updated firmware resolves a compatibility issue uAvionix observed when installed on 24-volt aircraft. The company also issued a service bulletin for the requirement and posted it on the company website.
To understand the significance of the J-3 Cub look all the way back to Piper’s Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, heyday, where William T. Piper was rightly seen as a visionary. But no one could have imagined how enduring that vision would be, to the extent that over 80 years later, several companies are building brand-new Cub clones that clearly trade on the mystique of the old yellow classic. Two that are front and center in the market are Legend Aircraft and CubCrafters. We think both companies nail the quality and support.
Admit it. You’ve made the statement loud and clear on more than one of those flights where you are following the magenta line in good weather and waiting for your destination to appear over the horizon. Sure, every once in a while, you’ll do a steep turn or wander off course a bit to look at something interesting-but, deep inside, you know that’s not enough. You live in the third dimension-there’s got to be more to getting from one place to another in an airplane than droning along waiting . . . and waiting. Flying is supposed to be fun.
A variety of upgrades and accessories are available, which quickly grow the price. There’s a rolling backpack ($89.95), dual spring leather seat with LED taillight ($44.95), universal cross grip smart- phone mount ($24.95), LED front light ($44.95) and the Accessory Pack. It includes a backpack, leather seat, front LED light and a smartphone mount ($179.95). The seat upgrade, which has dual springs, is much wider and softer than the standard seat and is we’ll worth the money, in my view.
Recall that German-based Flight Design had its own four-place airplane, the C4, in the works until it ran into financial trouble. At Aero, the reorganized company announced a rethink of the CTLS line and a new four-place project called the F4. The latter will be a CS 23-certified aircraft that’s essentially a stretched version of the CTLS. Predictably, the powerplant will be Rotax’s new 915 iS. Gross weight is set at 2420 pounds with performance in the 150- to 160-knot range. The price target is under $300,000.
If anyone in the nascent e-flight business was surprised by this development, they were polite enough not to say so. The real electric airplane market remains a village cottage industry and I learned at Aero in April that the village is very busy indeed. The overarching picture is this: The certification rules are in place, or soon will be, to certify electric aircraft, battery capacity is improving glacially and two companies-Bye Aerospace and Slovenia-based Pipistrel-are set to deliver airplanes in commercial volume. Actually, Pipistrel already has, with about 60 Alpha Electro trainers in the field around the world. But lacking regulatory imprimatur, these have been more technology demonstrators than practical, useful airplanes.
But with a production run that spans over 10 years, the Evolution line has needed a boost in modern tech. That’s just what the company did with the latest 1000/500 MAX series, fitting faster processors, better screens and a plug-and-play upgrade program that lets existing Evolution owners get in on the new features without buying a complete system. We recently flew with the new MAX displays installed in Aspen’s Cirrus and prepared this field report on the new features.
Garmin’s integrated cockpit retrofit program for turbines started with the G1000 for King Airs. That program commenced over ten years ago and according to Garmin’s Dave Brown, the company sells as many today as it did early in the project. To date there are over 600 G1000-converted King Airs in the field. It’s a complete transformation that now includes Garmin’s latest G1000 NXi with the GFC700 integrated autopilot, the latest weather radar, ADS-B and a variety of other functions that modernize even the oldest King Air.
Other athletic pilots agree that it sure would be convenient if there was one device that did it all, and since we covered pulse oximeters in the September 2017 issue of Aviation Consumer, Garmin released the D2 Delta PX aviator watch. It has an integrated pulse oximeter and a variety of other biometrics capabilities. I’ve been using it for close to a year and found that while it’s not the perfect solution, it comes close, with limitations.
