Take out your pilot logbook. Have you logged fewer hours this year? A slow economy will do that. Making the decision to pump that disposable income — don’t you love that term? — into your airplane’s fuel tank can be difficult, especially when the disposable-income pool isn’t what it used to be. Yet if airplanes aren’t flown, airplane maintenance costs almost always increase. When money’s tight, something has to give, and it’s usually flying time.

“One of the most important things an owner can do to cut maintenance costs costs is keep flying or pickle the engine if it’s not flying,” says Phil Kirkham, a 25-year airframe and power-plant mechanic (A&P) who specializes in private-aircraft maintenance and is owner of Coastal Valley Aviation in Santa Maria, California.

Kirkham says that in the long run, inactivity causes maintenance costs to go up, mainly because it increases the likelihood of engine rust and because the seals in assemblies such as shock struts, brakes and fuel selector valves are more apt to need replacement.

One way to get more out of the flying budget is to get involved in hands-on airplane maintenance. I’m talking oil, wrenches, safety wire, green nitrile gloves, screwdrivers and safety wire. Federal aviation regulations (FAR) permit owners to perform and sign off on a number of preventive maintenance (PM) tasks on their own aircraft. Preventive maintenance includes changing the engine oil and filter, changing landing-gear tires, greasing wheel bearings, changing landing light bulbs and navigation light bulbs and lubricating the airframe.

Less obvious PM tasks include changing side windows, servicing landing gear shock struts with oil, air or both, making simple fabric repairs, patching fairings, cowlings and cover plates and repairing landing-light and navigation-light wiring.

Today’s digital avionics systems store catalogs of navigation and communication data that IFR fliers must update every 28 days. Preventive airplane maintenance rules allow owners to upgrade these databases.

Owners are also allowed to remove and replace (R & R) front instrument panel-mounted navigation-communication (navcom) units. This includes almost all modern navcoms and many GPS navigators.

Even the lowly task of cleaning saves money.

Cleanliness Is Next to Airworthiness At each annual inspection, the regulations mandate that the airplane be cleaned. No mechanic likes this task, but it must be done before inspecting the airplane. Your mechanic will greet you with a smile, and the inspection phase of the annual will go faster when you show up with a clean airplane. Here’s a tip for cleaning the belly. Head for a hardware or auto-parts store and get a tub of GOJO — the nonabrasive type, please — a creeper, a pair of safety goggles, a box of throwaway nitrile gloves and some rags. Then get under your airplane and do the “wax on, wax off” routine from nose to tail.

Avionics Money Savers Don Dominguez owns San Luis Avionics in San Luis Obispo, California.

“One of the easiest things owners can do to take care of their avionics is keep the antennas clean,” says Dominguez.

“I’ve had to repair more than one transponder because the antennas were so oil-soaked that the metallic components in the engine oil shorted the antenna to the airframe,” says Dominguez.

Dominguez says that pilots should periodically turn all rotating avionics switches through the full range of travel. This wipes oxidation off the contacts on the wafer-type switches. This is especially true for VFR pilots who rarely move their transponder code knobs from the 1200 position.

Headset plugs should be cleaned when audio gets scratchy or when the ATC has trouble hearing transmissions.

“Just polish up the plugs with a piece of fine Scotch-Brite,” says Dominguez.

Dominguez advises each of his clients to do his or her own avionics database’s updates. All that’s required is a computer with an Internet connection and a subscription to access downloads from the avionics manufacturer’s website.

“I’ll do it for them but it will cost $50 every time I do it,” says Dominguez.

Updating databases will save owners hundreds of dollars each year. They will no longer have to spend time and money moving the airplane to and from an avionics shop for the update service.

Doing It Yourself Learning how to and actually performing even four or five of the 32 preventive-maintenance tasks listed in Appendix A of FAR Part 43 does add to the challenge of aircraft ownership, but not without substantial rewards.

The first reward is the confidence that comes from knowing your way around your airplane. It’s comforting to launch out on an hourlong weekend flight — or on a much-anticipated three-week flying vacation to Alaska — with the feeling that you’re capable of managing minor airplane maintenance glitches that crop up in spite of the most carefully laid plans. The second payoff (maybe it’s the first) is saving money on maintenance.

You’ll need to find a competent, understanding and patient A&P to teach you the skills needed to become a mechanically involved airplane owner. Ask around at your local airport. You’re looking for a benevolent dictator-type mechanic. He or she must be dedicated to quality and be honestly interested in helping you. Once you have a couple of names, call and speak to your prospects, telling them that you want help learning how to safely work on your airplane. If they’re agreeable, make an appointment to interview them.

When you arrive, take a good look around the shop. Is it clean enough and organized enough to give you confidence? If so, tell your prospect what you want. Most A&P technicians like working with willing and capable owners. But let’s be clear — you’re being evaluated too. I always enjoy working with owners, but that interest cools rapidly if I see that they don’t respect my tools, maintain the cleanliness of my shop, exhibit good work habits or aren’t willing to follow directions. The world of airplane maintenance does require a willingness to do things by the book.

