Ownership

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 […]

Safe Flight Instrument Corporation recently earned FAA certification for its latest-generation speed control/angle-of-attack system. In this video, Aviation Consumer editor Larry Anglisano flies with the system in Safe Flight’s Cessna for a detailed look. view on YouTube

Excuse me, but I think I’m having a moment here. I never really embraced the idea that people, as they age, revert to their teenage selves. But I think it’s happening to me. When I was callow lad of 17, I built myself a hotrod—small-block Chevy, Duntov cam, glasspacks and a succession of gas-guzzling carburation […]

We’ve long been of the opinion that lower stall speeds are a good thing when it comes to safety of flight. It’s our observation that pilots are less likely to inadvertently stall airplanes that have low stall speeds, and if they do so, having less energy to absorb on impact means more chance of surviving […]

It has been rumored off and on over the years that various big automakers are secretly at work on a flying car, and this week patent drawings emerged that show some ideas from Toyota’s drawing board. The patent application, which is dated Sept. 3, shows drawings of a car with four “stackable wings.” The wings, […]