If you’ve ever practiced balked landings in a Skylane, you know how critical it is to keep the heavy nose down when transitioning out of the flare and into climb when configured with flaps, nose-up trim and full power. Our recent scan of 100 recent wrecks proved that Skylane pilots might benefit from more practice […]
The sobering reality of major avionics upgrades is the financial hit you’ll take when the aircraft gets into the hands of a professional appraiser. It sure is tempting to simply tack on the avionics shop’s total invoice to the average retail price of the aircraft. Sorry for the buzzkill, but it doesn’t work that way. […]
Modifying airplanes that the original manufacturer got almost right has been a constant in general aviation. But lately, we call it something different: remanufacturing. And if any company is the Alpha dog of this process, its Cleveland-based Nextant Aerospace, which has had impressive success remanufacturing Beechjet 400As. Now its poised to repeat the trick with the popular King Air C90 series.
As we reported in the August 2015 issue of Aviation Consumer, the maturing support network for LSA models is building at least some confidence in their dispatch reliability. But for owners and flight schools looking for a simple and reliable trainer thats easily supported on most every maintenance floor, its still tough to beat the familiar Cessna 150/152 series.
As would be expected in an airplane widely used as a trainer, our review of the 100 most recent accidents involving the Cessna 150/152 series found that 38 were landing-related. A breakdown of those numbers revealed some interesting details: There were two pilots who couldnt get stopped on the available runway-quite a feat for an airplane with massive flaps and a slow approach speed.
Cirrus, Mooney and Cessna offer factory certified pre-owned aircraft as alternatives to buying new models. This is attracting attention in a brisk and comparably priced refurbishment market.Its an attention-getting and confidence-building strategy thats worked for years in the auto industry. To be sure, there’s at least some sharp marketing involved here. When the manufacturer provides a certificate of approval for maintenance history, cosmetic condition and prescribes a thorough engine and airframe inspection process, dealers tack on a premium thats roughly 10 percent more than a non-certified used model, in many cases.
An alternative to paying the price premium for a certified factory pre-owned aircraft is paying for a fixed insurance premium for aftermarket warranty coverage. Dating back to the 1980s (originally offered at a used Piper dealership), AvGuards current AmTrust Financial Services-backed aftermarket extended warranty covers unscheduled maintenance for piston singles through mid-size jets and helicopters, based on a choice of 200, 500 or 750 annual flight hours. The program covers 447 makes/models manufactured between 1985 and 2015 and doesnt require an inspection.
Some airplane manufacturers build a model based on what it thinks a typical private owner might do with it. Not Swiss manufacturer Pilatus. For decades Pilatus has built models-including the PC-12 turboprop single-to specifically meet the missions of armed services throughout the world, including the U.S. Air Force (U-28A). Moreover, the PC-12s launch customer was the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia for its work in the extremes of the outback-an environment that suits the PC-12 just fine. Got unimproved runways? The PC-12s oversized tires can handle it, while trailing-link landing gear and an effective rudder make the single-pilot-approved big turboprop easy to land.
Our search of NTSB data for accidents involving the Pilatus PC-12 series airplanes turned up only 23 since the first was reported in 2001-and four were in countries outside the U.S. With so little data, there was no basis for forming any opinions about areas of concern.
The NTSB reports of the 100 most recent B55 Baron crashes turned up some unexpected results: there were only three runway loss of control (RLOC) events, far fewer than we expect for tricycle-gear airplanes; for an airplane with a fuel system that has a reputation as simple, the majority of the 15 fuel-related accidents involved mismanaging the system and fuel selectors and over half of the pilot-induced gear-up events involved retracting the gear on rollout.We have long been impressed with the landing gear design on the Baron-it doesnt take a rocket surgeon to maintain. Only two of the Baron accidents involved a system failure in which the pilot could not get the Firestones down and locked.
Fly most any Beechcraft model and you will likely come away impressed with its sturdy feel, excellent build quality and, especially, its handling qualities. All the way down to the lowly Musketeer, Beech just took pains to get the airplanes flying manners a cut above everything else, and that applies in spades to the Baron series. Even so, every aircraft company has to make compromises. In the 55 Baron, for instance, what many find to be pleasant handling characteristics can prove to be a handful in poor weather, or when the air turns green with turbulence. And nothing comes for free, particularly in a higher-end Beech.
In looking at the most recent 100 accidents of the Cessna 336/337 we formed the opinion that there was little wrong with the airplanes, but had our doubts about some of the pilots who chose to fly them.
