Accessories

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…

Like the proverbial bad penny, questions about vertical card compasses seem to resurface about once a year. We suspect owners most frequently consider them during annual when the whiskey model will no longer pass muster or needs fluid or other maintenance.

The vertical card is always an option, but were not sure we can recommend one unconditionally. We recently flew a Mooney with a vertical card and other than some screwy movements when turning to southerly headings, it worked like a charm and we have to say we liked it.

But in talking with other owners of vertical cards, our impression is that results are decidedly mixed. Some owners love them, others rip them out in short order,…

As do all good mechanics, we recommend that during every oil change, the filter be cut open and inspected for metal flakes. But we admit that this is easier said than done.

The filter cans are made of tough metal that still tends to bend and squash under the pressure of a can cutter. In the March, 1997 issue of Aviation Consumer, we reviewed six can cutters, none of which were perfect.

But now weve found one that is. Sacramento Sky Ranch is offering a new can cutter that consists of two parts, an open cylinder to hold the can and a beefy cutter that zips through the metal like a knife through butter.

We thought the best thing about this cutter is that the cylinder bolts permanen…

Pilots of single-engine Cessnas, from 172s through 210s, often fly with their charts, airport directories, transceivers, flashlights and approach plates floating around on the floor between the two front seats.

Backseat passengers feet tend to rearrange the floor layout and there’s the potential that some of the goodies will migrate underfoot or, worse, lodge under the rudder pedals.

Several manufacturers have addressed this problem by marketing cockpit organizers that fill the gap between the seats. Weve flight tested two of these organizers for the past few months, on long and short trips in several Cessna 210s.

Cockpit Companion
The first is the Cockpit Compan…

The first time I pushed my Mooney up a slight incline into the hangar, I was certain someone would eventually find my lifeless body slumped over the nosewheel.

For us middle-aged guys, shoving even a light airplane around by hand can be a strain. If you own an airplane that either weighs more than 2000 pounds or one that lives in a hangar, youve thought about a hangar tug.

We thought these were specialty items but at least nine companies make hangar tugs or tows of some kind. (Some of these are heavy duty jet-capable equipment, which we’ll largely ignore for the purposes of this article.) The good news is that competition seems to have dictated that the smaller tugs and tows work…

Speed brakes, also called spoilers, have been sighted on everything from C-172s to Dukes and Cessna 421s. To a certain extent, theyve become a status symbol.

Yet, on some airplanes, you have to ask: When the heck would you ever use them? And on others, you might wonder why the factory didnt think of adding them in the first place. (Actually, brakes are a factory standard accessory or option on a number of new aircraft, including Mooneys, Bonanzas and the new Lancair Columbia.)

Thats all we’ll and good for buyers of new airplanes. But what about the meat-and-potatoes of the gadget and accessory market, the retrofits? Are brakes a must-have item or just oneof those things to soak…

Been to a camping store lately? Dont go. Or if you do, stay away from the gadget case containing the handheld GPS navigators that are even more popular with hikers than they are with pilots. The prices will only depress you.

The so-called sport and terrestrial portables look astonishingly like aviation units but they cost half or even a quarter as much. There’s a reason for that and we’ll get to it later.

Meanwhile, you may think that with Garmin shipping boxcar loads of 195s, every pilot in the known universe already owns a portable GPS. In fact, some buyers are still shopping. A recent survey by our sister publication, IFR, revealed that only 61 percent of readers said they had a…

Digital watches have been around since the 1970s, along with digital calculators and even a smattering of digital indicators in cars.

And even though the digital revolution has swept the GA cockpit, steam-driven gauges persist, notably tachometers and manifold pressure gauges. Of the two, the tach lends itself most readily to a digital display.

The tachometer is the primary means of engine control, at least for airplanes with fixed pitch props. Shouldnt it be the most precise and easiest to read? The answer is yes and three companies have digital tachometer offerings that are a cut above that old junker tach that needs periodic replacement or repair.

Horizon Instruments has a…

Perennial aviation argument that generates equal amounts of heat and light: Should you use a checklist or not?

We don’t have a dog in that fight and we claim no moral high ground on whether to use the thing as a double check for tasks done by memory, as a pre-action Gospel According to Piper or a fly swatter, for that matter. Its your airplane.

That said, there are number of commercially prepared checklists on the market and herewith is a survey.

The point of departure is whether any of these products improves on what you can make for yourself by introducing your POH to a copy machine and applying some laminate from the office supply house.

Avtech
Pilot Products…

Datalink this, datalink that, hardware, software, service providers, subscriptions, bit charges, message costs. Holy cow, is this beginning to sound sort of familiar?

Datalink is a generic term that has come to represent text and data services delivered into the cockpit. If you think of it as Internet in the sky, youve got the concept.

For a potential buyer, there are three distinct issues involved; the services provided, the link medium and the airborne hardware. Right now, the industry is in its infancy, funded by various groups with differing agendas, not the least of which is the government.

In other words, none of this stuff is resolved to the extent that you can make re…

Last summers EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh saw the introduction of a number of advanced, third- and fourth-generation ANR headsets.

The Bose Aviation Headset X created quite a stir, being a radical lightweight design purported to perform better than the market-leading Series II.

LightSPEED introduced its 25K, primarily a technological upgrade on the 20K, with expectations that it would equal Bose in performance.

DRE Communications introduced the 6000enr, a conventional-looking David Clark-type design. And last, Peltor rolled out the Model 1750 Stratosphere, returning to the ANR market after a long absence.

Vaporware?
In whats fast becoming an annoying habit amon…