Equipment Reviews

Amid-air collision can, as they say, ruin your day. While we all know that we should spendlots of time and effort looking outside for other aircraft, the increasing computerizationof our cockpits – GPSs, FMSs, digital engine analyzers, and other bleeding-edge cockpitgadgetry – is demanding ever more of our time inside. A United Airlines check pilot […]

Our shop,Avionics West, sells handheld avionics andheadsets over the Internet on AVweb. Our satisfaction guarantee policy has alwaysbeen straightforward: if you don’t like the product, return it within 30 days and we willsell you a different item or refund your purchase price, whichever you prefer, noquestions asked. Recently, an AVweb member asked me if this […]

Nowadays, everyone wants a moving map along with their GPS. Up until now, you’ve hadthree options: Why doesn’t someone come out with a good, high-resolution, easy-to-read moving mapintegrated into a panel-mounted GPS? I’m happy to tell you that II Morrow has done exactlythat with their new GX55. As if that wasn’t enough, II Morrow went […]

Picture yourself at the skinny end of a funnel. You have to decide how much of what went in the fat end gets tocome out the skinny end, and in what order. Now imagine that airplanesare what went in the other end. All kinds of airplanes. From cabinclass twins to tiny single-seat experimentals. Controllers havenightmares […]

Bose Corporation of Framingham, MA, inventors ofnoise reduction headset technology that set the industry standard,today announced the introduction of a revolutionary new headsetwith holes. That’s right, holes. Called the Headset X, it incorporates”Tri Port Technology” which includes three holes ineach ear cup. These holes seem at first to be an illogical approachto designing headsets for […]

NOTE: Since this comparison was originally written, Garmin introduced itslower-priced GPS III Pilot which also has ground-mapping capability. We’ve reviewed thisunit in a separate article. Lowrance subsequently introducedits own lower-priced unit, the AirMap 100, which we’ve also reviewedseparately. Quick Links Ground Mapping … What’s the Big Deal? Hardware Comparison Software Comparison GPS Receiver Performance Summary […]

Myfirst exposure to “serious” simulator training took place in October of 1987,about six months after I’d purchased my T310R. My motivation was the usual one: insurance.Despite the fact that I had 180 hours in type, 4,000 hours total, and 23 years ofaccident-free flying behind me, I was having a heck of a time finding aircraft […]

It wasn’t exactly what I hadexpected. Let me explain. I am a 1,500 hour pilot with about half those hours in a V35A Bonanza Ihave owned for seven years. I fly about one hundred hours per year – a combination of VFRand (mostly) light IFR in our usually mild Central California climate. I have participatedin […]

For nearly a year now, I’ve been hearing rumors of asmaller-sized aviation GPS from Lowrance Avionics to supersede the rather hefty AirMapthat they introduced in 1996. I was concerned that Lowrance might be following the lead ofthe Garmin GPS III Pilot, a unit that I don’t care for one bit. When Lowrance introducedtheir 12-channel AirMap […]

It is a big decision. You have wanted to fly for some time and now you’re going to doit. Excitement. Anticipation. You go to the airport and they take you out to the plane youare going to fulfill your dream of learning to fly in and… The plane is older thanyou are. It looks its […]