Plane and Pilot Magazine

An exhilarating morning flight with a first-time owner in a factory-new airplane

I love orange. It’s the color of excitement and adventure. In 1910, when William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson decided to design a logo for their then-fledgling motorcycle company, orange was the color they chose. And when rockabilly great Eddie Cochran belted out “Summertime Blues” from every AM radio station in the country in 1958, that incessant guitar lick came from an orange, model 6120 Gretsch guitar—one of the most recognizable in rock ’n’roll history. Even nature reserves orange for only the most special of offerings: sunsets, habanero peppers, clown fish and Cheetos. An orange airplane, then, is really something.

The Super Decathlon has a storied history, and part of the airplane’s considerable charm comes from that lineage. First conceived in 1970 by Champion Aircraft Corporation, the Decathlon 8KCAB was a derivative of the company’s famous Citabria (that’s “airbatic” spelled backward). It was created as a stronger and more capable airplane that could handle outside maneuvers and extended inverted flight. The Decathlon featured an inverted fuel and oil system and a major redesign of the Citabria wing, resulting in a semi-symmetric airfoil that gave it far better inverted performance. Bellanca Aircraft Corporation bought Champion Aircraft in 1972 and sold a smattering of Decathlons through 1976, before adding a more powerful 180 hp engine and other improvements, resulting in the Super Decathlon. The design went through several manufacturers’ hands throughout the ‘80s aircraft sales slump, and was eventually acquired by American Champion Aircraft in 1990, where it has been in production ever since.

This particular morning, I was to meet Super Decathlon owner Michelle Kole, who had just taken delivery of her beautiful orange 8KCAB, complete with sunbursts and invasion stripes. Too often, we writers take an airplane up with a demo pilot, go through the specs, and perform a list of maneuvers from our notepads, then come back for a few touch-and-goes. For me, it’s hard to find the “soul” of the airplane that way. But this time we had a mission, and it was a good one because it involved food and scenery. We were flying some 130 miles south along the Pacific coast from Santa Monica, Calif., on a quest for the best vegan potato tacos anywhere. I’m not even vegan, but the thought of something new was enticing.

Like its seminal cousin, the Aeronca Champ (Champion Aircraft acquired the Champ design in 1954), the Super Decathlon is a tandem aircraft with stick controls and a tailwheel. One major difference between the “vintage” Decathlons and the newer ones is the aluminum wing spar that replaced the original wood spar. Today’s Super D is still made with fabric-covered metal tubing, and sports aluminum landing gear instead of spring steel. Like the 1940s Champ, the Decathlon retains the triangular welded fuselage truss, giving it proven strength and rigidity.

When Kole had me roll open the door to the vintage-era hangar and I saw her factory-fresh Super D for the first time, the effect was magical. Its burnt-orange color contrasting against the velvet blue of the morning sky gave it a decidedly retro look, and Kole had the good taste to add white upholstered seats, making the airplane look fabulously classic.

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A new president and a new bird

Twenty-three years ago, when the producers of the ABC-TV show Wide World of Flying came to me and proposed that I write and host a segment on transitioning from fixed wing to rotary wing, it took me all of three seconds to say yes.

The idea was to chronicle the entire rotary-wing learning process, from first hour of instruction through solo, and on to the private helicopter license; then, synthesize six months of flying and learning down to 20 minutes for television. Of course, my trainer was to be the world's most popular two-place helicopter, the Robinson R22. As it happens, Robinson's manufacturing facility at Torrance Airport in Southern California is only about 15 minutes from my home, so I would train in a succession of new Robinsons.

Just as with my preliminary fixed-wing education, I needed about 60 hours to finish the course, but when I was done, I was hooked on helicopters, just as I had become hooked on conventional airplanes a quarter-century earlier.

That show aired in 1989. Now, it's 22 years later, and both Robinson and I are still flying high. (Okay, since they build helicopters, Robinson flies mostly low.) In 2008, Robinson delivered a total of 893 helicopters, compared to 733 Cessna piston products and 547 Cirrus aircraft.

Robinson Helicopters have consistently outpaced not just all helicopter manufacturers, but every other general aviation aircraft manufacturer, fixed or rotary wing, for several years. Today, Robinson builds more helicopters than all other manufacturers combined.

