Industry News

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When light aircraft production took its final serious nosedive in the mid-1980s, the die was cast for engine overhaul shops and for Lycoming and Continental. Until then, the two engine makers had been happy building motors for new airplanes.

The Great Downturn changed the rules. With only a trickle of new airframes coming into the market, Lycoming and Continental sought new business from the only source available: Overhaul work.

This has proven a mixed blessing for aircraft owners. It has brought unprecedented competition to the overhaul market, putting downward pressure on prices, especially for new cylinders.

On the other hand, factory competition has driven many f…

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In the September issue of Aviation Consumer, we reported on various hangar tugs pitched to the small airplane market. One we mentioned but werent able to test was the Nose-Dragger Dragger from Skyline Aviation of Swartz Creek, Michigan.

Last fall we obtained a Nose-Dragger Dragger and have been using it to tug the company Mooney in and out of the hangar in all sorts of weather. (No snow yet, however.) Herewith is a brief follow-up report.

Like the Taildragger-Dragger, the nosewheel model is powered by a 12-volt electric wheelchair motor driving a pair of wheels through a bicycle chain-and-sprocket arrangement. The entire assembly is mounted on a frame-like apparatus, w…

Tachs, PC Sims
Some notes on articles in past issues: With reference to your piece on electronic tachs in the September, 1999 issue, most owners depend on the tachometer hour meter to determine when ADs, TBO inspections and so on are due.

The Horizon tach records hours at a constant rate beginning when the engine reaches 800 RPM, thus it essentially accumulates time like a Hobbs meter. As we all know from our airplane rental experiences, the Hobbs meter accumulates time more rapidly than the tachometer hour meter, often significantly so. Thats not good for the pocketbook because the faster running clock makes all of those pesky maintenance items come due earlier and more…

Mo vs. Bo
I enjoyed your article on the Mooney versus the Bonanza and which is better. I owned an interest in a new 1998 A-36 and it truly was a great airplane to fly. However, if youre looking at the market segment known as HPSE, I think you need to look at the Commander 114B. With the exception of cruise speed, I don’t think its a contest.

We (myself and two partners) just picked up our 1992 114B (TT-820 hours) in early November and are elated with the aircraft. I had about 90 hours in the Bonanza and I wouldnt trade it for the Commander for even money.

There are several advantages: Pilot door, cockpit roominess, trailing link landing gear, greater useful load and…

No Beef Here
I don’t have a beef, but a compliment and recommendation. I recently had a carburetor problem in my 1939 WACO AGC-8 (engine quit 6 miles out) at Birmingham, Alabama. I got it going again and got back to BHM.

Cant say enough about the good service by the folks at Raytheon Aircraft Services. Bob Hemm assigned a mechanic to change the carb and let me help. (They havent seen too many 330 Jacobs.) Both stayed late to get the work completed. Its nice to come into contact with a competent and helpful facility and these folks could not have been better.

Mel Richardson
Via e-mail

Forget AirCell, Try a Blackberry
I enjoyed reading y…

Elite Feedback
As a long-time subscriber and consumer afficionado, I thought your article on the new Exxon Elite oil was interesting and exciting. I have had two adverse experiences with this oil worth relating. I was introduced to Elite at Sun n Fun in April and was given a free case.

I used two quarts immediately in my 1967 Mooney Executive 21 with 800 hours on the rebuilt engine. The flight back home was eventful in that the weather required me to climb to 11,000 feet.I went through the usual leaning procedures and had an uneventful flight until the night landing. Since I was high, I powered back. But on landing, I ballooned and had to give back some power to smoo…

[IMGCAP(1)]Owning a New Piper Mirage has proven a bittersweet experience for many pilots. While the airplane is a comfortable, high-flying cruiser, its complex and has a reputation for being needy of maintenance.

Even at that, however, Mirage owners were recently treated to some disturbing news that has both New Piper and Lycoming looking for improvements, although both dispute the results of a recent survey indicating poor engine reliability in Mirages.

In the meantime, a Dallas Mirage owner filed a $75 million class action lawsuit against New Piper in late September, claiming that New Piper and Lycoming knew of the Mirages engine problems for years but did nothing to correct the…

CO Detectors
Aeromedix would like to make the following comments in reference to your excellent article about carbon monoxide detectors. Over the two-year period during which Aeromedix.com has sold thousands of AIM CO detectors for in-aircraft use, the failure rate has been approximately 1.5 percent.

The AIM detectors fail more often than other models not because they are of lower quality, but because they are of higher quality. The AIM detectors are the only units that test their own electrochemical CO sensor daily, and provide an alert if the sensor has drifted out of calibration.

All CO detectors with electrochemical sensors (the only sensor technology we believe sui…

Skywatch and TCAD
Your article on the Ryan TCAD and the Argus map system was excellent and should help anyone trying to make a decision on whether or not to buy a collision avoidance system.

I have flown with both the TCAD 9000 and switched over to Skywatch last year. All your observations are right on. I have also noticed that the Skywatch is the only instrument my passengers ever look at.

I have only one comment comparing the two systems: I believe the TCAD system is a bit more passive than Skywatch. I believe TCAD can onlywork if the other aircraft is illuminated by radar. This is not so with Skywatch. I fly in Mexico and I can tell you that TCAD is almost…