Search Results for: insurance

For a couple of hundred bucks, a handheld VHF radio is cheap insurance against a comm failure and its useful for obtaining clearances on the ground or just monitoring ATC. As we reported in our October 2005 mega-review of VHF handhelds, the would-be buyer has plenty of options. In our previous wrap-up, we picked the Sportys SP-200 and ICOM IC-A6 as our top choices. Since then, Vertex Standard has introduced the VXA-710 Spirit and the VXA-220, touted as improved versions of the previous models. Are these good enough to knock Sportys and ICOM off the VHF pedestal? Unfortunately, we don’t think so. If anything, at least one of the models may be a step backward, in our estimation.

Hawker Beechcraft is in the middle of its celebration of the 60th anniversary of production of the Bonanza. In one form or another, the Bonanza has been in continuous production since 1947, when the first V-tail was built-an astounding fact in itself. The 35 Bonanza was the first high-performance postwar single and was markedly different from the average light airplane of the day. Base price of the first models was $7975 ($79,477 in 2007 dollars). How times change.

Pipers venerable Seneca is what we think of as a “full-circle airplane.” Would-be twin owners often consider it as their first choice, but then shop around for a Baron, or a Skymaster or maybe an Aztec. They then come full circle back to the Seneca for several good reasons, the leading one being that as twins go, the Seneca is eminently practical. It does nothing exceedingly well-its not fast, nor a joy to fly nor will it turn heads on the ramp-but it does a lot we’ll enough.

All but obscured by the lava flow of VLJ hype is this simple reality: For more than a year, one of the most conservative and oldest airplane manufacturers in the world has been delivering a single-engine turboprop with the performance, legs and load-carrying ability to make any would-be VLJ buyer think twice. The EADS Socata TBM 850 whistles along at a max cruise of 320 knots at FL260, only 20 knots slower than most of the VLJs advertise. It goes further with a load of passengers and burns a lot less fuel. For the owner-pilot, the speed, operating costs and the allure of limiting insurance-mandated training to three days a year rather than nearly two weeks for the VLJ means that the 850 is a contender. We were surprised by the numbers, frankly.

In the peak of Pipers Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, glory days, William T. Piper was rightly seen as a visionary. But no one could have imagined how enduring that vision would be, to the extent that 70 years later, several companies are building brand new Cubs that clearly trade on the mystique of the old yellow classic. Look elsewhere in this issue for our review of two LSA Cubs to see what we mean. The only reason that “Piper Cub” is no longer the standard generic name for every little airplane flying is that the generation that made it so has been displaced by younger folks to whom flying holds little attraction, much less romance.

They were the last of the pressurized, piston, 400-series airplanes Cessna developed, and pilots and mechanics will tell you that Cessna got it right with the Models 414 and 414A. Combining spacious cabins and relatively small, efficient engines, the 414 series can carry lots of fuel or a small crowd with their belongings-but not both. Also, the big Cessnas have safety records that are unmatched by any other light twin.

Sometimes when we test products, we learn things we would rather not know. For instance, we didnt know that an ordinary carbon vane vacuum pump gets too hot to touch after three or four minutes at operating speed. We also werent aware that on takeoff roll, some pumps are whirring along at 4200 RPM while the prop loafs along at two thirds of that speed. And we definitely werent prepared for the ear-splitting screech these things emit at high RPM.

The Baron owner approached us at an evening pilot meeting. He looked stricken. He had just sold his airplane after more than a year of trying and the selling price was nearly a third lower than he had wanted. “I really never thought things would get this bad,” he said.Welcome to the harsh world of aircraft ownership in the 21st century. Not so long ago, the myth that airplanes were actually a good investment was abroad in the land.

The term “working airplane” has an unmistakable connotation. Theyre the pack horses of the GA fleet, hauling freight, towing gliders and banners, spraying crops and often operating from remote airstrips or lakes.Most manufacturers have a working airplane or two in their model lineups, but Cessna has been especially successful in the piston single realm with the 180, 185, 188 and 205/206/207, each of which has carved its own market niche

Buying fuel for your airplane? Then don’t forget your credit card, especially given current fuel prices, which have climbed sharply over the past year or so. Two recent headlines show just how intertwined credit cards and aviation fuel purchases really are.

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is, in many ways, the standard of reference for the fixed gear single. With more produced than any other type of civilian airplane in history, the market has quite effectively expressed its approval.

The lighter and the simpler the better. We like JKs throttle lock, the compact, well-made Prop Club and Aircraft Spruces Chok-Lok.