Accessories

A colleague faced with an engine swap on his Baron recently asked me a tough one: Will a factory remanufactured engine-as opposed to a quality field overhaul done by a respected shop-greatly influence the resale value of the aircraft? Moreover, will the Baron be more difficult to sell without factory engines? The quotes he got showed almost a $10,000 delta, per engine, between a field overhaul using new cylinders and a Continental reman. Before hitting the pavement and asking several industry pros to weigh in, we threw the question out on sister publication AVweb.com to see what readers would do. The results were predictable.

While wireless connectivity is taken for granted outside the cockpit, its recently begun to see some use in the cockpit. Portable ADS-B devices connect wirelessly to our portables, but wireless communications with panel-mount, certified avionics is far less common. Garmin changed that with its RS-232-based Flight Stream 100/200 wireless hubs.

Lets get this out of the way, shall we? Cirrus salespeople arent apologetic that a fully loaded 2017 SR22T GTS comes with an eye-widening invoice north of $900,000 when you tack on an extended warranty. Cirrus offers less expensive models, of course, but the turbocharged SR22T is the most popular seller. Just how many buyers would spend nearly $1 million for an unpressurized piston single, you might ask? More than you might think.

I read the article on owning and maintaining classic and antique aircraft in the March 2017 issue of Aviation Consumer and can certainly relate to the challenges of keeping these old birds. Ours wasnt quite as exotic as your examples-we had a polished 1949 Beech A35 Bonanza-but even with the benefit of continuous production, parts were occasionally a challenge.

Since tablets, smartphones and portable ADS-B units are integral to our flying, USB charging devices have become necessary inflight accessories. You could carry along a portable USB power supply, but if youre like us, you might forget to recharge it-if you can remember where you left it. Both Guardian Avionics and True Blue Power (from Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics) have the most complete line of panel-mounted USB power supplies engineered specifically for installation in aircraft.

When we last looked at insurance for older pilots, the insurance market was in the midst of a soft market cycle, or at least we thought it was. Almost four years later, there are even more insurers than there were then. As the GA fleet in the U.S. continues to gradually shrink, there are more insurance dollars chasing fewer airplanes. As a result, rates and underwriting guidelines are even softer now than they were then.

A critical (but simple) ground check you did not mention is when examining the through-bolts holding the nosewheel scissors to the airplane, put a wrench on the bolt head and turn it. If the bolt is straight then the scissors will not move, but if its bent you will see the scissors move up and down as the bolt rotates. According to my IA, if you catch this early its pretty easy for a tech to remove and replace the bolt, but if its too far bent, as he saw on a Cessna 182 hed recently worked on, he has to remove the nosegear assembly and get the bolt out using a press.

However skilled (or not) general aviation pilots are, they have proven consistently good at one thing: losing control of airplanes and digging smoking craters in the verdant earth. The reasons arent necessarily understood but the solution is becoming increasingly laser focused on providing autopilots that wont let you crash, but will nudge and prod and do everything short of seizing control of the aircraft. Except now, theyre even doing that.The latest comes from Daher in the companys new TBM 930 cabin-class speed merchant.

Admit it. Despite your protestations to the contrary, youve lusted in your heart for an old airplane. It may be a classic such as a postwar Piper J-3 Cub-well use EAAs classic definition of aircraft built from September 1, 1945, through the end of 1955-an antique such as a Beech 18 or one of the many Wacos, or-yes, you know you want it-a warbird. Believe it or not, ownership of a classic, antique or warbird (CAW) isn’t as esoteric or unreachable as you may think.

None of the lights needed battery replacement, but since our use was spread out among several lights, we didnt expect to. We continued to like the S&Ws intuitive and simple buttons, plus the ability to conserve power by shutting down LEDs (three dual-mode LEDs and 10 single-mode LEDs). For a AAA-powered light, we think the $39.95 price (with holster) is a solid buy. Worth mentioning is the model used in our January 2011 review recently suffered a broken switch.

These days, we strut to the airfield armed with a tablet computer loaded with electronic charts, plus a handful of other small gadgets that might get lost in the bottom of a large flight bag. The solution? Downsize the bag, and there are plenty of aviation-specific solutions for doing so. Partly for my own amusement, but mostly with your budget money in mind, I collected several totes that wont hog valuable cabin space, but are smartly designed to tame the clutter of modern gadgetry. Heres the summary.

When action cams became popular for aviation five years ago, mounting them inside or outside the cockpit was a challenge unmet. Not anymore. The sports cam aftermarket has devised dozens of ways to mount cameras just about anywhere. We gathered up a gaggle of these mounts and put them to the test. While some are better than others, we found there’s a competent mount for every purpose.