Industry News

Avidynes Dilemma
Companies that sell high technology sometimes lose sight of the fact that when it doesnt work-at all, let alone correctly some of the time-buyers become profoundly disgusted. Sometimes irretrievably. In my view, some of Avidynes datalink customers appear to be getting to that point. As we report on page 4 of this issue, weve been getting an earful from some of them about what they view as poor performance of Avidynes Orbcomm-based weather datalink system. The receiver for this system is standard equipment in Avidynes latest color MFD, the EX500. With the addition of an antenna and a service subscription, datalinked weather is at your fingertips. Except…

In the wake of failures, Aero Advantage has folded. Will buyers be stranded with no support and uncertain legality?

[IMGCAP(1)]When pressed, any hard-bitten magazine editor might concede that publications like this one are more than ink on paper. In concert with the whims and desires of their readers, they become living entities with distinct lives of their own. But in the end, its the editor who breathes life into the thing. A good one makes all the difference, elevating the everyday to the exceptional, the exceptional to the extraordinary. One of the best died the other day here in Florida, not a mile from where Im sitting in Sarasota. Richard B. Weeghman-all of us knew him as Dick-was 75 years old and succumbed to a sudden illness. He was editor-in-chief of Aviation Consumer from 1976 to 1994.

I…

WSI Fan
We just put a WSI Inflight displayed on a MX-20 in our Malibu. It is a fantastic piece of gear. It completely eliminates the need for a Stormscope-we spent seven grand on a WX-500, too-and it is really better than onboard radar due to the panning feature, which lets you look ahead (or around) as far as you want.

The articles that talk about the need forboth are just wrong and I suspect are driven by the same thought process that sold us on putting in the WX-500 and were originated by those who want to sell more avionics gear. The signal is almost never more than two minutes old and I have never seen it older than four minutes. The 1 nm resolution is sufficient bu…

A well-known maker of ultralight engines means to take on Lycoming and Continental.

As Lycomings massive crankshaft recalls draws to an end, heres one owners report card on the results.

After a decade of impressive appreciation, used aircraft prices are in decline. Its a bargain-hunters paradise.

In one of the worst GA sales climates in years, Mooney says it has a backlog of orders as it recovers from bankruptcy.

Need an upgrade? Borrowing against equity has never been cheaper. And it’s a buyers market for used airplanes.

But the larger question is can anyone build engines that will make the personal jet concept work?

Its terrorism risk insurance and you’ll soon have to decide whether you want it or not. Our advice: Pass.

Crank Comments
The crankshaft problems experienced, first by Continental and more recently and severely by Lycoming, are a symptom of an aging and stagnant industry.

These folks, set in their ways as they are, would not consider changing. The sad fact is that the solution is we’ll known and already in use by those building highly stressed, high reliability piston engines. The real solution to obtaining consistently high quality crankshafts in small quantities is to use billet cranks.

This is a process whereby a solid piece of rolled or forged bar stock is machined into the finished shape of the crank by a CNC machine designed specifically for that purpose. This process h…