The Performance Standard FAR Part 43 is titled “Maintenance, Preventive Maintenance, Rebuilding and Alteration.” Portions of the 17 paragraphs and six appendices in this part specify who can do what types of maintenance, the definitions of major and minor alterations and repairs and what’s required as far as record-keeping after maintenance. One of the most important paragraphs is 43.13 — “Performance Rules.”

This paragraph says that work must be done using methods, techniques and practices prescribed in the manufacturer’s maintenance manuals or other approved data. It also says that each person doing work on an airplane shall do that work in such a manner and use material of such a quality that the condition of the work shall be at least equal to the original condition. What’s that mean?

Let’s say Joe Owner decides to change a nose landing-gear tire, a task that’s permitted under the PM rules. Upon reviewing the tire-changing tips in the FAA-approved aircraft maintenance manual, he learns that during the wheel reassembly operation, the bolts securing the two wheel halves must be retorqued to 90-inch pounds. To comply with the maintenance standard, Joe must have access to a calibrated torque wrench. Wheel half bolts are loaded in shear; this application does not require clamping (tension) loads.

During the inspection phase of the tire change, Joe finds that one of the wheel half through-bolts is severely rusted; can Joe boogie down to the local hardware store for a replacement bolt? No way. The replacement bolt must be identifiable as an aircraft-quality part.

The two examples are cited to show that a high standard of performance must be maintained. Few owners have enough experience in the airplane maintenance world to perform these tasks without coaching. That’s where the benevolent dictator-style mechanic comes in.

He’s your mentor. If you learn well and pay attention, it won’t be long before you’re trusted with more technical tasks. Airplane maintenance is not rocket science — it’s really a balancing act between doing no harm and efficiently troubleshooting and making repairs. Coaching is needed because airplanes are a curious mix of toughness required to fly for thousands of hours and areas so breakable that a misplaced hammer blow or an over-torqued fastener will result in damages that require hundreds of dollars and hours of labor to repair.

Many owners who begin learning PM tasks soon find that they enjoy and want more of the sharply defined what-you-see-is-what-you-get world of aero maintenance. Indeed, according to Part 43.3 paragraph (d), any person working under the supervision of an A&P (or other holder of a repairman certificate) may perform any task that the supervisor is authorized to perform, if the supervisor observes the work to the extent necessary to ensure that it’s being done properly. It’s not uncommon for competent owners to do almost all the tasks in an annual inspection.

The Paperwork Doing your own maintenance is not nonstop fun; broken fingernails, head dings from standing up too quickly under a prop and a fine lattice of safety-wire cuts on each hand top the list of drawbacks. But to many owners, these are less worrisome than the burden of “signing off” PM tasks.

The FAA wants signoffs in the airplane records after maintenance. Part 43.9 says entries must consist of a description (or reference to data acceptable to the FAA) of the work performed; the date the work was completed; and the name, type of certificate and certificate number of the person completing the maintenance.

Let’s be clear on this data-entry business. The entry applies only to the work performed. If a tire was changed, the tire change is the only thing the signoff covers.

Here’s an example of an acceptable entry for a main tire change.

November 15, 2010: Replaced the main tire (6.00 x 6, 6 P.R.) and tube (6.00 x 6) in accordance with (often abbreviated as I/A/W) chapter 32-40-01 and 32-40-02 in Mooney M20K maintenance and M20K parts manuals. Joe Pilot Private 123-45-6789

There are other money-saving resources for aero-maintenance neophytes. The best low-cost sources of inspiration and technical knowledge are type clubs. In exchange for a nominal yearly fee, aircraft owners can get on the Internet — from almost anywhere — and gain access to vast accumulations of model-specific and task-specific technical information. There’s either a type club or an expert for almost every popular aircraft still plying the skies.

If you want to learn more about airplane maintenance, I recommend getting on Amazon or any used-book site and searching for the out-of-print books in the Light Plane Maintenance Library series. Kas Thomas and other editors at Light Plane Maintenance authored the series. A good starting place is Rules and Inspections.

One last word on this subject. One of the most grievous and dangerous errors owners make when they start to do their own maintenance is failing to understand how important it is to get their work inspected. The cornerstone of aircraft safety is redundancy — the “second set of eyes” inspection principle is a non-negotiable one.

Get your training, stay disciplined, get help when you need it and stay safe.

Go to faasafety.gov for a list of the FAA’s preventive-maintenance tasks.

The post Do-It-Yourself Airplane Maintenance appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Blackhawk Aerospace says replacing a stock King Air 300’s PT6A-60A engines on 12,500-pound and 14,000-pound gross weight models with the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A engines while adding a new Hartzell optimized composite five-blade swept propeller will create a King Air that delivers a maximum speed of over 340 knots. This new airplane is made possible with the new supplemental type certificate Blackhawk just earned from the FAA.

