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While Alaska’s official bird is a pretty two-tone number called the Willow Ptarmigan, the state bird that works for a living is the Piper Super Cub. For reasons related to perfect timing, a marriage of the right powerplant to a robust airframe and sheer, stubborn staying power, the Super Cub has earned what seems to be a permanent home in bush community. Other aircraft can arguably outdo the Cub in payload capability, speed and cabin space, but the Super Cub simply holds its own in an economic combination of all three that’s hard to beat. And we’re told there’s more than one Super Cub beating around the bush with only one original part: the aircraft data plate.

On the cover of Aviation Consumer’s July 2010 issue is one of the most forlorn photos we’ve ever published: The nosegear of an LSA sitting in the middle of a lonely runway, having dropped out of the airplane after takeoff rotation. Although we didn’t intend it that way, the photo ended up as a testament to another airplane entirely, the Cessna 150. The reason? Venerable old 150s are still flying side-by-side on the rental line with new-age light sport designs and the older airplanes, despite decades of abuse, still hold up better than some of the newer designs and often require less maintenance. The harsh lesson here is that despite advances in materials and computer-aided design, the 1950s engineers who designed the 150 knew their way around structure and half a century later, what they built still remains serviceable for the foreseeable future. The airplane that trained thousands of pilots endures.

Given Aviation Consumers status as the only subscriber-supported, consumer-oriented publication in aviation, we are often asked to “get to the bottom” of certain issues. Some of these are mundane, such as comparing cockpit accessories or even writing about insurance, which were doing in this issue. For me, the most difficult subjects are those in which buyers, owners or consumers report radically different results and perspectives when discussing the very same product. And so it is with this months follow-up report on the Thielert diesel engines.

Anyone who has flown a Beechcraft will have come away impressed with the lines quality and, especially, the handling qualities. All the way down to the lowly Musketeer, Beech just took pains to get the airplanes handling qualities 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. No one mistake the Barons for being cheap to own or operate, although thanks to a perennially soft market for twins, theyre no longer ruinously expensive to buy. In fact, there are some real bargains out there on 55s.

As a professional aircraft appraiser, I was retained to perform an appraisal on a 1978 Grumman AA5B Tiger not too long ago. I met the owner at his hangar and when he rolled open the hangar door, I wasnt prepared for what I saw. It was one of the saddest airplanes that I have ever seen. It sat in a hangar that had housed it for three years as it collected dust on what had once been a good, fresh paint job. Its partially deflated tires were sitting in an inch of water, possibly from a roof leak. This airplane showed three years of neglect. Fortunately, the sliding canopy was closed so most of the dust had not penetrated the interior. The airplane was about three years out of annual and it had not been flown or even run in those three years. This airplane was not going to appraise for very much money, even though the owner expected that it would.

The concept of “training” and Beechcraft go together like ketchup and ice cream, which is to say you know about both, but Beech airplanes don’t spring to mind when you think of cheap-to-fly entry-level airplanes. Nonetheless, during the heady days of GA in the 1970s, Beech did dip its toe in the trainer market. The model 19 and 23 series Beechcraft, the Musketeer, Sport and Sundowner, were Beechs answer to Pipers Cherokee line and if not the 150/152, then the 172 from Cessna. Beech didnt exactly set the world on fire with sales, but the two models did acceptably well. Theyre neither the fastest nor sleekest looking of the GA lot, but theyre better built than the competition and there’s no question that these airplanes-really, all of the Beech line-are the best handling light GA aircraft.

Piper’s Twin Comanche occupies a special status in the world of GA airplanes. When we last examined the model five years ago, we compared it to Diamond’s new-age DA42 twin. Diamond may have stubbed its toe since then, but the Twinco has lost none of its luster. Owners prize the airplane for the same reasons that they always have. It’s an affordable, economical and accessible twin with decent performance. In many ways, it’s one of the few twins that can claim to be not much more expensive than a single to own and operate. Or so many owners say. Prices of Twin Comanches have softened in the last five years, but they haven’t plummeted. It’s possible to find one with a spiffed-up panel and new paint for around $70,000.

When the so-called Caribbean line from Aerospatiale first appeared at the Paris Air Show in 1977, the U.S. general aviation industry was booming, building mainly tried-and-true, if staid, designs like the Cessna 172 and the Piper Cherokee line. Against that backdrop, the new TB-20 was a splash of cold water. Its not that the airplane was terribly innovative-it wasnt, sporting the same Lycoming engines we had all been flying behind for years. But it had something no Skyhawk ever did: a sleek and stylish European panache. Ultimately, this didnt help much with sales, but the thing sure was-and is-good looking, what one aviation writer famously described as a Cherokee done over by Club Med. The Trinidad is the top of the line of a small family (five) of single-engine aircraft developed and built by Socata in Tarbes, France, from which the TB derives.

When you tell a fellow pilot what kind of airplane you fly, the list of responses that will elicit more than casual, feigned interest is short. But the Aerostar is on it. It has a deserved rep for being blazingly fast with good range. And unlike most piston twins, it has enough power to actually climb on a single engine. But bring a VISA with high limits. The airplanes Lycomings are somewhat thirsty and although its hardly a maintenance hog, the Aerostar fleet is aging and getting expensive to maintain. But for owners who can afford it, the model is hard to beat for getting from A to B faster than anything that doesnt burn Jet A. The Aerostar is the product of famed aircraft designer Ted Smith, whose name is attached to such classics as the A-20 twin-engine bomber and the Twin and Jet Commander lines.

Your thorough reports provide a very valuable service to your readers. Unfortunately for your readers, the March 2011 report on private pilot test prep was not up to your usual high standards, in my view. For example, regarding King Schools, your reporter had two major complaints. First was the price. But thats because you compared the King Schools price for six courses with everyone elses price for a single course.

Oil leads a tough life. Its supposed to lubricate, seal, clean and cool the running engine. After shutdown, its supposed to protect metal surfaces so the next start doesnt scrape off corroded material thats ultimately replaced from your wallet via a premature overhaul. Oil companies will improve the oil as best they can, but their choices to market a case of oil at the right price might not match your preference for long-term investment in your engine. The bottom line is this: Is it worth up to an extra dollar an hour-maybe $2000 over the life of an engine-to beef up your oil?

Live the likes of new-age airplane companies like Cirrus and Diamond one thing: They have resisted the overwhelming urge to fit their airplanes with folding gear. But manufacturers of the 1960s and 1970s had no such resistance, including Cessna when it added retractable gear to the venerable 182. Was the effort worth it? It did add about 15 knots of cruise speed without too much of a hit in fuel burn. But it also introduced a complex, maintenance-hungry gear system that owners say will work acceptably we’ll if looked after. Owners generally like the airplane and it sold we’ll initially from its introduction in 1978 until the bottom dropped out in the early 1980s. By 1986, the model was gone, along with the rest of Cessnas piston production.