Its routine: We get in, strap in without thinking about it and beginning running the checklist. Putting on and tightening up the restraint system is probably the most basic of automatic tasks any of us do as pilots-without the reassuring pressure of the belt and shoulder harness attaching our torso to the airplane, most of us wouldnt hit the starter.
As a Lake owner with 25 years experience flying it from South Florida to all corners of the continent, I would like to correct certain information published about Lake amphibians in the September 2017 Aviation Consumer. Some of my quotes in that review were made over 10 years ago and deserve a refresh.
If point-of-view or action cams are as common as iPads in the modern cockpit, buyers may be getting a little bored with the ordinary flat footage they produce. Enter the 360 camera, a gadget that literally has eyes in the back of its head. The 360 market hasnt exactly exploded, but there are a half dozen to pick from, with more on the way.
At nearly every airport you’ll find aircraft that havent flown in years. Some are hidden in private hangars, some are stashed in the corners of maintenance shop hangars and some are ramp derelicts that are begging for rescue from the harsh elements. Is it worth getting involved with these neglected birds given the number of airworthy ones on the current market? The short answer is maybe, but only with the right approach and a healthy dose of realism. Hint: Seldom is there a great deal.
Someone just flipped the switch and shut off summer. Aircraft owners who live in the temperate climes are preparing their machines for the demands of winter. Unless those owners have been living under a rock, they know that part of that preparation involves figuring out a way to start the engine when the frost is on the pumpkin because they know that firing it up in very cold weather, without some form of preheat, can do a lot of damage to the engine.
It wasnt long ago that subscription-based satellite broadcast weather systems lost traction in a market flooded with ADS-B weather receivers. WSI is canceling its InFlight data service at the end of this year and Avidyne discontinued the MLB700 Sirius weather receiver. This leaves Garmin as the dominant supplier of SiriusXM (SXM) weather receivers.
No matter how you feel about Garmins market domination, you cant argue that the company maintains the poll position by enthusiastically pumping out a steady stream of fresh products almost on a monthly basis. But Garmin also knows how to get the most mileage from its major systems and the G600/500 retrofit PFD/MFD was getting stale.
My guess is that many pilots like me are over 40 years of age (Im 62) and may not be completely familiar with newer wireless Bluetooth technology and its limitations. After a radio failure on a recent flight, I tried to pair my newer Bose A20 Bluetooth headset with my new Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone I bought to replace my aging iPhone 4, which would connect to my A20. The local ATC tower has a recorded phone line where they can issue control instructions in a pinch.
Garmin is trying to get as much mileage as it can from its watches by trickling models down into the aviation division and the D2 Charlie is a derivative of the successful Fenix 5 multisport watch series. The Charlie improves features we always thought could be better in the old pilot watch, which include more useful map graphics. There’s still no touchscreen.
An acquaintance who pilots an MD 500 helicopter while barefoot says her bare feet on the pedals makes her one with the machine like no pair of shoes can. I get the need for feel, but to protect her toes, I suggested compromising with barefoot running shoes. I even stopped flying in shorts because Im paranoid of a cabin fire.
If Beech Bonanza ownership seems out of the budget, the good news is that there are plenty of vintage V-tail models on the market at affordable prices. The bad news is that unless those 50- and 60-year-old airframes have been we’ll maintained, you could be buying a money pit. Plus, shops wont feel sorry for you when you roll up in any Bonanza.
With the ADS-B mandate creeping closer, were seeing more aircraft owners pony up for the minimum compliance of ADS-B Out when transponder work is needed. That satisfies the FAA, but does nothing for receiving weather and traffic information in the cockpit. We flight tested two units that get it done for rock-bottom pricing.
