Ownership

After you’ve decided on type, size, seating capacity, engine,airframe, mission, performance, and so forth, ad infinitum, you eventually get tothe two final considerations: How much will it cost to buy and how much will it cost tooperate? The first part of this question is beyond the scope of this article, but here’s a goodway to […]

How cold is cold? Oil pressure isn’t enough! Bearings need clearance… …And pistons do, too The world’s finest preheat Multipoint electric heaters Engine and prop covers Other electric heaters Leave it on all the time? Forced hot air Althoughpreheating is something most of us first learned about in private pilot ground school, itremains a subject […]

“Sayyour altitude?” No other three-word snippet of ATC phraseology strikes such fear into the heart of apilot. You know you’re in radar contact, that you’re squawking Mode C, that yourtransponder reply light is bright enough to read by, and that the controller knowsperfectly well what your altitude is. “Say your altitude?” is ATC rhetoric for”both […]

Inmy roles as a frequent contributor to AVweb’s maintenance section, and as amember of the technical staff of the Cessna PilotsAssociation, I spend a good deal of time helping other aircraft owners totroubleshoot and fix problems with their airplanes. From time to time, however, I have todeal with glitches on my own airplane. A good […]

Myrecently-completed annual inspection of my Cessna T310R included a considerable amount ofscheduled maintenance work, as well as several significant unscheduled items (i.e., nastysurprises). One of the scheduled maintenance items this year was 500-hour magnetomaintenance, which is a relatively significant item on a twin because there are four magsto do. Many owners aren’t aware (and an […]

This report summarizes what we know about nine different handheldaviation GPS receivers that are now available. In an attempt to compare competitivemodels, we’ve divided the field into three subgroups. Our summary and recommendationsappear at the end. Prices shown are manufacturers’ “Minimum Advertised Prices” which is theprice that most mailorder dealers advertise. Change History: GPS Without […]

The handheld GPS market has been eerily quiet lately.During 1996 and 1997, it seemed as if a new aviation handheld was being announced everyfew months, as manufacturers jockied for position to out-feature and under-price thecompetition. But Sun ‘n Fun 1998 saw only one new product announcement in thiscategory: the Lowrance AirMap 100. During the year […]

I‘ve had several people call oremail me lately with a “fresh” approach to buying a used aircraft. Because thegood ones are getting harder to find why not take an old dog and refurbish it into ayoung-looking, pristine aircraft? To those who have this “idea” it is just that.They have yet to look into the actual […]

Liz Im partial to Mooneys, I guess I need to admit that straight up. I own a 1966Mooney M20E, one of the short-bodied speedster models. My little bird “Mike”cruises along at a calm-wind 140-plus knots and drinks a mere 10 gallons of avgas perhour. I like Mike. I transitioned to my 200-hp, complex M20E “Super […]