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.
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.
Its long been recognized that an effective way of staring a fight in a bar catering to pilots is to innocently ask about procedures for hot starting big-bore Lycoming or Continental engines and then step back. The chairs will start flying. Thats about what happened when we started the research for this piece. We heard it all. Being either foolish or fearless, we immersed ourselves in the subject to see if we could come up with information as to why hot starting is a problem, find recommendations for maintenance and operating technique that can minimize the problem and see if there are aftermarket devices that can help. We did, we did and there are.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Acompany called AeroEngine Protection Corp. has been aggressively marketing a range of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance programs for piston engines. While the concept is new in the piston aircraft market, similar programs have been the norm in the jet aircraft world for years, and aircraft OEMs, used aircraft dealers, engine overhaulers and fleet operators are signing on with AEPCs programs for pistons in impressive numbers. Aircraft Bluebook has even recognized the program when publishing typical resale costs.
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.
