Ownership

This will be no surprise to anyone who knows me: I love engines. Just dig ’em. Internal combustion, jet, compression-ignition, Rolls-Royce Trent, Briggs & Stratton, big or small — it really doesn’t matter. If it turns chemical energy into mechanical work, I’m hot to know more about it. Airframes are nice, and useful I suppose […]

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FAA regulations state clearly that the “pilot in command” (PIC) of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft. The PIC’s responsibility and authority is so absolute that in an in-flight emergency, the FAA authorizes the PIC to deviate from any rule or regulation to […]

To prevent a duplication of the Washington incident, the FAA has now banned aircraft with non-functioning transponders from the ADIZ. If the transponder goes on the fritz while in the ADIZ, the aircraft is supposed to depart via the most direct route. As AVweb has previously reported, the new rule raised the hackles of AOPA, […]

I‘ve probably talked to thousands of owners of piston-powered airplanes over the years. Every one is serious about safety, and I’ve never met one that wasn’t absolutely convinced that his aircraft was safe and well-maintained. “I carry my family and friends in this airplane, so I’d never cut corners on maintenance.” Nevertheless, the piston-powered GA […]

In my early days as an aircraft owner in the late 1960s and 1970s, taking my airplane in for its annual inspection was not much different from taking my car in for 10,000-mile service. I’d make an appointment with the shop, taxi the plane over to the maintenance hangar, hand over the keys and maintenance […]

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Cessna Owner and Pipers Magazines. Of all the hangar talk one encounters at airports, the subject of using automotive gasoline in airplane engines is among the most contentious. Some — particularly owners who have an autogas supplemental type certificate (STC) — will tell you that it’s perfectly safe, […]

This article concerns our industry’s activity over the past several months. “It’s The Economy.” Thanks to our politicians and the media, this overworked phrase has become somewhat annoying. Annoying as it is, it does seem to describe the current tone of the general aviation activity that my staff is seeing. As the economy improves, our […]

Ask any aircraft owner what the TBO is for the engine(s) on his aircraft and you’ll almost always get the correct answer without hesitation: “My engine has a 1,700-hour TBO.” But ask that owner to explain the significance of that TBO figure and you’ll get all sorts of answers, most of them flat wrong. Here […]

Recently I talked at length with an aircraft owner who had acquired a 1980 Cessna 340A just a few months ago. He found the aircraft through one of the best-known twin-Cessna brokers in the industry. The pressurized twin appeared to be in pristine condition, with excellent logs and mid-time engines (about 850 hours SMOH). Because […]