SMART BATTERIES I read the article on lithium batteries in May 2020 issue of Aviation Consumer, and certainly agree that the EarthX ETX-900 TSO—with the potential for a 22-pound weight savings versus a Gill G3—is a good thing. However, I was looking at the company’s webpage and noticed that the EarthX battery is only 15.6 […]
CARDINAL RG ENGINE MOD How come you guys left out the Lycoming IO-390 STC performance mod in the March 2020 Aviation Consumer Used Aircraft Guide for the Cessna Cardinal 177RG? Please publish as us aviation performance nerds would like to know what that engine does for climb and cruise performance in this airplane. Love the […]
WHICH ADS-B TRANSPONDER? The article in the February 2020 issue of Aviation Consumer on budget transponders was interesting, and I’m wondering if I can get some advice for an upgrade. I operate a Cessna 140 strictly VFR and have to replace my old King transponder. The airplane has no ADS-B equipment, however, and I would […]
MORE ON THE BONANZA Nice report on the used A36 Bonanza in the February 2020 Aviation Consumer Used Aircraft Guide. Everything you said I thought was spot on. I have a few additional comments from our ownership experiences since the last update. We recently sold our A36 for one reason—space. Our family simply outgrew the […]
IS VHF NAV DEAD? I have some thoughts on Frank Bowlin’s interesting article, “Is VHF Nav Dead,” in the October 2019 Aviation Consumer. I’m not supporting whether or not to have none, one or two ground-based nav systems (VOR receivers), but if the choice is one VHF nav receiver, there could be some challenges. A […]
WHICH GPS NAVIGATOR? Your IFR GPS roundup article in the September 2019 Aviation Consumer proved incredibly resourceful as I shopped for a system to go in my Mooney. I agree with your assessment that for many of us it’s worth the savings to go without ground-based VHF nav capability, including ILS. I ended up with […]
I would guess that Im not the only reader who is not in the aviation business. My plane is an avocation, one that I love, but that often must take a back seat to work, family, travel and other commitments. Here in Southwest Florida, it often seems that great flying weather occurs on non-flying days, and days that Ive scheduled to get up in the air have clouds and thunderstorms building by 10 a.m. The end result is that, while I try to fly at least weekly, there are multiple occasions each year where the aircraft sits idle for at least 30 days.
As you might surmise, there is a lot of opinion out there on that subject. You seem to be implying in your article that VGs would be a preferred choice over a STOL kit, but you didn’t actually say that. From your experience, if you were in my shoes, and money wasn’t the single most important consideration, how would you proceed and why? You would certainly make my day if you can answer this question.
But there are more BendixKing products, including the AeroCruze autopilot and the AeroVue Touch retrofit flight display, that we’re waiting for. We reached out to BendixKing with an update and per its request submitted a list of questions pertaining to product and certification status. At press time, we were told by a BendixKing spokesperson that its communication team is spread thin and finding the right spokespeople to answer our product questions was posing a challenge. It said it would reach out to Aviation Consumer when it can offer product updates.
And, the beautiful picture of the right nacelle that you have in the article is from my 700P. My wife took that picture looking down at the Golden Triangle in Pittsburgh. I may have sent you that picture in the past while commenting on previous Aerostar articles. I have also used that picture maybe hundreds of times in presentations. I had just had N700WZ painted and new Kevlar inlet ducts made because 100 percent of the originals cracked.
When I landed, I sent an email to Avidyne’s technical support wondering how I would get home if my second IFD navigator had a similar issue on my trip, and how soon I could have it replaced once I did get home. I got an email back from Avidyne asking what airport in Florida I would be using to clear customs on my return. When I told them I would be using Treasure Coast Airport in Fort Pierce, Florida, they told me a replacement IFD550 would be waiting for me, along with an installer to put it in.
A clean-sheet design with STOL capability, the Kodiak initially catered to humanitarian groups that needed to get in and out of tight and unimproved strips. It carries a sizable payload (upward of 3500 pounds and roughly 2500 with floats), seats up to 10 people and most important, it runs on Jet-A for operating in places where 100LL is impossible to get, and of course to up the ante in reliability and operating simplicity. Quest chose the 750-HP Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34. It has a 4000-hour TBO-which at the time was the most widely produced single-stage variant of the PT6A-making worldwide field support even easier.
