Commentary

Air Sickess Retorts
I am an AME, family physician and IFR-rated pilot. My wife suffers with severe motion sickness. It was rendering my airplane useless ; she would get sick even in light chop.

Then I read about the Relief Band in Aviation Consumers first report on the subject some years ago. After reviewing the companys research, I ordered a Relief Band. To put it bluntly, it was amazing. On the first flight that my wife used it, we ran into moderate turbulence such that my usually resilient children began to feel sick. My wife was fine.

In the three to four years since she started using it, she has not once gotten sick. She has used it on the ground also, inclu…

Three-Blade Props
Your article about three-blade props caught my eye right off. I have owned three Cessna 180s and have about 2500 hours in them. On the 1974 model I currently own (picture enclosed), I have recently done certain modifications including a three-blade prop that increased the speed in a significant way.

First, it has been my experience that most Cessna 180s are good for about 150 MPH at cruise and it doesnt make much difference up to about 7000 feet. Above that altitude, they lose speed and show reduced indicated air speed.

Indicated air speed on a standard 180 will be in the low 140 MPH. Above 6000 feet, this will fall to about 135 MPH at 9000 feet. You c…

Simpler GPS
I enjoyed your article on simpler GPS in the January, 1998 issue. Standardization of the design and operation of these devices is desired if for no other reason than for safety.

Many pilots fly more than one aircraft with navigation equipment manufactured by various companies and across various model ranges. If the pilot inadvertently uses the wrong sequences or pushes the wrong button or becomes transfixed by what the unit is displaying, his attention is diverted for too long a period and you have a 100 MPH-plus guided missile.

ARINC would be the ideal organization to create a specification or standard agreed to by the manufacturers and the FAA. ARINC is sub…

I read Bill Kellys Duct Dreams in the May 1997 issue of Aviation Consumer with interest and sympathy. His disappointment in the performance of the Auriga Phoenix is similar to many tales of dashed ducted-fan expectations I have heard over time.

I think that much of that disappointment is based on an imperfect understanding of ducted-fan design. So, the question is whether a ducted-fan aircraft could be competitive with a conventional design?

While I am not familiar with the Auriga design, I have had the good fortune to be associated with Rhein-Flugzeugbau, GMBH (RFB) in Germany during the development of the Fanstar ducted-fan program during the 1980s.

I was chairman and…

Its In the Genes
Regarding the Great GA Sell Job in your December issue, I offer my opinions on propagating public interest in flying.

I think that the desire to fly is a genetic thing. My Grandfather and my Dad were pilots. Im a pilot and my kids, who beg to go flying with me, will certainly be pilots, too.

Most of my buddies who fly had a parent who was a pilot. Most of my buddies with kids have kids that love airplanes and therefore these kids are likely to be pilots, too. I would bet that 80 percent of all pilots are related to another pilot. In support of my theory, how many of us pilots have said flying is in my blood.

Given the difficulties and mixed results…

In her article on The Great GA Sell Job in your November issue, Joan Perkins did a great job. Her report brings to mind our own experience with Sunrise Aviation in Tucson, Arizona more than 10 years ago, which underscores her experience exactly.

Sunrise Aviation was started by Two wonderful and talented flight instructors who were long on training skills but short on business experience. My wife, Jacqui and I became acquainted with them over the leaseback of our first airplane.

The first time the instructors approached us about investing in the flight school, we declined. The business got worse and the lease was in renegotiation when they approached us the second time. We a…

Engine
Crystal Ball
I have a suggestion for a future topic and a question. Actually, several questions. How about some more coverage on diesel engines and how all this relates to the continuing availability of 100LL.

My question relates to that topic: Should we, as aircraft owners, be planning for the eventual transition to diesel engines? For an aircraft owner facing engine replacement one, three and five years from now, what is your best informed guess on what we should plan for?

Should an owner stretch out his remaining engine time to position himself for one of the new engine designs? If so, which ones? Or should he simply go for the conventional engine replacem…

Autopilot Feedback
As the owner of a 1980 Beechcraft V-35B equipped with an S-Tec 60-2 autopilot, I was interested in your July issue because you featured both my airplane and autopilot.

Most writers fail to realize the most important advantage of the rate-based autopilot: The added margin of safety. Attitude-based systems (Century and Bendix/King) fail when the attitude gyro fails due to vacuum pump or mechanical failure.

A fully-coupled S-TEC autopilot will fly the en route leg, descent, and ILS with a failed artificial horizon. In your features we can live without comment, you stated that altitude pre-select tops the list-no argument, when youre talking the clim…

Pathetic Indeed
Your article in the June Aviation Consumer on retractable step-ups was very interesting and informative. However, I must take issue with Paul Berges description of the Rockwell 112 Commander performance as pathetic.

Most 112 owners report speeds in the 128 to 133 knot cruise range at 10 to 12 GPH, with the same cabin and two doors that the Sierra has. But the big plus that the Commander has going for it is the STCd Garrett turbonormalizer available from RCM Normalizing in Big Piney, Wyoming. This clean installation results in cruise speeds of 150 to 164 knots, depending on altitude, and an outstanding climb rate.

The turbo-installed for about $17,000-d…

Good Money After Bad
Larry Anglisanos article on avionics had some good information but I have a question: My Viking has a Collins Microline VHF251/VIR351 as the number 1, which has the ILS. Number 2 is an Apollo GX60. More about that later.

He mentioned in his article that the Collins gear should have a high mod status before paying for expensive repairs. How does one determine the mod status of the Collins Microline? Can the 720 comm be converted to 760 channels?

About the Apollo GX60. I find this unit to be not very user friendly. Previously, I used a KLN 88, IFR-approved, with little or no problem. The GX60 is just not as intuitive or logical. Ill eventually get…

JeppView Views
With regard to your article about plates from Jeppesen on CD-ROM, I strongly prefer Jeppesen over NOS approach charts. But I hate doing the updates every two weeks, especially when I never use 80 percent of the approach plates in the subscription.

So with JeppView, I have found a good solution that works for me: At home, I print only the charts that I need on Jeppesens pre-punched paper. Contrary to the article, I have found them easy and fast to print with my ink-jet printer.

I also subscribe to the NOS approach plates. I just toss the appropriate ones into my briefcase for use in an emergency. For most of my trips, everything I need fits into one Jeppe…

Avidynes View
As one of the featured vendors, we at Avidyne read with great interest Gary Picous article in the October issue (Radical or retro: The Avionics Crystal Ball Reveals No Easy Answers). Were glad that Picou chose to feature Avidyne as the leader in providing what he identified as the more innovative, leading-edge approach to flight situation display technology.

While we agree with many of the points he makes, we have to disagree with three statements about our technology and our approach: Picou states that developing a certifiable installation will probably be easier for a GNS 430 than for an Avidyne system.

Not so. Both companies provide a very simila…