Industry News

I read Bill Kellys Duct Dreams in the May 1997 issue of Aviation Consumer with interest and sympathy. His disappointment in the performance of the Auriga Phoenix is similar to many tales of dashed ducted-fan expectations I have heard over time.

I think that much of that disappointment is based on an imperfect understanding of ducted-fan design. So, the question is whether a ducted-fan aircraft could be competitive with a conventional design?

While I am not familiar with the Auriga design, I have had the good fortune to be associated with Rhein-Flugzeugbau, GMBH (RFB) in Germany during the development of the Fanstar ducted-fan program during the 1980s.

I was chairman and…

Its In the Genes
Regarding the Great GA Sell Job in your December issue, I offer my opinions on propagating public interest in flying.

I think that the desire to fly is a genetic thing. My Grandfather and my Dad were pilots. Im a pilot and my kids, who beg to go flying with me, will certainly be pilots, too.

Most of my buddies who fly had a parent who was a pilot. Most of my buddies with kids have kids that love airplanes and therefore these kids are likely to be pilots, too. I would bet that 80 percent of all pilots are related to another pilot. In support of my theory, how many of us pilots have said flying is in my blood.

Given the difficulties and mixed results…

In her article on The Great GA Sell Job in your November issue, Joan Perkins did a great job. Her report brings to mind our own experience with Sunrise Aviation in Tucson, Arizona more than 10 years ago, which underscores her experience exactly.

Sunrise Aviation was started by Two wonderful and talented flight instructors who were long on training skills but short on business experience. My wife, Jacqui and I became acquainted with them over the leaseback of our first airplane.

The first time the instructors approached us about investing in the flight school, we declined. The business got worse and the lease was in renegotiation when they approached us the second time. We a…

Engine
Crystal Ball
I have a suggestion for a future topic and a question. Actually, several questions. How about some more coverage on diesel engines and how all this relates to the continuing availability of 100LL.

My question relates to that topic: Should we, as aircraft owners, be planning for the eventual transition to diesel engines? For an aircraft owner facing engine replacement one, three and five years from now, what is your best informed guess on what we should plan for?

Should an owner stretch out his remaining engine time to position himself for one of the new engine designs? If so, which ones? Or should he simply go for the conventional engine replacem…

For the serious airplane gimcrack shopper, the annual Oshkosh trek is like fishing with a trawl net: Sometimes the thing comes up empty, sometimes you’ll snag a trophy but more often, the catch is a mix of laudable prizes and throwbacks.

This years show-now called EAA AirVenture, of course-is an example of the latter. We saw a broad range of new gadgets, improvements on old stuff and ever more evidence that the GA market continues to climb out of its black hole. (How else to explain Barron invoices inching ever upward towards $1 million.)

The serious developments continue to be in avionics, specifically an accelerating trend toward remote sensors and boxes from one company that w…

Autopilot Feedback
As the owner of a 1980 Beechcraft V-35B equipped with an S-Tec 60-2 autopilot, I was interested in your July issue because you featured both my airplane and autopilot.

Most writers fail to realize the most important advantage of the rate-based autopilot: The added margin of safety. Attitude-based systems (Century and Bendix/King) fail when the attitude gyro fails due to vacuum pump or mechanical failure.

A fully-coupled S-TEC autopilot will fly the en route leg, descent, and ILS with a failed artificial horizon. In your features we can live without comment, you stated that altitude pre-select tops the list-no argument, when youre talking the clim…

Pathetic Indeed
Your article in the June Aviation Consumer on retractable step-ups was very interesting and informative. However, I must take issue with Paul Berges description of the Rockwell 112 Commander performance as pathetic.

Most 112 owners report speeds in the 128 to 133 knot cruise range at 10 to 12 GPH, with the same cabin and two doors that the Sierra has. But the big plus that the Commander has going for it is the STCd Garrett turbonormalizer available from RCM Normalizing in Big Piney, Wyoming. This clean installation results in cruise speeds of 150 to 164 knots, depending on altitude, and an outstanding climb rate.

The turbo-installed for about $17,000-d…

Good Money After Bad
Larry Anglisanos article on avionics had some good information but I have a question: My Viking has a Collins Microline VHF251/VIR351 as the number 1, which has the ILS. Number 2 is an Apollo GX60. More about that later.

He mentioned in his article that the Collins gear should have a high mod status before paying for expensive repairs. How does one determine the mod status of the Collins Microline? Can the 720 comm be converted to 760 channels?

About the Apollo GX60. I find this unit to be not very user friendly. Previously, I used a KLN 88, IFR-approved, with little or no problem. The GX60 is just not as intuitive or logical. Ill eventually get…

JeppView Views
With regard to your article about plates from Jeppesen on CD-ROM, I strongly prefer Jeppesen over NOS approach charts. But I hate doing the updates every two weeks, especially when I never use 80 percent of the approach plates in the subscription.

So with JeppView, I have found a good solution that works for me: At home, I print only the charts that I need on Jeppesens pre-punched paper. Contrary to the article, I have found them easy and fast to print with my ink-jet printer.

I also subscribe to the NOS approach plates. I just toss the appropriate ones into my briefcase for use in an emergency. For most of my trips, everything I need fits into one Jeppe…

To one degree or another, many of the systems found on the typical light airplane are afterthoughts tacked on after the airframers got done bending the aluminum into a flyable shape.

This is especially true of the engine exhaust system. When Lycoming and Continental design an engine, they don’t pay all that much attention to what flows into the thing and you can bet even less time is lavished on what comes out, unless it has to drive a turbocharger.

Traditionally, the engine makers have left exhaust system design to the manufacturers, who have tended to view it merely as a plumbing problem. The pipes are bent and routed so as to fit into the cowling, rarely with any regard to volume…

Avidynes View
As one of the featured vendors, we at Avidyne read with great interest Gary Picous article in the October issue (Radical or retro: The Avionics Crystal Ball Reveals No Easy Answers). Were glad that Picou chose to feature Avidyne as the leader in providing what he identified as the more innovative, leading-edge approach to flight situation display technology.

While we agree with many of the points he makes, we have to disagree with three statements about our technology and our approach: Picou states that developing a certifiable installation will probably be easier for a GNS 430 than for an Avidyne system.

Not so. Both companies provide a very simila…

During our recent visit to Kerrville, we spent a couple of hours talking with Mooneys new president, Christian Dopp, who took over the companys reins last year.

Dopp, 26, is the son of Paul Dopp, the principle and majority shareholder in AVAQ Mooney, the investment group which purchased the company in late 1997.

Whats the current ownership status of Mooney? Weve been told that the French investors who bought the company during the 1980s are still involved.

Thats correct; minority interest is still held by French investors, the majority interest is held by our investment group, AVAQ Mooney. Our investment group has five minority investors. The Dopp fam…