These days its hard to imagine that a wood and fabric four-place piston single like the Bellanca Viking still exists, but it does. And although there arent great squadrons of them around, the Viking retains a loyal, almost cultish following.
Sooner or later your used aircraft search will find an airplane thats suffered a so-called hard landing. While thats the sugarcoated word for damage history, in some circumstances this is hardly a deal breaker. Other times, its best to walk away, especially if the damage has gone unnoticed or left unrepaired.
You don’t have to look far into any aviation retailers catalogue to find sunglasses that cater to pilots. Yes, we know there are plenty of cheaper brands you can find at Sunglass Hut and other non-aviation retailers, and we also know that selecting glasses is as personal as selecting clothing. A cheap pair of drugstore shades may suit you just fine.
Magnetos have been around so long that one cant help but wonder if Benjamin Franklin went directly from his supposed kite-into-a-thunderstorm electricity experiment to his basement where he built the first one.
The new devices are completely redesigned and all three portable models (GDL50/51/52) share the same chassis. They stand 4.9 by 1.3 by 3.4 inches, weigh .75 pounds and have built-in antennas, but have inputs for external antennas. The receivers have an anti-skid base to keep them from sliding around when on the glareshield and Garmin has a securing base mounting bracket and a suction cup mount for the cable.
After reading about three-blade prop upgrades in the April 2018 Aviation Consumer, I thought I would share my upgrade experience. After converting my elliptical prop tips to square tips by touching a runway at speed, I decided to change to a three-blade prop for my Mooney 231-not for the looks-but to have less noise and vibration without a performance penalty.
The Cessna 206 Stationair is one of those airplanes that you can dress up with a classy paint scheme and a stylish leather interior to fly business associates in style. Or, put one on floats and jump in with a wet swimsuit. Got stuff to haul? Load as much as you can fit through the big cargo door. Indeed, any vintage of the Stationair can wear a lot of hats.
Thats my prediction for the coming years and we can all thank the FAA. Thats because the agency has a welcomed shift in mentality when it comes to certifying avionics, which of course has a direct effect on pricing. The reality check is that avionics technology has changed since the bad old days of analog equipment, and the long drawn out TSO pathway to certification is finally coming to an end.
When I rounded up over a half dozen compact flight totes for a shootout in the January 2017 Aviation Consumer, the Sportys iPad Bag and MyGoFlight PLC Sport Bag were easy winners. They were just the right size for housing the stuff I typically take flying-mainly action cams and accessories, a Bose headset and an iPad Mini.
MiraCheck Copilot runs on iPads, iPhones and works with an Apple Watch, plus a somewhate less capable version works is available for Android. You get basic functionality for free on one device, including a brief trial of the Pro version. You can buy the Standard version for $29.99 to get a few more features and support for three devices. The full Pro version is what I evaluated. It adds verbal interaction, web history and a more useful features. Pro costs your choice of $4.99 per month, $49.99 a year or $129.99 for life.
its fair to say that reliable cellular coverage in the cabin is non-existent above a few thousand feet AGL. Thats disappointing to passengers glued to their smartphones and tablets, and inconvenient for pilots who want to stay connected with the ground on long hauls. The only real option is connecting to a cabin satcomm system and the latest comes from Georgia-based Send Solutions Airtext, which has FAA approval for its new Iridium-based Airtext transceiver/router.
