Engines

If your alternator gives out, having a backup reduces the stress level. However, right now they’re only available for retrofit on big-bore singles.

With the current engine market experiencing big price increases and even bigger backorders, there’s a real need for more choices with more modern tech.

Using the same block as the DHK180, DeltaHawk is working on two follow-on engines with more max continuous power.

Multi-engine airplanes offer more speed, more payload, more sophistication, and to many, a perceived increase in safety. Face it: In a single, if you lose an engine your options are limited to a forced landing. In a piston twin, that second engine typically won’t give you much (or any) climb and might not even be […]

Before even talking with your shop about a traffic system retrofit (including ADS-B) you need to wrap your head around the various technologies and their limitations. Based on the correspondence we get and in talking with other pilots, traffic systems are more common now than ever (mainly because of portable ADS-B), but not everyone understands precisely how their setup works. By clearing up the confusion, you can better interpret the data and even help ATC when they issue traffic advisories. For starters, correctly state the system you’re using to avoid the confusion.

The Stratus is still out there, but now in its third generation and with open architecture so it works with other apps. ForeFlight’s new product is the $499 Sentry, a diminutive box that combines a dual-band ADS-B receiver with a carbon monoxide detector, plus AHRS. uAvionix – they’re the guys everyone is waiting on to deliver the wingtip- and tail-mounted ADS-B Out units-designed and builds the Sentry for ForeFlight. Once again, it works only with that app. In concert with its push to establish a market for mid priced panel-mount avionics, Dynon showed up at AirVenture 2018 with the DRX, which clearly aims to anchor the bargain end of the price spectrum. No frills on this one; just the dual-band receiver and a little case for $349 discounted, $395 list.

Since these are light-limiting tinted shades, you don’t want to be flying with the cockpit shades in at night. But in the rear cabin, we don’t see any real reason to remove the shades. In our estimation, they can replace foil sunshades that might be removed and reinstalled every time you fly and park. For some aircraft, that’s a time-consuming chore. And like traditional foil shields, the Jet Shades can protect the interior from cracking and discoloration while parked in the sun. Duggan said the Sun Shades are the only aircraft-purposed shades for cockpit use in flight.

Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of the Evektor Sportstar. We had (past tense) several of them here in southern Indiana, and I administered a lot of checkrides in the Sportstar. I believe that the Sportstar is a major player in the LSA community, with a couple hundred of them flying in the U.S. At one point I think they were the third most numerous LSA, behind Flight Design and Legend. That would put them in the middle of the pack of the ones you considered. And I know the Sportstar had its share of accidents. Why did you omit the Evektor from your accident statistics?

You know, Ive been trying to keep my mind open to Jet-A-burning diesels finding their way in the U.S. GA market, but so far its been easy to shrug off the notion that the typical engine buyer has a real need for one. Most recently Textron canceled production of its diesel-powered Turbo Skyhawk JT-A, not a year since earning both FAA and EASA certification. The 155-HP Continental CD-155 turbodiesel powerplant is still offered to buyers directly through Continental as an STCd installation for existing Skyhawks, but whether Textron had buyers or not for the JT-A Skyhawk, its still a tone-setting setback. Officially, Textron said the decision will help streamline its production process. Its not tough to read between the lines.

The fatal accidents we have had fall into two categories: typical accidents and rather unusual and unexplained ones. I have participated in almost every one of these NTSB investigations, gaining 30 years of experience with these airplanes, including a time when the company was manufacturing kits. The time period between 2014 and 2017 was rough for Flight Design and 2016 in particular was a witching hour for the whole S-LSA industry, with almost three times the statistical average of the years before and after. As was said, the fleet numbers, particularly by type, are so small that there is a lot of uncertainly in the ability to predict much from the raw data.

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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.