[IMGCAP(1)]If the Zen of abstract needles and steam-driven gyros is your idea of a good time, the emerging GA cockpit may soon be a disappointment. The flight-deck-as-video-game concept that NASA has been flogging for the past decade seems about to come true.

At this years EAA AirVenture bash in Oshkosh, we saw the first workable version of a highway-in-the-sky virtual reality 3D display. Never mind that some ankle biter broke the thing with a series of impromptu aileron rolls and a software glitch or two hobbled the systems higher features, we were impressed.

Lots of Color
This system-called SmartDeck-is no breadboard college engineering project. No lesser than BFGoodric…

[IMGCAP(1)]Remember the great radon gas scare of the 1980s? No one had ever heard of the stuff and seemingly, overnight, you could buy a radon gas testing kit at the corner 7-11, along with a six-pack and a gallon of milk. Just as quickly, the panic over radon faded.

Worries about carbon monoxide (CO) have followed a similar path. Not to suggest that the household CO threat should be understated. Carbon monoxide poisoning is said to be the leading cause of accidental poisoning in the U.S., with some 1500 deaths annually. Its deadly serious.

The inevitable aviation connection is that aircraft heaters rely on scavenged exhaust heat and thus CO can get into the cockpit. As noted in the…

[IMGCAP(1)]Since the invention of the wing leveler, most of the roll control done by general aviation autopilots was either wings level for heading hold or heading command. We didnt use the VOR or NAV modes very much.

The reason is simple. They didnt work very well. VOR signals arent straight but scallop and snake slightly through the ether. Even the best VOR receivers werent all that accurate, although the newer digital models may be. The result was that when needle tracking, the airplane would occasionally dip a wing if not roll into an impressive automatic Dutch roll. After we discovered with loran, if the avionics shop connected the CDI to the box, most pilots still didnt use na…

[IMGCAP(1)]

Although long since outclassed by generations of faster, sleeker airplanes, nothing quite symbolizes general aviation like a yellow Piper Cub.

To this day, the general public often thinks of all small airplanes as Piper Cubs, despite the fact that these airplanes are, in reality, a relative rarity at many big city airports. And if they are there, theyre likely hangared and kept pristine by owners who consider their J-3 a flying pride and joy.

The venerable Cub was the first airplane to bring general aviation to the masses and it continues to enjoy somewhat of a revival, as new pilots brought up on the mundane handling of nosewheel trainers discover the pure fun of stick…

[IMGCAP(1)]A scene from real-life at Oshkosh: Midday on a breezy Wednesday afternoon, the cavernous Raytheon/Beechcraft tent is deserted, with not so much as a straw hat or logod golf shirt in sight. No tire kickers, either.

From the looks of it, everyone is gawking at the mock-up of the new Eclipse personal jet, in a pavilion hard by Raytheons lot. A cynical journalist cant resist drawing this to the attention of a Raytheon PR person. Youll have to excuse us, says the flack, Were out building and delivering airplanes.

And so the line is drawn between the Jurassic has beens of the piston era and the would-be Walter Beeches of the new millennium, who propose to make 300-knot…

Tachs, PC Sims
Some notes on articles in past issues: With reference to your piece on electronic tachs in the September, 1999 issue, most owners depend on the tachometer hour meter to determine when ADs, TBO inspections and so on are due.

The Horizon tach records hours at a constant rate beginning when the engine reaches 800 RPM, thus it essentially accumulates time like a Hobbs meter. As we all know from our airplane rental experiences, the Hobbs meter accumulates time more rapidly than the tachometer hour meter, often significantly so. Thats not good for the pocketbook because the faster running clock makes all of those pesky maintenance items come due earlier and more…

[IMGCAP(1)]How are these guys gonna do this? Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn has more than 5000 hours of flight time and has owned 30 aircraft. He joined Microsoft shortly after its start-up and has been a senior exec at both Symantec and Lotus Development. We recently interviewed Raburn seeking more detail on Eclipses plans.

Youve been quoted as saying for the past several decades, the managers in the GA industry have been in zombie mode, with no innovation and no risk taken. But what about recent products such as the Lancair Columbia and the Cirrus SR20?

The industry has been in survival mode, with the exception of avionics. Its only because of companies like Garmin and…

Mo vs. Bo
I enjoyed your article on the Mooney versus the Bonanza and which is better. I owned an interest in a new 1998 A-36 and it truly was a great airplane to fly. However, if youre looking at the market segment known as HPSE, I think you need to look at the Commander 114B. With the exception of cruise speed, I don’t think its a contest.

We (myself and two partners) just picked up our 1992 114B (TT-820 hours) in early November and are elated with the aircraft. I had about 90 hours in the Bonanza and I wouldnt trade it for the Commander for even money.

There are several advantages: Pilot door, cockpit roominess, trailing link landing gear, greater useful load and…

[IMGCAP(1)]Worrying about how density altitude saps aircraft performance is a little like your mother reminding you to take your galoshes to school. Most of the time, it didnt matter but when you needed the boots, you really needed them.

Our guess is that most flat lander pilots don’t have to worry much about density altitude computations, either. Even in the heat and humidity of high summer, most of us operate off long enough runways or at light enough weights for denalt not to be a serious issue.

At higher weights or at mountain airports, the sanguine attitude wont wash. Every year, there are a handful of wrecks in which pilots ignore the effect of density altitude and assume the…

[IMGCAP(1)]Shopping the market for an engine overhaul is often an act of faith. Short of looking over the mechanics shoulder when the engine is assembled, an owner relies largely on the reputation of the shop doing the work.

It doesnt happen often, but shops occasionally foul-up due to honest oversights, substandard parts quality or, occasionally, gross lack of basic expertise.

An example of the latter recently surfaced in an F-model Mooney being serviced at contributor Coy Jacobs shop in Florida. The airplane had fresh major overhaul done by Phoenix Aviation, a Missouri shop no longer doing business.

With only 29 hours on the overhaul, the Lycoming IO-360 showed excessive oil…

[IMGCAP(1)]

With flight service stations as scarce as hens teeth and a computer on nearly every pilots desk, delivery of pre-flight weather information has been revolutionized over the past five years.

There’s lots of free online information out there, but there’s also a burgeoning industry in subscription weather service sites that purport to provide more and better data than you can otherwise get.

Are they worth it? Or is this just another rat-hole down which you can pour money better squirreled away for an overhaul reserve? We evaluated six pay-for-use pilot weather sites and our conclusion is that none of them are must-haves.

The Lay of the Land
Most of the p…

[IMGCAP(1)]

In the world of GPS equipage, weve noticed an interesting trend lately. For want of a better term, we’ll call it the have and have-not syndrome.

The haves are buying up Garmin GNS 430s as fast as Garmin can make them while the have-nots are eyeing all the hand-me-down GPS boxes many of these owners are dumping to accommodate new gear.

Given the volume Garmin is enjoying with GNS 430, this is a somewhat unprecedented development in the recent history of avionics. Some of these GPS navigators were installed less than two years ago and although their owners consider them obsolete, the fact is, these units are serviceable, if somewhat poor in features compared to the newer…