Commentary

Cirrus Comments
I liked your article on the SR22 in the June issue of Aviation Consumer. I thought you did a very fair piece and accurately addressed a lot of the issues, both pro and con. However, your analysis of the speed does not correlate we’ll with my experiences.

While I have gotten used to manufacturers overstating specs on speed, in my opinion, Cirrus has been fair on this one. In fact, I seem to consistently be within a knot of book claims, plus or minus, and use less fuel in the process. At 75 percent power, I have consistently seen TASs in the 178 to 182 knot range. Fuel flows were around 17 GPH.

The primary reason for this response is that you used 170…

Ice Detector Woes
I enjoyed your article on carb ice detectors. Id like to relate to you an incident that happened to my aircraft partner and I, where the carb temp indication system delayed our decision to use heat.

During an approach into Las Vegas in IMC with snow, we were slowly losing engine RPM and then altitude. The carb temp indicator was we’ll above the yellow caution range. Im an A&P and I had recently checked and confirmed the carb temp indicator for proper accuracy. Because we were convinced that we couldnt have carb ice due to the indicated temperature, we spent precious time looking for other reasons for the loss of power.

At 800 feet below our assigned…

Beeper Box Notes
Reference your pre-heater article in the March 2001 issue, its unclear to me why anyone would buy the RS Beeper Box when much less expensive options are available.

Any catalog of home automation products will have numerous gadgets that allow remote telephone control of AC-powered devices. So if you have a phone line in your hangar, youre set.

Even if you don’t, the monthly tab for basic phone service has got to be less than for a pager and no worries about pager dead spots or dead batteries.

Possibly the simplest solution is the X10 Telephone Responder (about $65) in conjunction with an X10 Appliance Module (about $14). Plug the Telephone Responder…

Lightweight Starters
Id like to comment on two articles in the January issue of The Aviation Consumer. First, the article on lightweight starters. I installed a pair of Sky-Tec starters in my Duke about four years ago. They work as advertised. Theyre light and spin the prop so fast I think I could taxi with them.

One of the starters, however, died after two years and had to be replaced. Regardless, I am still happy with them and would recommend them to anyone.

Second, your article on LASIK surgery. I had mine done 3 years ago and couldnt be happier. I had 20/20 vision when I started college but needed glasses by the time I graduated because I became nearsighted. …

Personal Jet Feedback
I find your Aviation Consumer always interesting and informative. I must share with you an observation concerning your recent article on the Eclipse and Safire projects.

Color me skeptical, but if you use the estimated investment figures from your article of $300 million and the 1000 aircraft delivery schedule over four to six years in the interview with Vern Raburn (thats four airplanes per week, average, over five years), the cost per aircraft of the interest (or return on capital)is 12 percent.

Thats pretty conservative, given the risk profile of the investment. This equates to a cost of $180,000 per aircraft. Thats nearly a quarter of t…

by Mike Busch

As a long-time fan of both Aviation Consumer and Greg Travis, I must tell you I am simply disappointed with Travis article The Oil Argument in the December issue.

In my view, its a one-sided treatment that preaches The Company Line of the Shell and Chevron marketing mouthpieces-who have a major stake in the outcome-while dismissing the collective wisdom from the field overhaul shops and owner associations.

For example, the article dwells on the TCM cylinder problems, which are completely unrelated to the choice of oil. It also dwells on the lubricity issue, which is largely irrelevant because our slow-turning loose-tolerance aircraft engines have such minimal…

Aviation Labs Is Tops
Regarding your article in the December issue on labs that perform oil analysis, I thought I’d pass this along. For several hundred hours I have been finding aluminum flakes in my oil filter and suction screen. Oil filter elements were sent to three of the labs mentioned in your article.

I even sent samples to Light Plane Maintenance, your sister publication. Two of the three labs and LPM diagnosed it as aluminum, probably from the piston pin plugs.

Both recommended flying the airplane another 25 hours, resampling, and borescoping the cylinders for telltale striping. The flakes came and went, reappeared and disappeared.

I did this for 200 hours…

Yo Cessna Yourself
Heres my view on your Yo, Cessna commentary in the May issue of Aviation Consumer: The main reason Cessna wont build the WhizBang you propose is that there is no reason to. Why take a chance on something really new, incurring the expense, the liability, the logistics, etc?

They just don’t need to. Cessna learned we’ll from the Cardinal. There is no need for the WhizBang. Theyre selling bunches of 172s. There is minimal development cost in the redo of the old standby. The insurance liability is a known factor with which the insurers are comfortable. Production should be most efficient by now. The only real expense is the new production facility.

A…

AOPA Replies on Eagle Insurance
Your June Keep Me Covered article on American Eagle Insurance left out a key detail that negates its conclusion. And it doesnt fully acknowledge AOPAs aggressive efforts to protect both our insureds and all American Eagle policyholders, including customers of independent brokers nationwide.

Author Jon Doolittle, owner of insurance broker Sutton James, failed to say that in states where Assumption of Loss Endorsements (ALEs) are not permitted, insureds enjoyedequivalent protection under a contract between Eagle and Zurich Re-insurance Corporation (ZRC).

Rather than hang on and hope for the best, AOPA worked proactively for…

Engine Monitors
Great article on engine monitors in the May issue. I decided to get a JPI EDM-700 with fuel flow based on my own limited research. I have a few quibbles with the product and your article, but basically think its the best available for the price on todays market. I have it mounted in the hole occupied by my old EGT location-which is now a nice paperweight-in my 1977 Skylane with an O-470U.

The reset button is inaccessible from the front and requires removal of the instrument or part of the panel for setting certain one-time-only parameters-alarm limits, carbureted or fuel injected, total fuel capacity, etc.

I don’t like the automatic mode, especially th…

Cheap Shade
While it may give some a feeling of satisfaction to pay $150 to $300 per set for sun shields, my solution has been more economical and very effective.

For the windshield on my Cessna 182, I use two reflective-surfaced cloth shields (automotive windshield screens), the type with the wire ring around the periphery. These can be easily folded into a circle about a foot across and stuffed into the seat-back pocket.

I install them with the bottom edge against the glareshield, the top edge against the aircraft sun visors, behind the windshield. The sides fit against the sideposts. I have noticed no adverse effects on the windshield in 12 years of use.

I alway…

FADEC Fantasies
I am an engineer who designs things with microprocessors and I have some strong thoughts about what, if anything, we should do to improve the performance of aircraft engines.

First of all, trying a new electronic contraption to make an engine work better is fine, but the back-up should be magnetos. In other words, replace the left mag with whatever kind of fancy thing you think might be better and hooray if it can save us some fuel. But leave the engine with something we know works; a right mag.

Think about this a little. In the Piper Tomahawk debacle, we had an unknown phenomena killing magnetos. If we make engines with a new ignition system, we don’t wan…