Avionics

The staff at Aviation Consumer magazine is conducting an avionics equipment and brand satisfaction survey. They want to know about your experience with recent major avionics upgrades, including ADS-B equipment. The results will appear in an upcoming issue of Aviation Consumer magazine. Click here to take the survey.

The controversial FAA reauthorization bill that would create a private air traffic control organization will not be introduced in the full House this week as originally scheduled, according to Politico. Quoting unnamed sources, the Washington political publication says it was told by a “leadership aide” that the House Transportation Committee, which approved an amended version […]

With the exception of tiny squiggles up and down, the general aviation fatal accident rate remains stubbornly at about 1.0/100,000 hours. That’s down a little from a decade ago, when it was 1.28 and down a lot from the early to mid-1970s, when it was more than 2.0. In GA, we tend to resist the […]

Proposals for new autopilot upgrades can be shocking. Even entry-level wing-leveling systems start at $10,000, not including installation. But that won’t buy much. Higher-end models with add-on options can easily snowball a project to $40,000. That’s roughly the cost of an average engine replacement—or an average Skyhawk. For years, S-Tec (now Cobham Avionics) has dominated […]

What to make of Mooney’s new M20V Acclaim Ultra? It’s at once more than I ever expected and less than I might have wished. Then again, in this business, the survivors learn that the orbits of expectation rarely intersect with those of reality and we all know about wishes, horses and beggars. But give the […]

Besides the signature reversed vertical fin, Mooney airplanes have always been characterized by a single cabin door. But no more. This week, Mooney rolled out the new M20V Acclaim Ultra, a significant redo of the company’s best-selling Acclaim. In Fredericksburg, Texas, near the company’s newly refurbished Kerrville, Texas factory, Mooney showed the test version of […]

Apparently responding to buyer complaints about complex ADS-B Out solutions that require expensive WAAS upgrades,Garmin International has announced two all-in-one transponders that will allow owners who don’t have WAAS GPS receivers to upgrade to ADS-B Out as simply as possible. One version of the new product combines both In and Out in a single box, […]

Aspen’s angle-of-attack indicator doesn’t require any additional hardware beyond the Evolution Flight display. AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli took it for a spin recently and prepared this video report. Although it’s intended for stall awareness, it can also be used to improve approaches. view on YouTube

I was attending a Wings safety seminar recently and the 1995 American Airlines crash in Colombia was discussed, including the video American Airlines made two years after the fact. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a click. In this compelling video, the speaker says the words that I believe have subtly, but profoundly, influenced […]

The House Appropriations Committee has added its opposition to the nascent debate over privatizing the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO). Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and other senior members of the committee wrote a letter (PDF) to the House leadership Monday saying air traffic management should remain a government function. “The annual oversight and funding role […]