Features

While other low-wing four-place cruisers like the Cirrus SR20 or the Diamond DA40 might break the budget, there’s always the Piper Archer. There is a wide swath to choose from at all price points, and the market has never been stronger. Typically priced from $95,000 for a mid-1970s Archer II to nearly $500,000 for a […]

Buying A Used Aircraft: Cessna 210 Centurion Having owned a 1978 T210 for over 20 years, I found the article accurate but missing one important point: CO in the cabin is a common problem. The aircraft operates with the cabin at negative pressure, and the exhaust is pulled inside the airframe under the cabin floor. […]

The Cessna 210 Centurion offers good range and endurance, loading flexibility and go-places cruise speed. With six seats, the retractable-gear 210 is an appealing step-up airplane to those who got their feet in a 100-series Cessna. But buyers should pick one that’s been well maintained, and learn to fly it right—Centurions are not airplanes for […]

All things being equal, accident data reflect that we pilots are pretty good at dealing with the risks involved with repeatedly causing inanimate objects to leave the ground, move through the air and land. Unfortunately, things are not always equal, and the factors that make us human, such as stress, distraction and impatience, can conspire […]

Heard while transitioning NorCal Approach airspace near Sacramento: Cessna 12345: (Broken, garbled transmission) NorCal: “I believe that was Cessna 12345; you’re coming in unreadable. Do you have another radio you can try?” (Pause) Cessna 12345: “NorCal approach, how do you read Cessna 12345 now?” NorCal: “Loud and clear now, your other radio was just static.” […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause on the NTSB’s website at www.ntsb.gov. Final reports appear about a year after the […]

NTSB Asks FAA To Require CO Detectors For GA Aircraft Carbon monoxide is an insidious and deadly compound that disables and kills hundreds of people each year – mostly from poorly vented space heaters or home furnaces. Modern automobiles have much lower CO emissions due to their catalytic converters than our old air-cooled airplane engines. […]

One of the most common questions I received in the nearly seven years I was editor in chief at KITPLANES® was, “Why don’t you ever cover electric aircraft?” The answer we always gave was something like, “Well, when there is an aircraft that can be built by the average amateur that can carry more than one […]

If you are considering building a new homebuilt aircraft from a kit—or are thinking of buying someone’s completed homebuilt—this series maybe the most valuable hobby-related information you will ever read. That is because the hobby of building and flying your own full-size aircraft is likely to be a highlight of your life. Thousands of builder/pilots […]

I was flying from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Fargo, North Dakota, one evening recently. As we approached the Dakotas, it got rather quiet on Minneapolis Center. Predictably, after about 10 minutes of silence, somebody checked to make sure things were all well. Unknown aircraft: “Minneapolis Center. Still there?” Without a pause the controller responded: […]