It may have been that moment-after our feet had shot upward from the icy ramp while we were trying to pull the Cheetah out of the hangar and we lay there, watching the nosewheel roll toward our nether regions-that we came to like aircraft tugs. We think that an easily maneuverable tug that quickly hooks onto an airplane and can move it without strain reduces the risk not only of injury to the pilot but hangar rash to the airplane.
As the general aviation market slid downhill in the final 15 years of the last century, propeller manufacturers Hartzell (www.hartzellprop.com) and McCauley (www.mccauley.txtav.com) were faced with vanishing demand. Their response was to break away from their historic reliance on aircraft manufacturers and invent new products that…
At a time when nearly every pilot struts around with a tablet computer or smartphone running their favorite navigation app, we were surprised to see that pilot supplier giant ASA (Aviation Supplies and Academics) redesigned its CX-series flight computer.
In previous Aviation Consumer evaluations, Icoms A22 portable comm transceiver got high marks for durability, reliability and ease of use. After nearly a decade of use and abuse, a vintage A22 soldiers on in our own flight bag. We like the Icom portables in part because a radio used for emergency backup should be easy to use in a pinch. Plus, it must have a simple feature set when used as a primary radio in lesser equipped aircraft.
The logical alternative to circumaural (over the ear) and supra-aural (on top of the ear) headsets is an in-ear design. These are basically ear buds attached to a thin head frame that also accommodates a traditional microphone. Their purpose is obvious and simple, which is to allow more freedom and comfort than you might experience wearing a traditional headset.
It wasnt long ago that subscription-based satellite broadcast weather systems lost traction in a market flooded with ADS-B weather receivers. WSI is canceling its InFlight data service at the end of this year and Avidyne discontinued the MLB700 Sirius weather receiver. This leaves Garmin as the dominant supplier of SiriusXM (SXM) weather receivers.
Garmin is trying to get as much mileage as it can from its watches by trickling models down into the aviation division and the D2 Charlie is a derivative of the successful Fenix 5 multisport watch series. The Charlie improves features we always thought could be better in the old pilot watch, which include more useful map graphics. There’s still no touchscreen.
Now that cockpit GoPro cameras are as common as iPads, it’s only a matter of time before someone posts the ultimate deer-in-headlights moment: the shock and terror of a pilot just commencing an inadvertent gear-up landing, otherwise known as the $60K slide. It might be just as interesting if the camera kept running through the aftermath-the runway recovery, the call to the insurance agent and, ultimately, what to do if this happens to you.
For a moment, lets forget that the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet is arguably the most technically advanced personal light aircraft weve ever flown. Or that Cirrus likely will achieve its goal of making it a safe step-up jet for qualified SR22 piston pilots. Moreover, its cabin and cockpit dwelling is perhaps the most satisfying weve experienced. But in our view, the most impressive thing about the Part 23-certified SF50 is that it even exists to talk about.
Amongst the bumper crop of avionics at AirVenture was the surprise announcement from Dynon that its heretofore experimental-only Skyview HDX glass suite will be available for certified aircraft. Dynon is launching an entire product line called Dynon Certified to support the equipment.
While all eyes were on TruTrak and Trio this past year (both were knee-deep in earning STCs for experimental autopilots), Garmin was quietly working on its own retrofit autopilot. Actually, the company already had two: the one thats integrated within the G3X experimental avionics suite, plus the impressive GFC700 thats built into the G1000 and G3000 integrated avionics.
I read Larry Anglisanos First Word commentary about the shrinking ANR headset market in the August 2017 Aviation Consumer and was sur- prised that the $895 David Clark DC One-X, launched in March 2016, was not mentioned among the others in the premium headset category. In developing this headset, it was cer- tainly our intention to target the premium ANR headset market and the success of this product, as we’ll as the response from the pilot community, con rms that we hit the mark.
