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Since 1968, the 36-series Bonanzas has steadily built a solid record for workmanship, performance, handling and comfort. Prices on the used market reflect the high regard for the airplanes. Easy entry to the rear seats and club seating made them popular with passengers as we’ll as pilots, even though the aft CG limit can make loading a challenge and some turbocharged models are a little light on useful load. Aftermarket mods such as turbonormalizing and tip tanks can turn a 36-series Bonanza into an airplane that can carry four people 1000 NM at 200 knots.

It can be said that 406 MHz ELT technology evolved too late to be the huge seller that industry leaders predicted. While 406 ELT systems were stuck in a lengthy certification process, satellite tracking systems emerged from the transportation industry and into aviation applications. New Zealand-based Spidertracks was an early player with the Spider S3 (there’s also the competing Spot line of products that we’ll look at in another article). The new $1795 Spider S5 sends and receives SMS messages through a smartphone. It also interfaces with Lockheed Martin’s surveillance-enhanced search and rescue (SE-SAR) system.

The FAA says that stall-related loss of control is responsible for approximately 40 percent of fatal accidents. As a result, the agency wants to streamline the certification process and bring angle of attack indicators to all Part 23 aircraft. In a perfect world of avionics retrofitting, AoA systems would be considered a minor alteration. That’s hardly the case and part of the reason why AoA systems aren’t common in small certified aircraft. The way we see it, if any company could succeed in bringing certified AoA systems to Part 23 aircraft, it’s the one that pioneered wing leading edge lift detection over 50 years ago and holds 135 patents that are spread out over a broad aircraft segment (they’ve developed 18 in the last five years).

When Rotax surprised us last year with the rollout of its new 912 iS engine, we were skeptical of a claimed 20 percent improvement in fuel economy against the old standby 912 ULS. In a four-cylinder, high-RPM geared engine, that sounded like an overpromise. During our factory tour at Rotax, we politely told the engineers we would reserve judgment until the engine hits the field. Eighteen months later, it has and just as we suspected, Rotax’s initial claims were off the mark. But in the wrong direction, if the company’s recent year-long test of the 912 iS is to be believed.

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.