Hartzell Propeller’s five-blade technology, designed for Blackhawk’s King Air 300, uses the aerodynamic effect of blade sweep, the strength of lightweight structural composites and robotic manufacturing technologies to optimize performance in all phases of flight. Hartzell Propeller executive vice president and general manager JJ Frigge said, “Hartzell props are performing at a truly exceptional level and are helping Blackhawk deliver on its promise of a King Air ‘rocket ship.’ These new aerodynamically optimized Hartzell props improve takeoff and climb performance in addition to delivering impressive cruise speeds.” The Hartzell props include a three-year, 3,000-hour warranty.

Read More: Turbine Engine Upgrades

Blackhawk President and CEO Jim Allmon said the new airplane is the result of “Blackhawk’s extensive flight testing evaluated and measured single- and multi-engine handling qualities, aircraft performance, engine and accessory cooling, stall speeds and characteristics, landing characteristics, propeller noise and vibration, and high-speed airframe and engine characteristics.”

The post Blackhawk Combines P&WC and Hartzell to Create the World’s Fastest King Air appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Turbine conversion company Blackhawk Modifications is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a bang. The company is doubling the size of its facility at the Waco Regional Airport (KACT) in Waco, Texas, adding hangar and office space. As part of the physical expansion, the company is gathering four groups under an umbrella company named Blackhawk Aerospace. Blackhawk’s headquarters have been based in Waco since 2006.

“Blackhawk Aerospace represents the culmination of each company’s core competencies coming together to make a sum that is greater than the parts,” said Jim Allmon, Blackhawk’s president and CEO.

The four groups comprise Blackhawk Modifications; Blackhawk Aircraft Sales; Blackhawk Composites, based in Morgantown, Kentucky; and Blackhawk Aerospace Solutions (formerly Vector-Hawk Aerospace), in Huntsville, Alabama.

Blackhawk is able to double its footprint in Waco by purchasing an adjacent 10,000 square-foot hangar. It already includes office space that will be used by the company’s sales and marketing teams. In its 20-year history, the company has developed more than 30 individual Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) to improve the performance and reduce the operational cost of turboprop aircraft, such as King Airs and Cessna Caravans.

More than 800 customers around the world are enjoying the benefits of the XP Engine+ Upgrades, one of Blackhawk’s STC offerings. The company also offers a full upgrade program, named Phoenix by Blackhawk, that includes the engine upgrade along with new paint, avionics and interior, and, in some cases, slight modifications to the airframe. The restructuring and expansion of Blackhawk Aerospace will enable the company to provide even more upgrades, performance enhancements and other modifications for the turbine market.

The post Blackhawk Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Major Expansion appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Making a good aviation product better is a concept as old as capitalistic ingenuity itself. OEMs release improved versions of their best airplanes and power plants, each perhaps a bit faster or more versatile than its predecessor. Not everyone can afford the latest edition of a machine, of course, nor does everyone want one. Some operators get as comfy with an airplane they’ve spent years breaking in as they might be with a favorite jacket or pair of running shoes. But most wish their airplane could deliver better performance. That’s where modification companies stand ready to make that good airplane even better. Consider recent production figures from Textron’s Beechcraft unit showing nearly 7,500 copies of the rugged King Air turboprop delivered since its introduction more than 50 years ago. Any mod house would consider a universe that large enough reason to begin engineering efforts, but sometimes real success demands more. Dave Coleman credits part of the King Air’s triumph as a mod platform to the original link between Beechcraft and the U.S. military. Coleman works in aircraft sales and acquisitions at Duncan Aviation and has been around King Airs for decades. He points to the King Air’s predecessor, the Queen Air, as the place where the market really developed. “The military wanted the Queen Air to be modifiable right from the start,” he says. The Queen Air offered an enormous cabin for its day, but it wasn’t pressurized, a fact made more problematic once people began hanging Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprops on them. Thus was born the first pressurized King Air 90, in 1964.

King Air upgrade options today run from new engines and propellers to airframe enhancements to a host of advanced cockpit avionics. Toss in some new paint and an interior update and the result is an older airframe capable of delivering performance that closes in on that of a new airplane, all for a less costly investment.

Edwin Black, Blackhawk Modifications’ senior vice president of sales and marketing, says King Air 300 owners he meets often struggle with whether to “keep the airplane’s comfortable cabin and good short-field performance or trade up to a jet.” One answer is Blackhawk’s recently approved XP67A engine STC for the King Air 350. Work began on the mod in July 2016. Among its benefits, the Blackhawk re-engined King Air will race to FL 350 in just 18 minutes versus the 45 minutes it takes a stock aircraft. At that altitude, the 13,000-pound Blackhawk King Air will scoot along fully 50 knots faster than a new factory airplane.

