Modifications

Next time youre droning along on a cross country on a hot day, feel around the edges of the bezels on your avionics faceplates. In most airplanes, even ones with avionics cooling fans, theyll be hot-not warm-to the touch.

But trust us, theyre probably a lot cooler in operation than they are merely baking in the hot sun on a summer day when the airplane is on the ramp with no cockpit cover or sun screens.

We were recently astonished to learn that interior cockpit temperatures approach 200 degrees on a bright Florida day and that cant be good for the avionics, not to mention the upholstery and all the sundry stuff stored in the average airplane.

Yet as cheap as covers and sun scre…

Thinking about converting your gravel-dinged and eroded two-blade prop to a sexy looking three-blade model? There’s probably a three-blader out there that will fit your airplane and, surprise, it may even be cheaper than a two-blade prop.

Fair warning, though. Under the harsh light of subjective analysis, the decision to swap a two-blade prop for one with three is probably a guy thing.

For all the crude remarks about women airplane-and car-owners making purchase decisions based on paint scheme, the three-blade upgrade seems to occur sans anything approaching an engineers cold, calculated analysis.

A Freudian would probably have a field day with the underlying psychology b…

[IMGCAP(1)]Aircraft owners are a restless lot, forever casting about for the one upgrade, gadget or gizmo that will render their airplanes truly perfect.

Leading the list of upgradeable rides is the venerable Cessna 182. Although more dowager than doxy, what the Skylane lacks in sex appeal is more than offset among its devotes by its comfort, useful load, ease of maintenance and all but complete lack of pilot-humbling quirk.

Skylanes tend to be the defensive linemen of light singles; large, powerful and relatively slow. Consequently, its not surprising that there’s something of a cottage industry aimed at souping up and cleaning up the Cessna 182. The typical Skylane is a poster…