Aircraft Upgrades

Bendix/King designed the hardware and Aspen Avionics completed the user interface for the KSN770 FMS. The end result is a powerful retrofit GPS navigator that has a sharp screen, liberal interface potential and a $13,995 price tag. Aviation Consumer‘s Larry Anglisano flew with the system to have a look. view on YouTube

Billionaire Elon Musk, known for his successful private ventures into space and the Tesla electric roadster, said recently he’d like to develop a supersonic jet capable of vertical takeoffs and landings and powered by electricity. Musk said in an online chat that he’s been thinking about the jet idea for “about four years.” He said […]

At AirVenture, the really cool airplane wasn’t from an airplane manufacturer but from Redbird, the guys who build motion simulators. They showed off a nicely refurb’d Cessna 172 with a diesel engine from Continental, and they invited us to come fly it at their San Marcos, Texas Skyport. So we did. In this video, we […]

The Citabria is a nice, modern taildragger and one for which parts are readily available, so it’s a perfect refurb project. John Myers of Sequim, Washington, sent us this report on his project: This was a project completed at an airpark home, in a garage-hangar.I had thehelp from a youngA&P and neighbor A/I for inspections.We […]

If the world is full of opposites-and I think it is-the opposite of critical thought is group think or herd mentality. Group think is the tendency to go along with whatever new idea or trend comes along because, well, everyone else thinks its a good thing. Its just laziness by another name and were all […]

A new report by marketsandmarkets.com says the aircraft refurbishing and repurposing market will grow to $4.3 billion in 2017, up from about $3 billion in 2012. The report ($4650 for a single download), which covers aircraft from business jets to heavy transport, looks at the existing opportunities and areas of future growth and covers opportunities […]

While old airframes may keep soldiering on, the instruments and radios in the panels usually don’t. At AirVenture this year, Electronics International rolled out a new instrument designed to replace older instruments, including tachometers, engines instruments, and other indicators. In this video, EI’s Tyler Speed gives us a quick product tour of the new CGR-30P. […]

ECi is using a new web page to highlight resistance to the FAA’s proposed Airworthiness Directive targeting TITAN brand 520/550 series cylinders produced between 2002 and 2009 that may cost $83 million in compliance-associated costs, but the resistance isn’t universal. The FAA wants to require initial and repetitive inspections of the cylinders, plus full replacements […]

It wasnt long ago that an entry-level, two-axis autopilot was priced around 10 grand-including installation. Today, that price is double. Add some options and the bottom line could soar toward $30,000. These big proposals have many owners repairing older autopilots. But as service parts for older systems become obsolete, repair costs are high, downtime is […]

Twin Otters are nothing new in the Canadian North but a California company has supplied an Alberta company with a new version of the venerable design. G-Sky Aviation of Fort McMurray recently took delivery of aIKHANA RWMI DHC-6-200HG Twin Otter. The aircraft is a top-to-bottom rebuild and modification of a de Havilland DHC-6-200 that gives […]