Blending these airframe numbers — 2,980 Model 90s, 400 Model 100s, 2,580 Model 200/250s and 1,400 Model 300/350s — with a structure just begging for improvement was the honey that attracted bees like Jim Raisbeck, one of the industry’s first modification giants. Raisbeck earned his modification stripes rethinking Learjets and North American Sabre­liner 65s, as well as building hush kits for the Boeing 727. Raisbeck and his team delivered their first King Air 200 mod, a set of enclosed landing gear doors, in July 1982. The rest is Raisbeck history, with King Air updates such as wing lockers and today’s Epic platinum performance mod, which offers near magical improvements to a King Air 250, for example.

Raisbeck can add a pair of swept-blade props, a ram air recovery system, enhanced-performance leading edges, or high flotation gear doors on the King Air 250 and other models, as well as increase the airplane’s operating weights. Raisbeck claims its modifications can be found on more than 4,000 King Airs today. Some of Raisbeck’s improvements proved so unique that Beech began offering them as standard equipment on new airplanes. Coleman suggested comparing a 40-year-old King Air 200 with an Epic gold package to a much newer 200GT. “The Epic King Air will perform better on paper than the 200GT,” he says.

Then there are engine mods like Blackhawk Modifications’ for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42 engines that were standard on the King Air B200 series. Sign up for the XP61 upgrade and Blackhawk will replace the original engines with a pair of PT6A-52s for impressive benefits. Maximum cruise speed on a stock B200 is about 266 ktas, but pilots flying a Blackhawk XP52-upgraded B200 will see speeds closer to 310 ktas, more than a 15 percent increase. The secret is that Blackhawk installs engines with a thermodynamic shaft horsepower of 1,320 versus the 850 on the standard airplane, so the performance benefits do come at the price of a higher fuel burn.

The larger power plants arrive with full new-engine warranties from Pratt & Whitney Canada while delivering increased rate of climb, a reduction in time to climb and reduced fuel burn for the climb. A Blackhawk-upgraded engine also delivers better single­-engine climb performance, along with an increase in resale value. New engines may call for new propellers too, but not always. The Raisbeck or MT propellers are an option if needed.

Of course, some King Air modifications don’t necessarily deliver quantitative performance updates but are popular nonetheless, such as Frakes Aviation exhaust stacks. Straight from the factory, King Airs were known, like other jet-A burning airplanes, to create ugly black soot stains on the engine nacelles that often demanded regular and exhausting work to remove. Thanks to Frakes’ engineering work, installing new stacks can reduce soot staining by 90 to 95 percent. Frakes says the stacks are flying on more than 1,000 King Airs of various models. Should a Frakes stack crack in the first seven years of ownership, the factory guarantees a no-charge replacement.

BLR Aerospace says its winglets on a King Air 200 mean reduced times to climb, extended range, improved handling, as much as a 33 percent reduction in required runway length and up to a 50 percent increase in climb gradient at sea level. BLR says the winglets increase the aircraft’s hull value too. Winglets add to the cosmetic value by making a legacy King Air look more 21st century just sitting on the ground.

Garmin’s no stranger to the King Air cockpit. The recently announced NXi avionics upgrade is a faster, more modern successor to the G1000 that debuted in 2004. The NXi requires a minimal amount of downtime because the displays preserve the same footprint and connectors as the G1000. Once it’s installed, pilots will see faster boot-up times and much-improved graphics thanks to the better processors and higher-resolution displays. The NXi upgrade is also expected to shave 250 pounds of weight off most King Airs.

Rockwell Collins’ Pro Line Fusion upgrade is a good choice for any King Air already operating with Pro Line II or Pro Line 21 avionics. Pro Line Fusion adds three 14.1-inch wide­screen LCDs with advanced graphics, touch-interactive maps, configurable windows, and touch-screen or point-and-click navigation. The upgrade includes geo-referenced electronic navigation charts that display own-ship aircraft position for enhanced situational awareness during approaches. Fusion baseline equipment works well in today’s global airspace by including a DO-260B-compliant ADS-B, SBAS-capable GNSS, LPV approaches and radius-to-fix (RF) legs. Additionally, Pro Line Fusion offers high-resolution synthetic vision standard, including Rockwell Collins’ airport dome depiction and extended runway centerlines with mile markers.

BendixKing’s AeroVue integrated flight deck offers another avionics option for the King Air 200, adding three high-resolution 12-inch LCDs to create two primary flight displays and one multifunction screen. The BendixKing system includes an FMS with flight director, coupled VNAV and dual WAAS receivers, as well as a new integrated autopilot and yaw damper. The air data and attitude heading reference system incorporates two channels, making the aircraft ADS-B compliant. The system includes a digital standby flight instrument and two audio panels with Bluetooth and read-back capabilities.

King Air 350 owners heard some good news at this year’s AirVenture Oshkosh, with several companies announcing performance-enhancing mods for the largest version of Beechcraft’s twin turboprop. Hartzell Propeller and Raisbeck Engineering partnered to create an STC for a 105-inch-diameter composite five-blade swept propeller that improves takeoff and climb performance while reducing the airplane’s noise footprint. The composite prop has an unlimited blade life and a TBO of 4,000 hours or six years.

