Aircraft Stepups

With nose bag in place and arms crossed at FL210 picking off the miles like nobodys business on a Cirrus demo, I got to thinking about the FAAs new BasicMed. Particularly, how pilots might be tempted to bend one of the rules to squeeze the most efficiency from a turbocharged airplane. The FAAs advisory circular AC 68-1, which describes how pilots can exercise their certificate privileges without holding at least a Third-Class medical certificate, limits flight above 18,000 feet MSL. Tempted to crack FL180 for another 6 knots in your turbocharged Mooney? According to the advisory circular, youd be operating outside of BasicMed privileges. There’s even a bit on flight planning.

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.

Ignorance is bliss, but there’s a dark feeling when a pilot realizes there is far less fuel on board than the fuel gauges indicate. Get lucky like I once did and you’ll recognize the inaccuracies inherent with aging analog fuel quantity gauges when youre on the ground. The next step is chasing the problem, which means removing the instrument for testing and rebuilding and recalibrating the fuel measuring sensors in the tanks.

The typical cabin-class piston twin buyer is generally moving up from a high-performance single, or perhaps even stepping down from a jet or turboprop. With a need to go places comfortably and efficiently, these buyers recognize that a serious business airplane needs a decent cabin, credible speed and the ability to hack it when there’s ice or other rotten flying conditions in the forecast. Pressurization is nice since passengers don’t want to spend several hours with a plastic hose stuck up the nose.

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.

High-performance single-engine turboprops seem to sort into three market segments: working airplanes, personal transport and for-hire people transportation. Cessnas Caravan locks down the cargo and working airplane side while the Pilatus PC-12 is a popular corporate and charter/cargo hauler. The TBM-the fastest of the herd by far-is a favorite among owners who fly themselves to distant destinations, usually without benefit of a professional pilot. Weve noticed that the airplane has a bit of a cult following and a community of owners who know each other. Pipers Meridian and now M600 compete in the owner-flown segment, but Daher believes the TBM exists in its own strata.

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.

A six-seat retractable single can be a logical and compelling. step-up aircraft. Some are as fast as many twins, can carry sizable payloads, can accommodate plenty of modern avionics and generally are straightforward to fly. A single engine avoids a twins upkeep costs, while most systems (with landing gear being a notable exception) arent overly complex to work on. So which model do you buy? Despite all the appeal, the market isn’t littered with obvious choices.

Were awed at the precision with which the GFC700 flies-on all ends of the airframe spectrum. Its no easy task to make an autopilot fly just as we’ll in a Skyhawk as it does in a beefy 350 King Air. The G1000 NXi retrofit includes complete removal of the old autopilot system and many trash bins of old wiring. Got an old King Air with the primitive AC inverter system? That all comes out, simplifying the electrical bus and overall reliability.

Early on, it was simple and few if any questions were asked. But, some offices would not issue permits, while others would. It becomes a big deal not being able to ferry if the aircraft is stuck out in the boondocks away from practical maintenance. The most recent and biggest headache came a few years ago when the Miami, Florida, FSDO changed the jurisdiction for the Bahamas to an international office. For a while, it stopped issuing permits to move the aircraft out of the Bahamas.