Ownership

At one time in this country, government problem-solving consisted of throwing money at whatever obstacle seemed to be impeding progress. Sometimes it even worked. Of late, the philosophy has shifted to cutting taxes, driving deficits and acute budgetary paralysis. I’m not sure where the FAA’s decision—apparently—to help fund installation of ADS-B systems fits, exactly. As […]

In their older years, my parents were cheapskates. When I visited them in their Southern Texas retirement community, they always were delighted to share their favorite places, those with senior discounts, dollar-breakfast specials and cheap all-you-can-eat buffets. The same proved true when buying unleaded: I thought it odd they would drive six miles round-trip to […]

If there was any surprise in Wednesday’s announcement about production delays for the Icon A5, it’s that the company was so forthright in admitting what many have suspected for months. There’s a reason Icon isn’t delivering and for a company that has been obsessive about its image and marketing with a close-to-the-vest press policy, it […]

Because of design, certification and insurance costs, the OEM industry is hobbled with a rather arcane system of pricing replacement parts. When it comes to interior plastic parts—like a window molding, hinge cover or a glove box overlay, for example—a couple of dollars’ worth of plastic becomes a $400 part simply because of its unique […]

Icon Aircraft has pushed back customer deliveries until at least 2017 and has announced a major revision of its controversial purchase agreement. In a conference call held with invited aviation media representatives, CEO Kirk Hawkins cited manufacturing difficulties as the reason for the delivery delays. “We have to slow down so we can go fast,” […]

Cirrus has flown the first production Vision SF50 jet. Cirrus spokesman Ben Kowalski told the Grand Forks Heraldthe aircraft flew May 5 and performed as expected. “It demonstrated that we have implemented out a repeatable process on our production line and are prepared to begin initial production of the Vision Jet,” Kowalski told the Herald. […]

To remain a general aviation participant in good standing—or hell, just a participant of any standing—requires a certain resilience, an almost alien capacity to slough off disaster and munch gleefully on catastrophe. Rolling with the punches comes to mind, but somehow just doesn’t do justice to the gloom that pervades the aviation economy. Now that […]

The Cessna 182 series is one of the most popular and prolific all-purpose flying machines in the general aviation fleet. They are dependable, straightforward, and easy to fly. They are traded frequently on the market, and lots of people are looking to buy one at any given time. While the huge run-up in the cost […]

Wrapping up a marathon 10 days of travel this week, I was happy to get my mitts on and actually fly a real airplane. Not a drone operated from some air-conditioned trailer a half a world away or something powered by batteries that lack capacity or, more likely, something that exists only in a PowerPoint […]

Regardless of whether your aircraft is metal, composite, or tube and fabric, quite a few homebuilts these days use composite fairings. Nowhere is this more true than the engine cowl—it’s just not an easy shape to fabricate out of other materials. Unfortunately, for tightly-cowled installations, heat from proximity to exhaust pipes (or a turbo) can […]