Misc

For those of us in the market for aircraft insurance, it is, as they say in the classics, the best of times and the worst of times.

Fueled by a robust economy, the markets are brimming with capital to underwrite everything flyable. And yet, many buyers and brokers are finding the coverage they want hard or impossible to come by.

One of the longest periods of post-war prosperity shows signs of continuing into the next millennium. As a result, pilots are buying their first airplanes in relatively large numbers and even more are moving up to bigger and faster models, often when they lack the experience to do so, at least in the insurers eyes.

General aviation manufacturers a…

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…

The first time I pushed my Mooney up a slight incline into the hangar, I was certain someone would eventually find my lifeless body slumped over the nosewheel.

For us middle-aged guys, shoving even a light airplane around by hand can be a strain. If you own an airplane that either weighs more than 2000 pounds or one that lives in a hangar, youve thought about a hangar tug.

We thought these were specialty items but at least nine companies make hangar tugs or tows of some kind. (Some of these are heavy duty jet-capable equipment, which we’ll largely ignore for the purposes of this article.) The good news is that competition seems to have dictated that the smaller tugs and tows work…

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…

Last month, we reviewed the three big name IFR flight sims,Aviation Teachwares ELITE, ASAs On Top and Jeppesens FlitePro. Among these, no hands down winner emerged, at least for buyers shopping for a sim program for IFR brush up.

Each had distinct advantages and disadvantages, depending on your budget, training preferences and hardware. Hearing some favorable comments about some impressive game programs-thats right, games-we decided to take a look.

Despite being spring loaded to the dismissive position because ofthe toy connection, we came away convinced that, for some buyers, these are a solid, cost effective choice. Youll need a heavy duty machine, however, including a…

With the small GA cockpit turning into a sort of video Disney World, serious IFR pilots worry more about what to do if all that stuff goes dark.Not that we expect any reliability problems, mind you, but none of the new certified mapcoms have more than a few months of operational field experience. Who knows whats lurking in those circuits.

The standard back-up scheme these days seems to be a portable GPS of some kind, plus a handheld VHF comm. Thats good as far as it goes, but the comm wont be nearly as reliable as you think and you can substantially improve the performance of both GPS and VHF comm with external antennas.

If youre using portable GPS routinely, not just as back-…

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…

With computers finding their way into the cockpit, youd assume that the days of paper charts and instrument approach plates are numbered.

That may be true but the paperless cockpit is still far from reality, at least based on my experience with Jeppesens JeppView, an innovative Windows-based program that stores Jepp plates on CD-ROM for immediate access.

Ive been a paid subscriber to JeppView since its inception about two years ago. Like other subscribers, I receive bi-monthly CDs containing all the approach plates for the U. S.

Not There Yet
Now Im not nave enough to think that a CD-ROM-based program would immediately supplant my paper charts. But I have to co…

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…

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…