Commuter Air Technology created a package for the King Air 300 airframe called the CAT 350ME that increases operational gross weight and fuel capacity. The 350ME can add up to 280 additional gallons of fuel, an option that could keep the aircraft airborne for as many as 13 hours, translating into a range of 2,760 nm. The upgrade package increases maximum ramp weight to 16,600 pounds, maximum takeoff weight to 16,500 pounds and maximum landing weight to 15,675 pounds.

AvFab offers King Air operators a host of interior updates, from new seats and divan options to tray tables and pleated window shades. Butterfield Industries created a number of useful add-ons, such as an oil/air separator and an oil residue collection system to fit almost every King Air, as well as a fuel-point pan designed to better handle the daily metal-to-metal contact encountered during fueling operations of a King Air. And Coleman offers practical advice when considering any mod option. “How much is too much to spend? For most mods that claim to improve aircraft performance, it’s wise to determine if the STC holder has documented the improvement in the performance section of the FAA-approved aircraft flight manual supplement,” he suggests.

Coleman mentions financial strategies to consider, such as the amount of money invested versus how the mod might affect the eventual selling price. “Why not look for an airplane that already has the mods you’re after, or find a really clean airplane with nearly run-out engines? If you found one with the Raisbeck mods you liked, you could purchase the Blackhawk upgrade that delivers precise documentation on the performance upgrades.” Those numbers in the AFM can really add to the value of a King Air used in Part 135 charter service. There’s also credit coming from Pratt & Whitney for the unused time on the old engines.

Black, of Blackhawk Modifications, never loses sight of why the King Air has remained so popular over the past five decades. “What other plane will comfortably carry so much so far, so fast and to so many places at such a low operating cost?”

The post King Air Mods appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

With the ADS-B mandate quickly approaching, Textron Aviation announced that its service centers are offering ADS-B retrofits for an expanding number of models. The manufacturer announced this week that it recently achieved certification for an ADS-B Out solution for the Cessna Citation Mustang. Earlier this year Textron Aviation issued 10 service bulletins for ADS-B equipment on various Citation, King Air and Hawker models, and it has completed more than 1,000 installations so far.

In addition to getting the installation made by a company that knows the aircraft inside and out, Textron says a great benefit of getting the ADS-B retrofit through one of its service stations around the world is that the compliance is guaranteed worldwide for its ADS-B installations. ADS-B offerings from some third-party providers only apply in the country in which the aircraft is registered.

Some areas of the world, such as Australia and other countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim, already require ADS-B Out equipment. Europe will require the installation in mid-2020, and the United States mandate will come into effect on January 1, 2020.

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Turboprop engine-upgrade company Blackhawk Modifications this week announced progress toward a supplemental type certificate (STC) that will boost performance in the workhorse Beechcraft King Air 350.

The Waco, Texas-based company recently submitted a flight test plan to the FAA for the engine upgrade that will replace the original Pratt & Whitney 1,050 shp PT6A-60A engines with the high-performance 1,200 shp PT6A-67A. Blackhawk expects testing to begin in November and the finalized STC to be received in May. The initial STC will cover King Air 350s with a max gross weight of 15,000 lbs. Once the initial STC is complete, Blackhawk will turn its focus to the heavier version of the twin turboprop.

The XP67A Engine+ program also includes a five-blade propeller upgrade with either an MT or Hartzell propeller.

Operators who make the upgrade can expect a cruise speed increase of about 37 ktas, bringing the max cruise up to 340 ktas at maximum engine power limits. In addition to more power, the upgrade provides increased range and better climb performance in hot temperatures. The significant increase in climb performance is a major safety enhancement, particularly for military operators aiming to get away from enemy fire as soon as possible, said Bob Kromer, Blackhawk’s senior vice president of engineering.

“In my 10 years at Blackhawk, I have test flown every engine upgrade that we have put on the market,” said Chris Dunkin, Blackhawk’s regional sales manager and chief pilot. “I can confidently say that the XP67A engine has the most impressive performance that I’ve seen by far.”

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A few years back, my parents bought a beautiful tiled wood stove for their home. The first year, they bought a light truckload of wood. But Dad found buying wood to be a pricey way to feed the stove. Being retired with spare time on his hands and the desire for physical work, he decided to cut his own firewood. At first, he got permission from the local government to clear out wood from a lot close to my parents’ home where trees had been cut down to thin the forest. Then Mom and Dad set out to purchase a small wooded lot. In the end, they purchased an 11-acre property with three buildings and a lake. Why am I telling this story? Perhaps you can relate to a similar story of how the decision to buy one thing can lead to other, much bigger purchases. A new TV could lead to a new home audio system, which would require new furniture for the living room, and then perhaps even a new house. For me, the story has to do with avionics. When I bought my 1974 Mooney M20C, which I named Manny, I knew some upgrades would be required. The first and most serious need was a new transponder. Controllers would often tell me one of my digits was indicating something other than what was displayed on my analog Narco transponder. The issue was always resolved by twisting the errant knob around full circle. However, when it came time for the transponder check, the ancient unit came out flawed, and I spent nearly $1,000 fixing it. Since Narco has been out of business for years, it has become increasingly difficult to find someone willing to work on the equipment, and it is equally if not more difficult to find replacement parts. It was time for a change.

