Ownership

NOTE: Air Chart Systems atlases, NOS IFR charts and plates, NOS Sectionals, WACs, Terminal Area Charts and other chart products may be purchased online. I‘ve got a confession to make. I’ve flown at least a hundred transcontinental trips during the past thirty years and, more often than not, I’ve flown them with outdated charts. There…I […]

Airplane appraisals are a dimea dozen, right? There are all kinds of methods of evaluating airplanes from appraisalsoftware you can purchase, to “blue books” that supposedly give you the latestprices, to the old throw-the-dart routine. Some of those systems are useful inestablishing a range of value when a buyer is trying to decide if an […]

Over the years, I have beenasked many questions by prospective aircraft buyers about various aspects of the purchaseprocess. Many of these questions reveal the questioner’s lack of knowledge about buyingaircraft, and demonstrate the need for a prospective buyer to learn as much as possibleabout the process before plunging ahead. This article is a collection of […]

Cessnahas always been a marketing-driven company, and one of the company’s signature marketingstrategies has been to offer more aircraft models than any of its competitors. Back in thedays when GA was predominantly propelled by piston powerplants, Cessna started with fourbasic models in the 1950s (140, 170, 180, 310) and exploded to some 30 different pistonmodels […]

I had been flying Beechcraft Barons for about eight years in connection with my business in New Jersey, but when I sold the company and took a job as CEO of a larger company in Florida, the Baron no longer made sense. The places I had to go were too far away and I had […]

Insurance can be one of the most expensive elements in the fixedcost of owning an aircraft. It can be, but it doesn’t always have to be. Before we go further into the cost issues, I should caution that the least expensiveisn’t always the best choice. Aircraft insurance is not heavily regulated, except in ageneral way. […]

Why do pilots pay more for life insurance? Why? Ever sit down and study an Insurance Mortality Table? Probably not. Well,unfortunately for pilots, the folks who set and approve insurance rates (they’re calledactuaries and underwriters) rarely pilot aircraft. If they did, they’d understand that pilots in general are pretty good risks. They’dunderstand that pilots as […]

Characteristics 8800Silver 8800Gold 9900 9900A 9900B Mounting style Panel Panel Remote Remote Remote Display Integral Integral 3 ATI 3 ATI 3 ATI Display type VF VF LED LED LED Upgradable To Gold 8800 to 9900 A/B To 9900 B Yes Top & bottom antenna Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Antenna type L-band L-band L-band L-band […]

Amid-air collision can, as they say, ruin your day. While we all know that we should spendlots of time and effort looking outside for other aircraft, the increasing computerizationof our cockpits – GPSs, FMSs, digital engine analyzers, and other bleeding-edge cockpitgadgetry – is demanding ever more of our time inside. A United Airlines check pilot […]

If you walk out across just about any aviation ramp, you’ll notice few noticeablechanges in the aircraft in the last decade or two. If you open a cowl or two, you alsonotice the powerplants haven’t changed much, either. But look at a few radio stacks andyou’ll see a dramatic progress. In the last couple of […]