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If you’ve paid for repairs on modern avionics—especially glass cockpit components—you might have wished you bought the manufacturer’s extended warranty plan. That’s because in many cases, the cost of the plan could pay for itself during one trip to the shop. It can also reduce downtime and entitle you to no-charge loaner equipment. Now that the fleet of glass cockpit aircraft is aging (some models are older than 10 years), we’re seeing more frequent failures of expensive avionics components. That makes it easier for us to recommend buying an extended warranty. Here’s a report on what’s available from three major avionics manufacturers.

I’ve had an Aero Tow E-200 for over 10 years. It works great and Terry Railing’s customer service is all anyone could hope for. It’s nice when you talk directly with the owner/manufacturer. He’s sent me battery rechargers long after any warranty had expired and I still call him with questions. He’s always happy to help.

When Piper morphed the Apache into the Aztec in 1960, it was a precursor of sorts for an idea yet to be invented: the minivan. You could say the same of the Seneca, but whichever analogy appeals, Diamond Aircraft’s new DA52 VII goes to the same place. It’s meant to be a people or thing hauler capable of high cruise speeds, but with a fuel economy and speed Piper could only dream about. But the minivan comparison goes just so far, for the DA52, when certified sometime next year, will be an expensive ride.

The time will come when you’re faced with selecting the shop to do the majority of the maintenance on your airplane. Choosing we’ll can mean the difference between a good ownership experience and a level of frustration that causes you to give up on aviation. In this article, we’ll give you suggestions on making your initial search, then how to narrow it down; a list of attributes of professional shops, guidelines for making your selection as we’ll as shop practices that are red flag alerts to avoid.

The Light Sport world is getting a new air conditioner making use of technology trickled down from the space program. It was developed by an aggressive young company that is already supplying micro-cooling components and systems to NASA, the military and experimental aircraft builders. Air Management Technology, Inc. (AMT) of Englewood, CO, is the creator of FlyCool, a lightweight, all-electric, vapor cycle air conditioning system that is capable of 9500 Btu per hour and moving 350 cubic feet of air per minute—about the same as in a mid-sized automobile. AMT told us that they expect final approval for installation of FlyCool in the Flight Design CTLS and the Sport Cruiser before this issue reaches readers.

If ever you harbored doubts that the iPad and its progeny would eventually be all things to all pilots, a herd of new ADS-B portable products last spring might erase them. No fewer than three new gadgets hit the market and we suspect more are in the wings. The “all things” part is that these new devices are equipped with functioning AHRS so the polymath tablet is now not just a navigator, but an EFIS, too. So much for the glitter, but is the EFIS one you can really depend on? We’ll get to that in a moment. For now, suffice to say in this market, there’s a box for every budget and for under a grand, you get impressive navigational performance, FIS-B weather, limited traffic awareness and the EFIS, one version of which even includes synthetic vision.

Another purpose of this magazine is to encourage product improvement. If we give a bad review to a product and the manufacturer subsequently makes it better, we’ll review it again. If it is better, we’ll say so, loud and clear. If not, we’ll say that as well. It’s also important to recognize that a bad review may be the result of a bias, a one-off problem with a particular unit or just a bad day all around. Because of that, I followed the practice of this magazine and sent the Durr Technik representative an outline of the shortcomings I was going to report and asked if his company wanted to comment or rebut my opinions.

I enjoyed the article on pulse oximeters (March 2013). You can also buy them at Walgreens or Walmart for $30 to $40. I have an Oxywatch C20, which I bought a few years ago at Walgreens for around $40. It is within one percent of what is used at my medical clinic.

The Eclipse 500 lives at two ends of the same spectrum. At one terminus, it’s the over-sold, overpromised underperformer that traditional jet operators love to hate. At the other, it’s a nifty little high-tech jewel that a small cadre of owners rave about. Somewhere in the vast gulf between, the new Eclipse Aerospace hopes to mine some jet sales.

We hear a bad news about the aging pilot population and its effect on the decline of general aviation. For one segment of the market, aging is, in the short run, a good thing. Aircraft tug sales are up because pilots who used to be willing to shove their airplanes up uneven ramps into hangars have decided that doing so isn’t as easy as it used to be. The airplane’s obviously been getting heavier, so it’s time to buy a tug.

We’ve been watching and reporting on the progress toward a functional unleaded replacement for 100LL avgas for nearly 30 years. Boiled down, that replacement will have to do three things: 1) meet detonation margins, 2) meet material compatibility requirements—not attack any of the components of existing aircraft fuel systems and the fuel transport and storage, and 3) meet economic realities. That is, sell for a price near that of 100LL. The FAA and private industry have been working the replacement fuel issue for about three decades, spending millions on studies in an attempt to find a fuel that would work. Although the economics are unproven, there are now at least two potential replacement fuels in the U.S. SwiftFuel 100SF has undergone ground testing and has done some flight testing, although not yet on an FAA-approved flight testing program.

Based on the testing we carried out, we feel the Sierra represents a solid value. The Zulu 2 is flagship, with a higher price, so we would qualify your buying decision based on the amount of flying you expect to do. For long trips made on a regular basis and if Bluetooth music is your plan, the Zulu 2 may be worth it. For casual flying and training, the Sierra should serve you well. With the money you save, you might fix the 3G as a backseat or spare set. I bought my first headset based on my CFI’s recommendation. It was a middle-of-the-road, passive model and it got me through my private certificate, but it wasn’t very comfortable. A year or so later I bought another one after seeing it at Oshkosh. Again, it did the job, but as I flew more and more I realized I needed something better. I looked again at Oshkosh, trying every headset at the show. I wanted ANR but worried about the price. I wanted comfort but didn’t want to spend more than my annuals cost.