Equipment Reviews

There’s a variety of obvious reasons why making the jump from piston-twin to regional jet is an exciting transition, but the potential to toss the heavy headgear in favor of a lightweight, non-head-crimping, non-tear-your-ear-off-your-head-when-you-remove-it headset is among the most anticipated. After a few thousand hours, I was looking forward to a peaceful, quiet cockpit, and […]

NOTE: This article was updated in November 2003 to reflect the unavailability of the previously recommended AIM and Senco detectors (both of which are no longer in production), and the introduction of the CO Experts Model 2002 which has now become our top choice for aircraft use. The dramatic crash of Piper Dakota N8263Y madeall […]

NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Cessna Pilots Association Magazine, and is reprinted here by permission. I tend to fly fairly long distances in my airplane, and have done so for decades. Since I acquired my Cessna T310R in 1987, I’ve probably averaged around three transcontinental trips a year. I figure if you’re going […]

While survival gear remains a hard sell to U.S. pilots, there is still a small minority who recognize that it doesn’t always happen to the other guy. They support a cottage industry providing ready-made aviation survival kits for general aviation use. There are relatively few kits that have been around for a long period of […]

Updated August 24, 2003, with information on new PLBs from Pains Wessex. I was ferrying my antique open-cockpit biplane — a rare Flaglor High Tow — from my home base in Driggs, Idaho (just west of Jackson Hole) to the maintenance shop at Idaho Falls. That’s about 45 nautical miles, which doesn’t sound like much […]

I was 33 by the time I slid into the left seat of the 152 for my first lesson, and by the time we’d finished the run-up and were pointed down the runway, I’d had my first gnawing doubt about being able to do this. My instructor, Pamela, was handling the radio work and I […]

I‘ve been a fan of Garmin‘s GPSs ever since I spent several hundred hours teaching people how to fly the Cirrus SR20 and SR22, which have dual Garmin GPSs as standard equipment. But I learned early on that having a super-charged piece of avionics is not all peaches and cream. There’s a steep learning curve, […]

No doubt about it, pilots are a special breed.And after a day of reading accident reports — which I do without fail at least once a month — I sometimes suffer from the impression that they’re highly motivated, well-trained, steely-eyed idiots. I’ll concede that this is a cynical, over-the-top generalization but when you read about […]

Who was John Boyd? Ask any pilot and you will probably get a shoulder shrug or just a blank stare. Hang around with some fighter pilots and ask, “Anyone ever heard of ’40-Second Boyd’?” and the response will likely be the same, a shrug. Follow up with a second question, “What do you know about […]

The genesis of E-Ox occurred several years ago when I stopped by the White Mountain Products Group booth at AOPA Expo in Atlantic City to look at a miniature emergency oxygen system they’d introduced. To be honest, my first reaction was skepticism. To begin with, I was a little put off by the melodramatic name […]