Manny would also have to comply with the upcoming ADS-B Out requirements in a few short years. I had learned about the L-3 Lynx ADS-B-compliant multifunction touch-screen transponder and figured it would be a great addition to Manny’s panel. And I thought it would be fun to add some shiny glass to the old-school avionics stack.

Having spent the past decade flying mostly on glass panels, it was a challenge to go back to round gauges when I bought the Mooney. The Narco transponder had matching MK-12D navcoms. In some ways, it was fun to twist VOR radials with an OBS, but I just didn’t feel as safe in the clouds as I had with WAAS GPS on board. So after I decided to add the Lynx transponder, of which the installation would require some major elective surgery to the panel and fuselage, I decided to explore what other parts of my panel I might want to upgrade.

Making decisions on what to put in the avionics panel is a much more complex challenge today than it was 20 years ago. When VORs and airways ruled our tracks in the skies, it was simply a matter of choosing a navcom unit or two, VOR indicator(s) or HSI, and a transponder capable of sending and receiving a signal. It was all pretty straightforward — find the units that had the best signal strength and reliability for your budget.

But these days, making panel choices is far more complex. There are multiple layers of decision-making as GPS, FMS, synthetic vision, weather, traffic and more have gradually been introduced into general aviation panels. Functionality, buttonology and screen quality are just a few things that today’s avionics consumers must spend time researching. Aside from that, avionics are constantly changing. Today’s latest and greatest technology could be completely outdated in 10 years.

A big part of me wanted to choose an all-Garmin stack since I am intimately familiar with a variety of the company’s fantastic products, including the GNS 430 and 530, GTN 650 and 750, G1000 and G3000. I also bought the GDL 39 a while back to get ADS-B In into my Garmin Pilot app, which has made flying with VORs again a little more palatable. Garmin’s products are top-notch, and its reputation for reliability and customer service is terrific as well. It would be an understatement to say I’m a fan.

I’d had little opportunity to experience Garmin’s light airplane competition other than playing with the equipment at exhibits at major aviation shows. I had already decided on the L-3 Lynx before Garmin came out with its all-in-one ADS-B solution, the GTX 345, and the Lynx communicates with the Aspen Evolution system, which displays the traffic and weather data from the transponder right in front of the pilot. The Aspen units display a ton of data in a compact package, a must for the tight real estate on the Mooney panel. Up for trying something new, I decided on a two-display Aspen Evolution 2000 combination.

Of course, the Aspen equipment would need to be fed by some kind of GPS source. I had almost decided to go with Garmin’s GTN 650 or possibly the GTN 750 when I learned that Avidyne’s IFD series had added some slick new features in the spring. The IFD540 and 440 navigators can be controlled with a miniature portable keyboard, which connects to the panel-mounted equipment via Bluetooth. I have really enjoyed flying with the keypads that connect with the G1000, so this new Avidyne hardware was attractive. Avidyne will also add synthetic vision with the next IFD software update, and the units might even eventually connect to the Internet because Avidyne partnered with Globalstar for satellite service. I also liked the fact that the IFDs have both hard keys and touch-screen capabilities, so I decided to go with Avidyne.

Initially, I was going to replace one of the Narco navcoms with an IFD440 or IFD540, leaving one of the old Narcos in the panel. But after reminding myself of the hefty transponder bill, I decided to remove all the obsolete Narco equipment. I could have replaced it with a different and simpler navcom. With more and more pilots switching to GPS, there are reasonable deals on more reliable, and better-supported used navcoms, such as the BendixKing KX 155. There are also some new basic navcom units on the market that would cost less than a second GPS. But in the end, I couldn’t resist getting the IFD540 for its instrument chart capability and the IFD440 as a second GPS/FMS for redundancy. I also matched the IFDs with Avidyne’s AMX240 audio panel. No more Narcos!

The more I delved into the avionics options, the more hypnotized I became by glass. Jeff Landon at High Desert Avionics in Lancaster, California, was already deep in the installation process when he suggested the addition of an electronic standby instrument. An all-glass M20C? Heck, why not? And while at the Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, in the spring, I fell in love with the ESI-500 electronic standby instrument at the L-3 booth. It has a beautiful PFD display with options for synthetic vision, terrain, obstacles and navigation. And its small size — the body slips right into a standard 3-inch round hole — is perfect for the tight M20C panel. Yeah, I totally blew my budget, but, man, am I happy I did.

