Ownership

What if you’ve got visible metal bits in your oil? Since source identification is critical, the first question is what kind of metal is it that you’re looking at? There are two sources of filtration; one the suction screen, which has bigger screen holes to stop big parts from being passed to the oil pump […]

People who sell things for a living—airplanes, cars, construction equipment, you name it—know that there’s a fine art to convincing a would-be buyer that a used thing is almost always a better value than a new thing. (Car dealers get this because they typically make more margin on used cars than on new.) Airplane buyers, […]

Now that Avidyne’s IFD440 hybrid touch GPS navigator is certified and shipping, the company is putting a sharp focus on the experimental and kit aircraft market. This includes builders with existing Garmin GNS navigators. In this video, Kitplanes magazine contributing editor Larry Anglisano, along with Avidyne’s Tom Harper, shows how to transition from an existing […]

It’s a sad law of aviation that while we like to think of pilots as honest, upstanding citizens, when it comes to selling airplanes, an unpleasantly high proportion suddenly turn into snake-oil salesmen. I’ve seen way too many airplane-shaped piles of junk marketed by pilots piously claiming they are in perfect shape. Sadly, some of […]

Editor’s note: We wish to thank the folks at LP Aero Plastics, www.lpaeroplastics.com, phone (800) 957-2376 for much of the following information and recommendations on how to properly care for your aircraft windows. They have been around for many years and we suggest if you have any acrylic needs that you check them out. That […]

I’m pretty sure Florida pilots have a slightly different relationship with thunderstorms than do pilots in other regions. We get so many of them, especially between March and December, that they often don’t impact flying much. Last week, Sarasota Avionic’s Dan Gulandri and I launched in his Bonanza with the western horizon black and threatening. […]

Since 1968, the Beech 36-series Bonanzas has steadily built a solid record for workmanship, performance, handling and comfort. Prices on the used market reflect the high regard for the airplanes. Easy entry to the rear seats and club seating made them popular with passengers as well as pilots, even though the aft CG limit can […]

Aerocet has received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for carbon composite amphibious floats for the Quest Kodiak 100 bush plane. The 6650 floats are leak-proof and all but impervious to salt and contaminated water. “We are very proud of the product our team worked hard to build and excited to watch the floats, combined to […]

Diamond Aircraft, as AVwebreported last week, has been working with the University of Stuttgart to develop an auto-land system for the DA42, and on Monday, they posted a video of one of the test landings. The system is highly redundant, and requires no ground support, the test engineers said. They also added that they plan […]

Remember that great closing scene in The Bridges at Toko-Ri where admiral Tarrant, upon contemplating the loss of Brubaker, ruminates, “Where do we get such men?” For all the wrong reasons, I thought of that the other week when I was talking to Dave, one of the local IAs here. While I was fooling with […]