Ownership

CS&A Aviation Insurance(This article originally appeared in Aviation Insurance & Risk Management, Fall 2005) In the aviation insurance business we see many companies and individuals consider the purchase of “corporate” aircraft. For purposes of this discussion, I am referring to seven- to 15-seat, cabin-class piston twins or large singles, turboprops, and jet aircraft like Piper […]

This is a bit embarrassing, but I might as well come clean: Up until a few years ago, I was still flying my Cessna T310R with only the primitive engine instrumentation installed by the factory in 1979. Shame on me!I’d long since upgraded my avionics stack with conspicuous quantities of glass, including a Garmin GNS-530 […]

You may not know how to tie a safety wire, or you may be convinced you can’t do it unless you’re an A&P mechanic. Legally speaking, you’re on solid ground: The current FAR Part 43 (Appendix A) specifically allows pilots to replace defective safety-wire without apparent limitation (although we urge you not to touch turnbuckles […]

This will be the column that allows devotees of liquid-cooled engines to rock back in their Aerons, place palms on paunch and proclaim, “Aren’t we the smart ones?!” With some design care, a liquid-cooling system for aircraft can be simple to execute and remarkably insensitive to variations brought by series production or less-than-surgical ongoing maintenance. […]

Finding the right airplane to buy is hard work. Who among us hasn’t spent hours looking through the pages of Trade-A-Plane trying to find that perfect candidate — one with low time, a fresh overhaul, new paint and interior, great avionics, and a bargain price?Dream on!Common sense says you’re unlikely to find an airplane like […]

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Metal possesses lots of properties that we find very useful in building airplanes. It’s strong, hard, and tough. It’s easy to form, work and machine. It’s fireproof and can stand up to high temperatures. All in all, metal is neat stuff.But metal isn’t unique in having these properties. Metal is strong, but ordinary cotton fiber […]

No one in officialdom seems to be too worried about the security implications of the alleged theft … even as (some) general aviation readies to return to Washington National airport, Sept. 18 (many, many aircraft will still be excluded under extensive regulations). “I would just encourage increased vigilance at the various airports and the companies […]

Stand on the spectator line at the Reno Air Races and the sense of “calm before the storm” permeates the atmosphere. A few minutes before, we spectators watched the Sport-class aircraft line up, start engines, taxi way down to the east end and then take off to the west, making beautiful airplane noise and flying […]

CS&A Aviation Insurance(This article originally appeared in Aviation Insurance & Risk Management, Summer 2005) where are your aircraft’s maintenance logs? Are they stored at your local FBO or aircraft maintenance shop? Where does your mechanic keep your logs when in his care? Are your logbooks insured? If insured, for what kind of loss? If lost, […]