Best Seller
The Robinson story is another of those Hollywood-style "little guy takes on big guy and wins" scripts. Only in this case, it happens to be true. After Frank Robinson graduated from the University of Washington and did postgraduate work at the University of Wichita, he spent 17 years honing his skills at Cessna, Umbaugh, McCulloch, Kaman, Bell and Hughes Helicopters, where he gained a reputation as a tail-rotor expert.

Unable to rouse any interest from the majors in his concept for an inexpensive, two-seat helicopter, Frank resigned from Hughes in 1973 to start his own company. Working out of his home in Palos Verdes, Calif., the young engineer conceived and partially constructed the two-seat R22 in his garage. The new aircraft premiered in 1979, and quickly became the world's best-selling helicopter.

But Frank had set his sights higher. Prior to 1993, the world's most popular four-/five-seat helicopter was the Bell 206 Jet Ranger, an industry stalwart since the mid-'60s. With its Allison 250 turbine mill rated for 3,500 hours between overhauls, and a shaft horsepower of 317 to 420, the Jet Ranger seemed to have a lock on the market. The folks at Bell were confident little Robinson didn't have the financial resources to produce and certify anything more than a two-seat utility/training helicopter.

In 1993, Bell and the rest of the industry learned otherwise. Robinson introduced the R44 Astro, a piston-powered chopper with four seats and a 1,000-pound useful load. It was, in most respects, an entry-level four-seater, powered by a carbureted, 205 hp Lycoming O-540, but, by far, the most significant difference between the R44 and the Bell 206 was the price. At just under $250,000, the new R44 cost barely a third of the tab for a new Jet Ranger.

It's true, turbines are universally regarded as more reliable than piston powerplants, but even the biggest companies couldn't ignore such hard, economic realities. To no one's great surprise, the new R44 outsold the Jet Ranger from day one, no discredit to the Bell product, a simple function of price. It also didn't hurt that the R44's performance specs were very close to those of the Jet Ranger, while the Robinson's operating costs were dramatically less.

If Bell truly believed Frank Robinson would stay out of the turbine business, they misjudged him again. After several years of development, Robinson certified the R66 in October of last year, utilizing essentially the same Rolls Royce 250 turbine engine employed on the Bell product. In fact, the continued economy of the piston-powered R44, and the threat of the upcoming turbine Robinson, contributed to Bell Aircraft cancelling Jet Ranger production altogether in late 2008.

I live a mere 15 minutes from the Robinson facility, so I've watched the company expand from a small plant on the north side of Torrance Airport to a larger building on the south side, and more recently, to a huge, 500,000-square-foot megafactory, generating $200 million in annual sales. If those numbers aren't impressive enough, consider that Robinson recently rolled out its 9,000th helicopter.
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All dressed up or ready to work, Allegro makes you honest

Although using feminine pronouns to talk about objects has been politically incorrect for decades, the Allegro LSA can, and will, act every bit the classic scorned woman if you don't treat her—I mean it—right. Act the ham-handed, cement-footed doofus at the controls, and you're sleeping on the couch tonight, brother!

That singular personality, posits my 11,000-hour Allegro CFI Ross Kennedy, makes the Allegro an ideal trainer. "I teach students to treat this airplane like a lady," he says. "If you argue with her, she'll argue back. Pilots should treat her nice and gentle." So, if I acted a bit of the Blind Date From Hell during my initial turn at the Allegro's controls, I can be forgiven: The airplane, though wonderfully light, balanced and responsive, readily exhibits what Kennedy describes as "textbook adverse yaw."

That yaw was clearly evident when I racked the left wing down with my dancing feet firmly planted on the floor. The nose swung sharply right a good 15 degrees before yawing back into alignment with the turn. This "adversity" seemed even stronger than in the J3 Cub I fly. Welcome back to Studentville.

The lesson: We're always beginners in a new airplane. Each new model deserves our heightened attention and respect. Insurance stats suggest that high-time pilots who boorishly assume they can whirl a new LSA around the skies without transition time sometimes get their faces slapped—hard.

The Voyager model of the Allegro comes equipped with an MGL Voyager EFIS, Garmin radio and transponder; the Executive model features two Dynon SkyView synthetic vision panels plus a Garmin G500.

