Ownership

If a new airplane is a must, small-aircraft fractional ownership systems, like those from OurPLANE and AirShares, deserve a look. Depending on your flying habits, it could be cheaper in the long run. But as the editors of Aviation Consumer recently explained, put a sharp pencil on the numbers. This article appears in the June […]

Perhaps there can be some good to come out of the nearly hysterical news reports on high-profile fatalities in 2001, and that is to become totally aware of all the things you can do to be safer from a maintenance, training, and an optional-equipment perspective. The concepts of safe, legal, and smart also apply here, […]

Much has been written about the frailties of the vacuum pumps that power our crucial flight control instruments. Most recently, AVweb published the first article in this series (“How Can I Fail Thee? Let Me Count the Ways“), which took a close look at some of the weak links in vacuum systems and components installed […]

“Cheap” and “aircraft ownership” are mutually exclusive terms, it seems. If you own an airplane, you’re resigned to the fact that the privilege will cost you a handsome sum, perhaps much of your disposable income. Yet if flying isn’t the center point of your life but you still want to own an airplane, there are […]

Think you’ve got everything you need for that Caribbean trip? Looked up that insurance policy, just to make sure? Be careful — your insurer’s definition of “the Caribbean” may not include the particular island to which you’re flying. Tom Chappel of CS&A Aviation Insurance discusses the variety of ways insurers define their coverage area. In […]

Seems like everybody wants to strap a larger engine onto a successful aircraft design and call it “improved.” But when Cirrus Design was ready to develop a step-up model after its very successful SR20, they knew they wanted to do more than just add some horsepower. AVweb’s Dave Higdon shows that, while you might mistake […]

Seats seven, and bring all the luggage you want in the big compartment on top. There’s even a baggage loading and unloading arm for the lazy among you. Fuel burn? Block to block fuel burn is about the same as an A36 … an amazing MPG for such a big, multi-engine aircraft. If you can […]

PERFORMANCE Takeoff distance, ground roll: 0 ft Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle: 0 ft Maximum demonstrated crosswind component: 15 kt Rate of climb (typical ascent profile at 130,000 ft): 132,000 fpm Orbit Altitude: 185 to 643 kilometers (115 to 400 statute miles) Orbit Velocity: 27,875 kph (17,321 mph) Lift-to-drag (glide) ratio — Hypersonic: 1.05 Subsonic: […]

Also see Mike Busch’s previous reviews of LightSPEED’s QFR Solo passive headset and LightSPEED’s top-of-the-line 25XL headset. When I reviewed LightSPEED’s new $150 QFR Solo passive headset in October 2000, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to trying out the soon-to-be-released ANR-enhanced version, the QFR Cross Country, the first under-$300 aviation headset to […]

What’s in a name? Or a label? When it comes toaircraft engines, a simple label — or, more properly, a logbook notation — cancarry an impressive cache that, in reality, may not mean what you think. A casein point is the value a buyer or owner puts on a “zero-time” engine asopposed to a freshly […]