Ownership

Ron, in past interviews, we’ve discussed using sunscreens and cabin covers to protect the cockpit from the damaging effects of the sun, and using insulated engine covers together with preheat systems to avoid cold starts. What other benefits do aircraft covers offer? The next most cost-effective purchase are covers that protect the wings and horizontal […]

How has your winter been, Ron? Winter flyers around the world have experience a little bit of everything. An unusual amount of freezing rain and ice that has extend much further north than usual. Ice fog even tornadoes and baseball size hail in the south central U.S. I find myself glued to the Weather Channel. […]

Februaryis insurance renewal time for me. I’ve been an airplane owner since 1974 when I realized adream and bought my beloved 1966 Mooney Super 21, N9324M. Since then I have owned threeother airplanes, including my current 1979 Aerostar 601P, N6069N. For the past 23 years,every February has meant calling my agent and getting quotes for […]

Quick Links Introduction Initial Disappointments Hardware Comparison Software Comparison GPS Receiver Performance Conclusions and Recommendations Change History Lowrance introduces 12-channel AirMap 300 priced at $799, and discontinues the original 5-channel AirMap. (19-Jan-98) Magellan drops the price of the SkyStar by $110 to $589. (03-Nov-97) Thisarticle has been a long time coming. Since Magellan announced their […]

Let me state right up front that I’ve been a big fan ofthe Lowrance AirMap since its introduction in 1996. I wouldn’t rate it as the besthandheld aviation GPS on the market…I’d have to award that distinction to the GarminGPSMAP-195. But the AirMap is a very close runner-up to the Garmin and costs a lot […]

The adventure begins Florida follies: VRB to TIX New England nav: BOS to MVY Rocky Mountain high: GJT to GUC California cruising: SJC to SNS Northwest territory: SEA to YKM Evaluation and critique How to buy AviatorPro 98 Anyonewho’s read much of my rantings knows that I’m a big fan of simulator training. Fact is, […]

Myintroduction to the high cost of replacement parts came shortly after I first bought mytwin Cessna in 1987. I hadn’t yet started doing my own maintenance at that time, and Iinnocently asked my A&P to check the deicing boots and find out why they weren’tinflating. A week later, I got the plane back with a […]

NBC’s two-hour made-for-TV movie Blackout Effect stars EricStoltz as a dedicated young NTSB investigator, and costars veteran character actor CharlesMartin Smith as an eccentric and emotional air traffic controller. The show starts out very promisingly with lots ofquick sequences intercut between airline cockpits and an ARTCC dubbed “MidwestCenter” located in Illinois. (Can you spell ZAU?) […]

It was a cool, not quitecold, day for my flight from Champaign, Illinois to Chicago’s Midway airport. Theperformance charts indicated that I would be airborne in about 2,200 feet at close togross weight. With the passenger load I was carrying, I had enough fuel to fly to MDW,then on to Milwaukee (the alternate) and then […]

Although nowadays I usually fly with my BoseANR headset, I still have the first aviation headset I ever bought: a venerable DavidClark H10-40 that I bought back in the 1970s, now covered with scratches earned duringmany years of faithful service in the cockpit. It has new gel ear seals, but has beenrelegated to back-up and […]