During the installation process, I visited Manny a couple of times in Lancaster. It was like visiting a friend in an intensive care unit. It was as if he was in open-heart surgery, with gaping holes and wires all over the place. With all the changes I made along the way, it was three months before I was able to crank up Manny’s purring O-360 once again.

The first time I saw the panel lighted up after the installation, I was in shock. It was absolutely stunning. While Landon managed to retain the old beat-up instrument panel, he somehow made it look as if all this new equipment was designed for the 40-plus-year-old panel.

There are way too many terrific features available in the electronic equipment to write about all of them here, but I’ll touch on some of my favorites. Avidyne’s MK 10 keyboard is as cool as I had hoped. It is small enough to fit into the pocket in front of my seat, and it makes entering and modifying flight plans quick and easy. I also love the fact that flight plans on the IFD units are color-coded: blue for airport, magenta for the next waypoint (like the active leg) and gray for the remaining fixes.

There are many ways to enter data into Avidyne’s IFD540 and 440. I’ve found myself using a combination of keys (on the unit itself and on the keyboard) and the touch screen. The pinch-zoom is fantastic, getting airport data and communications frequencies is quick, and the IFDs automatically load the missed approach procedure after the instrument procedure itself and activate the missed approach when you go past the missed approach point.

The Aspen MFD talks to the Avidyne units and displays the loaded flight plan on a moving map that can be decluttered based on preference. The PFD puts the vertical and horizontal guidance right onto the attitude portion of the primary flight display, showing all necessary cross-referencing parameters for instrument approaches in one tiny but easy-to-read format. Entering the minimum descent or decision altitude takes seconds, and that important number is also displayed right near the altitude tape, which has three levels of bugs to alert me when I’m getting close. The Aspen MFD and IFD540 are both capable of showing my ship position on the instrument chart or on the approach path on the moving map. Once on the ground, the MFD automatically goes to ground mode and displays the airport diagram, showing runways, taxiways and buildings.

I can also connect to a variety of iPad apps through the IFDs or the L-3 unit. I can stream a flight plan from the Avidyne to ForeFlight, and in later software updates, I will be able to stream a flight plan from the app to the unit, eliminating the need for entering fixes on the panel. Not that entering a flight plan is an arduous process. The system automatically includes victor airways, for example, so I can just enter the departure point and the first fix on the airway, select the airway and the exit point, and I’m done.

The L-3 Lynx makes it a breeze to enter transponder codes right on the touch screen. The ability to see weather and TFRs on the unit has come in handy, particularly with the fire season upon us in California. And I can check current metars simply by entering any airport code on the metar screen. The L-3 ESI-500, with its internal battery and functions that blow round-gauge backups out of the water, provides peace of mind in the event all the other equipment blacks out.

Another terrific feature is the ability to stream music to the AMX240 audio panel via Bluetooth. The sound quality is incredible. And when my son, Benjamin, starts to sing along into his headset mic, the isolation features justify the cost of the unit. The repeat button has also come in handy to clarify the details of an ATC call.

While I am absolutely thrilled with my new panel, I made some mistakes along the way. The biggest was bringing the airplane to High Desert Avionics before I had made my final decision on what to put in the panel, other than the Lynx transponder. That mistake and my indecision though the process ended up costing me dearly in installation cost because Landon and his team had to take apart the airplane more than once. Manny did not previously have any GPS antennas, so the airplane required major surgery for the equipment to function. The GPS antennas are not included with the avionics, which makes sense since many general aviation airplanes on the market already have GPS installed.

If you’re looking to upgrade your panel, get a quote from the avionics shop. The Avidyne IFD540 and IFD440 are direct replacements for the Garmin GNS 530 and GNS 430, which are commonly installed. Gary Reeves, who trained me to fly behind the Avidyne units, said it took about 30 minutes to slide his GNS 430 out and replace it with the IFD440. The installation cost in a situation like that would be minimal.

Learning the Panel The panel of my M20C went through a complete overhaul, replaced with equipment that I had not previously spent much, if any, time behind. Needless to say, I needed professional training to maximize the use of the new technology. I knew from experience that the basics, such as how to fly direct to some fix and how to tune in frequencies in the comm and nav boxes, are easy to figure out. But more technical inputs, such as loading a flight plan and activating approaches, are more complex. I was fortunate to be linked up with Gary Reeves of pilotsafety.org, who is a master CFI with more than 5,500 hours, to learn more about the Avidyne IFDs. After watching Reeves’ videos on the systems, I had a chance to fly with him in my airplane for a couple of hours to gain a deeper understanding. Reeves showed me how to configure the electronic checklists, load flight plans, use VORs and victor airways, twist radials and more. We also shot a few approaches into Long Beach and Camarillo. The experience was invaluable, and I felt much more confident with the IFD functionality after the flight.

