Ownership

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, […]

No aircraft is considered airworthy by the FAA until the weight of its paperwork exceeds its maximum certificated takeoff weight (or so goes the old joke). We in aviation are always complaining about the amount of paperwork that the FAA, in its infinite wisdom, makes us do. Any aircraft owner who has gone through the […]

I pulled my Cessna T310R out of the hangar, and performed the usual pre-flight walk-around. I climbed into the left seat, watched my two passengers take their seats and fasten their seat belts, and checked that the cabin door was properly secured. Pre-start checklist: flight controls free and correct, switches and dimmers off, circuit breakers […]

CS&A Aviation Insurance(This article originally appeared in Aviation Insurance & Risk Management, Summer 2005) Are you a professional pilot who provides paid pilot services as an independent contractor to an aircraft owner? If so, what kind of insurance protection is available to you? Many aircraft owners use contract pilots as primary flight crew members or […]