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.
As the general aviation market slid downhill in the final 15 years of the last century, propeller manufacturers Hartzell (www.hartzellprop.com) and McCauley (www.mccauley.txtav.com) were faced with vanishing demand. Their response was to break away from their historic reliance on aircraft manufacturers and invent new products that…
I read Larry Anglisanos editorial on FBO price gouging in the March 2018 Aviation Consumer and have some thoughts. Like Larry, I don’t mind paying for good FBO service when I avail myself of it, but these days with venture capital firms consolidating ever-larger chains of glitzy and highly profitable FBOs even at relatively small airports around the USA, it is getting increasingly difficult to avoid both sky-high fuel fees and onerous ramp charges.
If youve ever scrutinized an invoice or a proposal for an avionics upgrade, you might have spotted a line item that mentions an avionics cooling fan. While its an option that could add $500 to as much as $1000 to the project, its a sign that the shop is thinking about long-term reliability. Weve seen too many high-dollar avionics installs completed without protecting the avionics from heat damage, which is easily handled with an avionics cooling fan.
When we evaluated motion-sickness aids in the July 2017 issue of Aviation Consumer, we favored the Reliefband 1.5 wearable therapeutic neuromodulation device over other remedies. Most important is the device is easy to use and doesnt cause side effects, other than potentially minor skin irritation around the area of the electrode. But we thought the Reliefband, which is worn like a wristwatch, had a dated design and a clinical look and feel.
Weve been around enough avionics installations to know that most every project can snowball once the aircraft hits the hangar floor. Thats especially true as more owners finally commit to ADS-B installations. If the aircraft hasnt seen an avionics installation in ages, low-budget buyers might noodle the idea of buying used GPS navigators. But what may seem like a smoking-good deal on used equipment websites could be a setup for a serious case of buyers remorse.
There’s nothing quite like fetching your bird from the shop after a high-quality engine overhaul. Done right, it should perform like it did when the aircraft came off the factory floor. In the world of aircraft ownership, thats a beautiful thing. But done wrong, you could be in for the time-consuming hassles of dealing with warranty work-or worse should the engine fail, despite it running great before handing it over to an overhaul shop. After all, engine overhauls are supposed to increase your confidence, not kill it or you in the process.
