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Mooney M20K

Few airplanes fly as fast or as far on as little gas as the K-model Mooneys. The 252 is the most refined version of the line.

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14-Day Oil Shootout

In our brutal salt-mist test, Exxon Elite and Aeroshell 15W50 were best at stopping rust. CamGuard additive improved performance of all the oils.

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The Over/Under Game

After the wreck, itll be too late to consider whether your hull value is too high or too low. Heres how to get it just right.

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SureCheck Micro

At $299, this traffic minder sees most of the traffic most of the time. But truly paranoid pilots may want more sophisticated performance.

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PDAs for Aviation

Aviation apps for Palm and Windows Mobile systems abound. Heres a review and analysis of what we think are the top drawer picks.

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LSA: A Promising Start

Remember those dreadful Baby on Board placards plastered in the window of every other minivan a decade ago? Thankfully, theyve faded from fashion but they were emblematic of a marketers dream: the minivan arrived just as baby boomers were having kids of their own. Detroit stroked the demographic bubble with perfect timing.

An e-mail I got from reader Ron Gibson the other day makes me wonder if the emerging light sport industry may find a demographic sweet spot, too. In asking for editorial coverage of light sport airplanes, he wrote, I intend to sell my Skylane within the next couple of years and purchase a new LSA. Im sure there are many older pilots who are tired of sweating ou…

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TAWs for Terrain

If you fly a six-seat turbine, the FAA says terrain gear is a must-have. The good news: the mandate means non-certified systems are capable and affordable.

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Death of a Hangar

[IMGCAP(1)]by Paul Bertorelli

When Bonanza owner Larry Hofmeister told us he had intended to ride out the vicious winds of Hurricane Charley in his hangar at Punta Gorda, Florida last August, we thought hed lost touch with reality. Were as fond of our airplane as the next guy but babysitting it through a Category 4 hurricane doesnt rise to the top of our to-do list.

Yet when Hofmeister arrived at the airport the day after, both his Bonanza and the hangar that housed it sat serene and intact amidst a scene of utter destruction elsewhere at Punta Gorda, with some 150 aircraft smashed to scrap metal by Charleys fierce 130-MPH-plus winds. The first question is glaringly obvious…

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Cessna P210

[IMGCAP(1)]If you want to go fast in an airplane and still grasp a thin straw of efficiency, you’ll also need to fly high. And to do that, you’ll have to make a choice: stick an oxygen hose in your nose or pay for the convenience of pressurization. Of course, if pressurization were easy and cheap, every airplane would have it. Few do and in the single-engine realm, there are only two choices: Cessnas P210 and the Piper Malibu.

Pressurizing anything, let alone a single, is fraught with difficulty. Part of it comes in the form of mechanical woes-the engines are short-lived, often don’t make it to TBO and they cost a lot to overhaul. Pressurization adds another complex system to maintain a…

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