My airplane partner and I are upgrading the radios in our piston single to bring them into the present century and to comply with the ADS-B mandate. After much thought and discussion, we decided on Avidynes IFD540 box you reviewed in the March issue. Avidynes AeroPlan extended warranty plan offers a free warranty extension for three years. However, to get the extension, we have to sign a Waiver, Release and Indemnification document that could bankrupt us.
Affordable aircraft is the name of a developing niche market that made its debut at this years U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida. The annual LSA show was even rebranded the Affordable Aircraft Expo, and includes older Part 23 certified airplanes fully or partially rebuilt to like-new standards. If it sounds like competition for the LSA market, it is. Sacrificing high-end avionics in favor of basic steam-gauge instruments and minimal radio stacks can drop the price of a basic refurbed model below the critical $100,000 price point-a target that many advanced LSA models miss.
I always enjoy reading Aviation Consumer, and it was nice to see the article on survival kits in your February 2015 issue. I wont pick the article apart and go into what should have been included, but it would be nice to see future articles on survival kits for different geographical regions, such as the tropics, the desert and so forth because each area has its own challenges.
There are seemingly more signs of stability in the avionics market with Scottsdale, Arizona-based TKM/Michel Avionics under new leadership. It says it has an improved product line and is currently planning the next generation of slide-in replacement navcomms, while it ratchets up support for existing units in service-roughly 37,000 radios.
Although Continental gets most of the ink in coverage of aerodiesels, Lycoming has a thumb in the market, too, with the DEL 120. This project seemed to come out of the shadows reluctantly because its emergence is associated with the General Atomics Predator, the most widely used reconnaissance and weaponized drone. The Predator originally had the then-Thielert Centurion diesel, but when Thielert got into financial trouble, General Atomics sought other options.
For engine builders, pistons require numerous specialized machine operations and inspections, so theyve generally come into the plant through the shipping dock. So it was surprising when Lycoming announced in 2010 that it was installing its own piston line.
To survive in a market thats a shadow of what it was 40 years ago, Lycoming and Continental have had to reinvent themselves. This is the first of a series explaining changes at the engine companies.
Whens the last time your late-model car broke? Not a check-engine light, but we’ll and truly quit? It probably hasnt happened and one reason for that is that modern automotive quality is relentlessly driven by quality control systems that favor high volume in factories that build the very same engine, or transmission or ignition module in which the only thing that changes in 50,000 units are the serial numbers.
At the opposite end that continuum is Lycoming, a company that holds more than 700 engine type certificates, each with different designations, different model numbers, unique accessories and sometimes discrete core components for the same families of engines. A Toyota process engineer used to making 300,000 Camry engines a year would need a fistful of Valium to survive the shock of touring the assembly line in Williamsport.
Yet…Lycoming has confronted the seemingly insurmountable challenge of so-called high-mix, low-volume manufacturing with a careful, if modest, program of re-investment in a factory whose origins date to the 19th century. Even as the market it depends on flattens or shrinks, the factory has reduced its physical footprint and become measurably more efficient. Twenty years ago, it was outsourcing raw manufacturing at such a rapid clip that it seemed it would evolve into an assembly business with a specialty in drop shipping parts.
Didnt happen. Today, thanks to rapid advances in flexible, computer numerical machine tools and a determination to adapt high-volume quality control methods to trickle volume, Lycoming is bringing vendor work back inhouse.
Now, Lycoming produces many parts that it used to outsource at prices competitive with vendors and at what it says is potentially higher quality. This could be an MBA case study in turnaround management, but its more accurate to describe it as a survival story in an industry worn down by declining markets and escalating costs. Last fall, I spent nearly three days touring and filming the plant for this report and an accompanying video. Heres what I learned.
I read with interest your article on the FAA and the new Part 23 revision in the December 2014 issue of Aviation Consumer, and would like to share my experience of obtaining STC certification and PMA approval.
As a motorcyclist, Ive been watching with interest new electric motorcycle technology. With e-bikes, its easy to hit high points in styling, handling and even speed, but endurance is another matter. Most models don’t appeal to road trippers and performance riders, but there is some interest for short urban commuting. Pondering Harley-Davidsons LiveWire electric model, it has plenty of cool-factor to consider adding it to a collection, but as a primary rider, I think its going to be a tough sell. If thats the case, it might appear the Motor Company has a marketing challenge on its hands. Heck, the old-school Harley demographic still resists liquid-cooled engines.
I am disappointed that so few people (and aviation magazines) are making a stink about the lack of anonymity and privacy associated with most ADS-B solutions. If there is anyone that believes that the FAA, Customs, Homeland Security and the media wont eventually be using that ADS-B Out data for fees, monitoring, enforcement and speculative reporting, then I have a bridge to sell you in New York City.
My recent month-long correspondence with a reader dealing with a botched ADS-B installation got me thinking about the logistic nightmare thats already unfolding as the 2020 ADS-B mandate gets closer. More on how you might troubleshoot your installation, or at least figure out if its working or not, in a minute. First, some updated ADS-B stats.
I just read with much interest your review of the Beech 35 series in the November 2014 issue of Aviation Consumer. My family and I owned an A35 for 10 years (thats it in the lower photo), having sold it for upgrade to an A36. I tend to agree with most of your points, with a few exceptions and critical points you left out.
