Insurance

At the insurance agency where I work, we talk with hundreds offellow pilots every week about aviation and insurance. I am amazed at the number of pilotsthat do not know whether or not their life insurance covers them if they die in a generalaviation accident. Do you? For example, many employers provide group term life […]

How cold is cold? Oil pressure isn’t enough! Bearings need clearance… …And pistons do, too The world’s finest preheat Multipoint electric heaters Engine and prop covers Other electric heaters Leave it on all the time? Forced hot air Althoughpreheating is something most of us first learned about in private pilot ground school, itremains a subject […]

Inmy roles as a frequent contributor to AVweb’s maintenance section, and as amember of the technical staff of the Cessna PilotsAssociation, I spend a good deal of time helping other aircraft owners totroubleshoot and fix problems with their airplanes. From time to time, however, I have todeal with glitches on my own airplane. A good […]

Myrecently-completed annual inspection of my Cessna T310R included a considerable amount ofscheduled maintenance work, as well as several significant unscheduled items (i.e., nastysurprises). One of the scheduled maintenance items this year was 500-hour magnetomaintenance, which is a relatively significant item on a twin because there are four magsto do. Many owners aren’t aware (and an […]

Turbocharging Basics What Really Happens What Can Go Wrong? A Troubleshooting Strategy Oneof the most perplexing maintenance problem areas that owners of high-performance pistonaircraft have to deal with is the turbocharging system. I often hear from unhappy ownerswho have already incurred considerable expense in overhauling or replacing costlyturbo-system components without having resolved the trouble. As […]

Insurance can be one of the most expensive elements in the fixedcost of owning an aircraft. It can be, but it doesn’t always have to be. Before we go further into the cost issues, I should caution that the least expensiveisn’t always the best choice. Aircraft insurance is not heavily regulated, except in ageneral way. […]

Why do pilots pay more for life insurance? Why? Ever sit down and study an Insurance Mortality Table? Probably not. Well,unfortunately for pilots, the folks who set and approve insurance rates (they’re calledactuaries and underwriters) rarely pilot aircraft. If they did, they’d understand that pilots in general are pretty good risks. They’dunderstand that pilots as […]

Lie #1:Lycoming engines are better than Continental engines.(Or vice-versa.) Ibought my first airplane 30 years ago. It was a Cessna 182 powered by a ContinentalO-470-R engine. Since then I’ve owned a succession of airplanes, and each one-quitecoincidentally-was powered by a big-bore Continental. My engines have always made TBO andbeen relatively trouble-free. So it’s not surprising […]

Februaryis insurance renewal time for me. I’ve been an airplane owner since 1974 when I realized adream and bought my beloved 1966 Mooney Super 21, N9324M. Since then I have owned threeother airplanes, including my current 1979 Aerostar 601P, N6069N. For the past 23 years,every February has meant calling my agent and getting quotes for […]

Myintroduction to the high cost of replacement parts came shortly after I first bought mytwin Cessna in 1987. I hadn’t yet started doing my own maintenance at that time, and Iinnocently asked my A&P to check the deicing boots and find out why they weren’tinflating. A week later, I got the plane back with a […]