Ownership

Ask aircraft owners about their experience with an annual inspection and you are likely to get many different opinions and scary tales of what was and wasn’t done. Unfortunately, there are shops and mechanics doing business haphazardly and that have little concern for customer service. I have been an IA mechanic and shop owner for […]

Whether you are upgrading the audio system in an older LSA or experimental or building a new project, PS Engineering and Garmin have non-certified audio panels equipped with advanced features better suited for smaller cabins. In this video, Kitplanes magazine contributor Larry Anglisano puts three of them on the bench for a look and listen. […]

Here’s a common scenario: You bring your airplane to the avionics shop for its 24-month IFR pitot and static system certification and the tech says you’ll be wheels up in a couple of hours. Thirty minutes later while you’re cooling your heels in the pilot lounge, the technician tracks you down with news you don’t […]

As 2015 draws to a close, it’s time to take a few reflective moments to consider the year just past, to wonder at the marvel of flight, to appreciate its sheer poetry and to give thanks for that rarified privilege we all reverently share. And also to attempt to make feeble but pointless amends for […]

No matter how much automation we fly behind, no matter how many air-data computers are installed and no matter how simple it is, it’s likely a pitot-static system—pretty much like the one Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic—is what generates airspeed and some other basic flight information aboard the aircraft we fly. These systems are relatively […]

A couple of blogs ago, we examined avionics for old guys, but what about avionics for old airplanes? As the fleet ages along with the pilots who own it, a not-that-old airplane these days is one built in the early 1980s. As an inveterate observer of panels, I always peer inside the windows of airplanes […]

The Cirrus SR20 wasn’t the first “plastic” airplane, but the composite Cirrus was far enough along the cutting edge to stir up the pilot community. Of course, some loudly asserted that no “real” pilot would want one of those things—it’s got a parachute, for crying out loud. Yet the Cirrus SR20 and its offspring the […]

At NBAA, GE had on display its H-series turboprop engines, meant to compete with Pratt & Whitney’s PT6. GE’s Matt Garas gave AVweb a tour of the new engines. view on YouTube

Hi, my name is Bill and I’m a toolaholic… Very few aircraft builders are not tool hounds. These are the people who walk through the local tool stores with a glazed look in their eyes. They are thankful when their spouse gives them a wrench for a present, even if they already have 12 identical […]

Sandel surprised the NBAA show with a complete new glass panel system for the King Air. AVweb spent some time with Sandel’s Gerry Block taking a tour of the new system. view on YouTube