Maintenance

Here’s the issue: Suppose you want to refurbish the interior of your FAA-certificated light plane with new carpet and upholstery. Further suppose that you have found a reputable auto upholstery shop that does great work and will reupholster your seats and cut you new carpets if you bring the stuff to them. What does the […]

Winters in northern states like Montana can be brutal which is why theprincipal means of maintaining controlled flight is with the heater knob.Freezing temperatures can begin in late September and are last seen sometime inApril. This is quite a chore for the lowly aircraft heating system, akin to theold Volkswagen beetle’s air-cooled engine and non-heater. […]

Painting anythingwell-especially an airplane-is as much art as science. It takes experienceand skill to get it right and, in the end, the customer might not appreciate thework because many owners have never seen a good paint job. Yet it doesnt takea trained eye to separate good paint from bad, a well-detailed master work from what one […]

AVweb Special Projects Editor Dave Higdon adopted a Comanche 180 a few years ago. He approached the purchase with all the warmth of a bill collector. Efficiency … payload … performance … bang-for-the-buck. Now he’s fallen in love. If you’re not going to see A Christmas Carol this season, read Dave’s story instead and enjoy […]

Thepreparation leading up to my first flight in a new aircraft design always renewsmy sense of adventure and stirs a bit of trepidation, as well. The promise ofsome new adventure, rooted in my hedonistic curiosity about airplanes, generallyoverwhelms any degree of anxiety attached to the coming flight. Nonetheless, arriving at the main gate of The […]

How frustrating this could be, my mind kept musing. Not three hours earlier the magnificent Three Sisters mountain peaks reached upward through clear skies toward the window seat of a Southwest 737 flying me to Portland International (PDX). No overcast blocked my view until we flew to about 40 miles south of PDX. But the […]

I‘m really glad that using the latest version of Unison Industries’ Limited Authority Spark Advance Regulator (LASAR) is far easier than installing it. Through no fault of the Unison’s LASAR hardware itself, a team comprised of one aircraft owner, one experienced IA, and one factory field representative from Unison managed to take six or seven […]

I recently returned from Mobile, Ala., where I spent a full week at the Teledyne Continental Motors factory going through TCM’s Aviation Technician Advanced Training Program (ATATP). I attended the course with AVweb Executive Editor Jeb Burnside (who owns a TCM-powered C33A Debonair) and my good friend Chris Wrather (who owns a TCM-powered V35 Bonanza). […]

The Malibu Mirage has the rare distinction of being in a class by itself. No other plane currently in production can claim to be a six-place cabin-class pressurized piston single. In spite of a complicated history, the aircraft ultimately lives up to its reputation as a full-capability IFR platform providing comfort and reliability in the […]

If Benjamin Braddock paid more attention to his future – and less to Mrs. Robinson- he might today hold an executive position at a young, new airplane company.All Ben, the central character in the classic film, “The Graduate,”had to do was heed that “one word” of advice he received during theopening reel of the movie: […]