Ownership

Garmin continues to expand its line of avionics for experimental and light sport aircraft with the introduction of two new products this week, the G5 gyro and a pair of low-cost audio panels. Both products are aimed at the experimental and LSA segments. The G5 isa 3 1/8-inch self-contained electronic gyro for use as a […]

As part of AVweb’s series on aviation innovators, we spoke with Craig Barnett, who created the company, Scheme Designers. For nearly 20 years, Craig and Scheme Designers, have been creating unique paint schemes (and, more recently, vinyl designs) for aircraft. There are now more than 11,500 airplanes flying throughout the world with paint and vinyl […]

An experienced bush pilot who spent years involved in missionary work thought he was retired from flying – until this week, when AOPA surprised him with a newly restored Cessna 152, the 2015 You Can Fly Sweepstakes prize. The winner is Eric Peterson, who was a pilot and then an airport manager for the nonprofit […]

As the inevitable autonomy of everything looms just ahead, rock-star entrepreneur Elon Musk had this to say at a recent development conference: “You can’t have a person driving a two-ton death machine. It’s too dangerous.” And that’s to say the driverless car visionaries don’t just want to offer you an autonomous vehicle, they’ll insist on […]

The Experimental Aircraft Association’s Kermit Weeks Hangar is just down the road from the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. While the museum is the public face of EAA, the Weeks Hangar is where the action is. In the most basic sense, it’s a maintenance and restoration facility. But that’s a bit like calling the […]

The FAA has determined that Huntington Beach, California-based avionics manufacturer Ameri-King Corporation has manufactured, sold or distributed parts and articles for installation on FAA type-certificated aircraft that did not conform to an approved design, but were otherwise represented as FAA-approved. As a result, the agency has issued an emergency cease and desist order to Ameri-King, […]

If there’s a great untapped resource in general aviation—other than unsold airplanes—it must be empty seats. Four-place airplanes rarely fly with more than two people and if we had data on it, I suspect most piston aircraft flights have one body aboard. And once this autonomy thing comes together, we can dispense with him/her and […]

In Monday’s AVweb Flash, we ran an article from the March 2014 issue of Light Plane Maintenance entitled “The Dangers of Jump-Starting.” The article discussed an accident that occurred where the pilot of a Diamond DA-42 with a flat battery jump-started both engines—contrary to the POH. The pilot’s actions started an accident chain that culminated […]

Hartzell’s popular five-blade carbon-fiber composite propeller now is available for Piper’s Meridian and M500 single-engine pressurized turboprops, the companies announced this week. “Hartzell’s new Meridian composite prop boosts climb rate while decreasing noise,” said Hartzell President Joe Brown. The blades are certified for unlimited life and are 5 to 10 times stronger than wood core […]

Now that BendixKing’s KSN770 retrofit navigator is certified and shipping, it’s a worthy alternative to models from Garmin and Avidyne — while priced thousands less. But many buyers are unfamiliar with the KSN770’s multi-function capabilities, its feature set, and its flight-planning capabilities. Aviation Consumer magazine editor Larry Anglisano put the KSN770 — and the company’s […]