Accessories

Although a tad pricey, the RS Beeper Box controls pre-heat switching from afar, using a standard pager.

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Ever since the days when ADF replaced LF as the navigation mode of choice, music has been an option in the GA cockpit, albeit a limited one. AM radio is noisy and despite its lofty price, the audio section in a typical ADF doesnt hold a candle to a car radio costing a quarter as much.

The introduction of the CD player has changed that, as has the stereo-capable audio panel. With the availability of high-fidelity music in the cockpit, audio panel engineers quickly took note and introduced music canceling, which mutes the music when anyone speaks through the intercom or an incoming ATC transmission arrives. With all this capability, owners are taking note and the sale of t…

Its all about angles and drift, son. Thats all you gotta know.

Thats what our first instrument instructor, a crusty old military type, had to say about flying a perfect ILS. A centered needle merely measured the results of flying a perfect intercept. Keeping it there required heading discipline.

Glitzy though they may be, new-age GPS mapcoms don’t help in this regard for a couple reasons. For one, the display is center stack and out of the scan. For another, unless the box is customized just so, matching bearing and track to hold an approach course is like stacking greased ball bearings; more luck than skill. After all these years, flying the needle is still the method of choice….

Although glutted and confusing, one thing is certain about the portable GPS market: If you don’t like the current models, wait around a couple of weeks, something else will come along shortly. With any luck, it might even better or at least cheaper than the current crop.

And so it was this spring, as Garmin and Lowrance rolled out yet two more portable GPS navigators into a market that hardly lacks choices. Garmin has gussied up the venerable GPS 90-one of the first mega-seller handhelds-with its 12-channel GPS chip and christened it the GPS 92 ($549 list, $499 on the street.) Lowrance, obviously intent on making its own mark in aviation GPS, introduced a new model, the AirMap 100, wh…

When last we checked with Pilot Avionics, they had introduced a nifty, affordable and lightweight ANR headset, the PA 17-76 Freedom. We thought the combination of price, performance, comfort and built-in rechargeable battery such a great idea that we named it the best new ANR headset in our Gear of the Year review.

Apparently not content to rest on their laurels, Pilot seems to be aiming for some sort of record for new ANR headset introductions. Since that review in the May issue of Aviation Consumer, Pilot has introduced the PA 17-79 Independence, which builds on the basic concept of the Freedom, but claims better noise reduction and other improvements.

Theyve also rolled out…

When we reported on the improved fuel injection nozzles made by General Aviation Modifications two years ago, we got a steady trickle of testimonial letters affirming that, yes indeed, these devices work as claimed.

But also some complaints: Why no nozzles for Lycomings? The simple answer is that GAMI is a small company and couldnt get around to the R&D work until about a year ago. (Besides, GAMI figured Lycoming engines wouldnt benefit as much from improved nozzles, a notion that turns out to be correct by degree.)

In any case, GAMI is now delivering improved nozzles for most Lycoming engines. These range in price from $699 for normally aspirated four-cylinder engines, $899 for tur…

When we finally bite the bullet and take the ol air machine in for a shiny new IFR-approved GPS, we usually focus on the features and price of that wondrous box. What sort of display, how many waypoints and so on. Things that make us buy Brand B, over Brand G or Brand T.

Then we get a look at the bottom line for the installation quote. Thats about the time NOAA records a weather phenomenon over the airport where the barometric pressure drops two inches and the temperature changes 60 degrees in 30 seconds.

The bottom line price for this GPS gizmo may be double the $4500 unit cost. One option that accounts for this cost run-up is the GPS/Nav switching accessory. What is it and…

What does a watch do? It tells time, of course.

What does a pilots watch do? Well, it tells time, too. But traditionally, it also has a stopwatch function, often called a chronograph, a high falutin word that simply means interval timer. Since pilots are also navigators and navigation traditionally requires highly reliable timepieces, the would-be buyer may vaguely assume that a pilots watch slices the seconds with laser-like accuracy, a notion the ad agencies for Rolex, Brietling and others have done nothing to dispel. (Its not true, of course.)

Then there’s the look. There’s nothing quite like a shimmering gold-cased watch with a dial the size of a dinner plate and festoo…

When LightSPEEDs innovative lightweight ANR headset hit the market nearly two years ago, we had a hunch that its low price and impressive performance would carve out a healthy market niche. And thats exactly what happened.

Yet within the past six months, three new ANRs have muscled their way into whats already a crowded field. These new products represent second- and third-generation designs and include some significant innovations. Unfortunately, innovation doesnt always equal improvement.

The three new offerings come from Flightcom, Pilot and Telex. The Flightcom 6ANX and Pilot Freedom headsets are both being sold as inexpensive ANRs obviously intended to go head-to-head…

You have to envy big-iron drivers with all those navigation and weather displays, with overlays at the touch of a button, plus engine instruments, alarms, checklists, timers and lots more.

Why cant general aviation have some of those goodies? Well, we can. Sort of.

Our desire for electronic cockpit displays has not escaped the notice of several ingenious (and gutsy) entrepreneurs, who have developed lighter and sometimes better versions of big-iron flight deck computers aimed at the spam can market. Several manufacturers have jumped onto this bandwagon with an array of ideas and hardware to match. The question is: Is this concept in its current incarnation ready for prime time? Wh…

As competition grows fiercer in what is slowly becoming a glutted market, GPS pricing has taken on the quality of corn quotes on the morning ag report, changing a buck here or a buck there in response to the vagaries of consumer demand.

As we go press this month, the prices are in flux again and Lowrance and Magellan have announced incremental improvements in the AirMap and the SkyStar, both of which compete against Garmins popular GPS 195 and the recently introduced GPS III pilot.

With no major new portables on the horizon-at least that we know about-the current crop looks relatively stable to us. If youve put off buying a portable or upgrading because of worries about the next…

One of the most ubiquitous pilot gadgets is the electronic E6B. Sportys says it has sold 100,000 of its model, which equates to one in six of all certificated pilots-student and otherwise-in the U.S. Thats a lot of calculators.

Do pilots use them? Well, yes. Some do. At the very least, theyre useful when seeking a higher rating, saving the trudge of doing weight-and-balance by hand or putting a sharper point on ETA calculations when minutes matter.

For this report, we tried the three major contenders, the aforementioned Sportys, ASAs CX-1a Pathfinder and Jeppesens TechStar.

As far as the basic functions go, there’s little practical difference among the three. Any one of…