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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.

Great report on used Beech Barons in your October 2015 issue. I recently met up with a friend to fly some old Baron 58s (which were used as freight dogs) to a salvage yard to be parted out. The 58 Baron my friend flew had 20,899 hours on the airframe, a current annual inspection and it flew great. The one I flew was young-with 14,390 hours on the airframe. This is proof of just how durable these airframes are. Compared to a model 55 baby Baron, the 58 Baron handles more like a bomber.

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.

Youve been thinking about getting a tailwheel checkout and endorsement and, to be truly honest with yourself, about buying a tailwheel airplane. You cant help it, the advertisements with the tailwheel airplane sitting on some lovely backcountry airstrip have gotten to you-or you want to switch over to a legacy light sport bird. Plus, youre a little tired of hearing real pilots fly tailwheels when you don’t-yet.

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.

If you fly one of the vast majority of general aviation aircraft, you can legally operate over any of the waters in and around the U.S. without any sort of flotation device aboard. The requirement to carry survival equipment for operations over water more than 50 miles from land set out in FAR 91.509 only applies to airplanes weighing over 12,500 pounds and turbojets. We bugsmasher operators don’t have to carry so much as a set of water wings.

For people who fish, hunt and camp, and who also fly, float flying is an inevitable career checkpoint. If such pilots don’t eventually own floatplanes, theyre likely to hire pilots who do. Thats why Beavers and 185s keep busy in Alaska and why a portion of light sport sales include floats. Now, one of the most popular float rigs, CubCrafters hot rod Carbon Cub, is re-entering the market.

The idea of the push-pull twin makes such fundamental sense that it has been applied to aircraft designs in one form or another for nearly 100 years and in literally dozens of models youve never even heard of. Back in 2005, Adam Aircraft tried the idea again with the A500 push-pull piston twin. Like many before it, it failed more by market reality than by a fundamental flaw in the idea.

For more than 30 years, the most popular liability policy in aviation has provided coverage of $1 million with sublimits of $100,000. Owners sleep soundly at night, confident that they have an insurance pool of a million bucks should they roll Ol Bessy into a ball. These same owners have the personal net worth necessary to own an airplane and often have auto and homeowners insurance that has at least $1 million in liability coverage.

With the stock market in record territory, the economy still hesitant and fuel prices lower than in convenient memory, we decided to take a look at the state of the aircraft finance world. The Federal Reserve has kept the interest rates at historic lows-has that been reflected in available loan rates for aircraft purchases? Is this a good time to finance an airplane?

Our editors choice awards are all about innovation and value. As we look back at the last 12 issues of Aviation Consumer, we find no shortage of credible products, especially in the ADS-B and aircraft consumable markets. But no single product or company stood out for being the most innovative.So to keep our high standards in check, we wont hand out an award for product or company of the year. Instead, we’ll present a combination of a dozen products and companies that we believe deserve equal recognition for being the best of the best.

If age mellows people, the same might be said for airplanes, at least if the airplane in question is Mooneys M20K series. The airplane arrived in the GA market at a time when turbocharging was relatively new and the demand for high-flying aircraft was thin.Mooney didnt get the M20Ks turbocharging system right on the first try and the airplane developed a reputation as a maintenance hog. Thirty years later, that reputation has been mostly burnished and the fact that the M20K bores along between 160 and 200 knots on relatively little fuel has improved the models used price.