Ownership

First Pioneers Tapped For Ultralight Hall of Fame Twenty-four EAA conventions back, a flyer of slight stature stepped off theOshkosh grass and into the air – before his Easy Riser tumbled to the groundbefore tens of thousands of eyes. But three years later, John Moody’s minormishap in his McCullough 101 chain-saw-engine-powered flyer was hardlyremembered compared […]

There are many waysto do a prepurchase inspection on used aircraft, and whether the method you choose isright for you depends on the outcome. There are those who say that nothing short of afull-blown annual inspection is the way to go, while others do little more than a cursoryexam. Cursory exam or full-blown annual? Which […]

At the insurance agency where I work, we talk with hundreds offellow pilots every week about aviation and insurance. I am amazed at the number of pilotsthat do not know whether or not their life insurance covers them if they die in a generalaviation accident. Do you? For example, many employers provide group term life […]

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 […]