I also got help figuring out the features of the Evolution 2000 PFD/MFD from Aspen’s Robert Blaha in Carlsbad, California. We spent time on a desktop trainer and in my airplane, going through the logic behind the buttons. The MFD has features such as angle of attack, weather, navigation, charts and more. It allows for a single view, or two or three split screens, so with all the different selections, it may take a while to finalize my ideal configuration. It’s a fun process. Now I just have to remind myself to look outside.

The post Manny the Mooney Gets a Panel Upgrade appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

LAM Aviation in San Francisco this week announced a new wing flight control system aimed at providing a low-risk method for improving GA airplane performance, handling and overall operational safety.

The LAM system replaces an airplane’s traditionally separate aileron and flaps, allowing a new, potentially smaller wing to combine these controls in a variety of operations. In one, a new full-span flap can help overcome adverse yaw; in another, the split ailerons acting together could function as a speed brake.

In a news release, LAM said its “system prevents inadvertent departure from controlled flight, tolerates aggravated control inputs, is highly non-spinnable and anti-autorotative in a spin.” The company is currently researching if specific flap/aileron configurations might also prove useful during spin recovery, including the use of its own anti-torque system.

“If the LAM electro-mechanical system were to fail,” the company said, “the aircraft’s independent mechanical system would by itself provide control.”

LAM engineers believe the newest version of the company’s control systems will also reduce fuel consumption, increase useful load and improve cruise performance. A company YouTube video highlights the design and the new products just ahead of EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where LAM will display a Columbia 300 modified with the new flight control system.

The post LAM Flight Control System Addresses Loss of Control in Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Owners of pre-NG Pilatus PC-12s hankering to upgrade their airplane’s original P&W PT-6 engine, can now add a Hartzell five-blade composite swept-tip propeller when the work is completed by Broomfield, Colorado-based Finnoff Aviation.

The upgraded prop, now standard on new PC-12s, is 5 pounds lighter than the original aluminum four-blade Hartzell standard on nearly 800 early-generation PC-12s. The new Hartzell propeller is part of the powerplant upgrade that brings a pre-NG Pilatus up to 1,200 hp with the P&W 67P engine.

Hartzell’s propeller gives the 2016 PC-12 NG a 5-knot faster cruise, a 10 percent faster climb to 28,000 feet and a 50-foot shorter takeoff distance. The composite blades are certified for unlimited life. The new prop also reduces both flyover and cabin noise. Hartzell’s executive vice president JJ Frigge said more than 100 Pilatus PC-12 operators have opted for the upgrade in the first six months of availability.

The five-blade composite propeller lists for $83,640, less a $15,000 trade-in for the old prop.

The post Hartzell’s Five-Bladed Prop Available on Finnoff PC-12 Upgrade appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The cost and hassle of complying with the FAA’s 2020 ADS-B Out mandate is vexing many aircraft owners, but quite a few of us are already enjoying the benefits of ADS-B In: real-time weather, Nexrad radar and traffic information, all for free. There are a number of feature-rich portable receivers on the market, like the Appareo Stratus, Garmin GDL 39 and Dual XGPS170. And for do-it-yourself types or die-hard cheapskates, now there’s an open-source homebuilt option for under $100: Stratux.

Stratux consists of a Linux-based microcomputer called Raspberry Pi and a software-defined radio (SDR) antenna. Its inventor, software engineer and pilot Christopher Young, originally posted instructions and code to aggregator website Reddit, and since then he’s simplified the process considerably. Today you can even purchase all the parts and preloaded software as a kit online at stratux.me.

I built my own Stratux last fall and have since used it with WingX Pro7 for over 50 hours of cross-country flight. I’ve had to tweak it a bit and still consider it an experimental system (note that it won’t work at all with Garmin or Jeppesen’s proprietary EFB programs), but overall it’s been a huge upgrade of capability for very little money.

Do It Yourself:

Using the Vilros Raspberry Pi kit with the NooElec SDR, assembly is quite simple. Ensure you are properly grounded, stick the two silver heat sinks onto the processor chips and mount the motherboard in the clear snap-together case. Insert the blue NooElec dongle into one USB port and the small Edimax Wi-Fi antenna into another, and then plug the external antenna into the NooElec dongle.

If you purchased the kit with Stratux software preloaded, simply insert the included microSD card into its slot on the Raspberry Pi. Otherwise, download the software at stratux.me and flash it onto the microSD card. The Raspberry Pi comes with an AC power adapter, but for airplane use you’ll need a 1-amp USB-to-micro-USB power cord. You can either pair this with a 12-volt adapter plugged into your airplane’s cigarette lighter or use a lithium-ion battery pack. Once plugged into an appropriate power source, the box will automatically boot up. Simply connect your tablet to the Stratux Wi-Fi network, start your EFB program, and you’ll receive updated weather, radar and traffic as soon as you’re within range of an ADS-B station (usually 500 to 3,000 feet agl).

The post How It Works: Build Your Own Stratux ADS-B Receiver appeared first on FLYING Magazine.