"This is a rudder-dominant airplane," said Kennedy. "It has a light feel to it, though. You just think the direction you want to go." Indeed, once I lightened up on the controls to treat the lady properly, I could only nod in agreement: Allegro smiled as we waltzed smoothly through clear Florida skies.

The aircraft has a comfortable cockpit, too: The seat supports well under one's thigh for a slightly reclined attitude. Visibility is excellent: Eye level rests three to four inches under the wing bottom for my 5'11" height. The side windows belly out a bit for a good downward-viewing angle. And the tinted windscreen rises back for a straight-up/high-bank angle view through the top. Cool.

But comfortable as it may be, don't yank this dancer around. After a few mild Dutch rolls, I hurried into another bank, and Kennedy instructed me to feed in more rudder. "Just relax...relax...let the Force flow through you," he joked. "You've just discovered my teaching technique. Gentle handling does it. I fly it a lot with my pinky finger." Because Allegro demands good rudder technique, Ross finds his students jump into other birds and fly them well, though they don't take longer to complete the sport pilot course.
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Cirrus refines the SR22T with a 2011 Limited Edition

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Cirrus Aircraft and Plane & Pilot launch on an air-to-air photo flight of the 2011 Limited Commemorative Edition SR22T and the Vision SF50 jet.Video by Ron Mohrhoff.

In recognition of the company's 10th anniversary, Cirrus produced 10 Limited Commemorative Edition SR22Ts.

It's hard to believe it has been 10 years since Cirrus launched the SR22. It's doubtful that many people had any idea that, from its humble beginnings in 1984, the company that brothers Alan and Dale Klapmeier built would produce what would become the world's best-selling single-engine piston aircraft. The SR22 has been so successful that, since its debut in 2001, it has maintained that position through the decade. Cirrus is celebrating those 10 years of innovation with the launch of their Limited Commemorative Edition SR22T, which we got to fly on a recent sunny afternoon in Orange County, Calif.

No mention of Cirrus aircraft can be made without speaking of technical innovation. Cirrus changed the game when they introduced the SR20—which was certified by the FAA in 1998—and then raised the bar even further when they unveiled the SR22 a scant two years later. The new Limited Edition SR22T takes the hallmark of the Cirrus brand—unique engineering—and refines it even more. We thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at the new SR22T in the context of the innovations Cirrus has brought to the market.

Back in the pattern and after a beautiful flight along the shoreline, I came away with the impression that this is truly a cross-country airplane.

My partner in this quest is Ken Goble, Cirrus' Regional Sales Director for Southern California and veteran demo pilot. With thousands of hours in the SR22T, he knows the nuances and character of this airplane better than anybody. The first thing I notice—and what nearly every pilot notices when first settling into the Cirrus—is the space. Cirrus pioneered this roomy cabin, starting their design with the idea of a sphere instead of a rectangle. Goble explains that passengers feel much more comfortable in the auto-like interior. "Sit in the back," he implores. As I do and he moves his seat all the way back, I brace for the "knee crunch." But as his seat comes to its full-back position, I have room to spare— lots and lots of room.
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Serious sailplane, awesome cross-country S-LSA, comfortable, beautiful...wow!

Cruising under power through footless halls of air, Jim Lee and I thread our way between vaulting rises of cotton-edged clouds. Under one big cumulus high-rise with a flat, dark-gray bottom and a wispy penthouse, we feel a promising bump of lift. It's thermal-chasin' time!

"Okay, let's go to idle," says Lee, head of Phoenix Air USA. He talks me through the beautifully sculpted bird's five-second engine-shutdown sequence. I reach forward, turn off the radio and transponder so they don't get an amperage surge, and then, (gasp!) turn the engine key to Off. The 100 hp Rotax 912 ULS stops immediately, as Rotaxes do. I flick the optional electric "prop arm" switch, the two-blade carbon-fiber paddle feathers itself, and the world of mechanical noise fades away.

Beyond the long, graceful canopy bubble, the relative wind rushes over our ultraclean airframe. It's a warmish, balmy east Florida afternoon. Before takeoff, we saw buzzards working the thermals that popped after the morning overcast. Now, no birds anywhere—not a promising sign for soaring. We slow to 60 knots and start hunting. The left wing rises up strong; I move the stick left to turn into the thermal. Over the hissing breath of the wind, we can hear the variometer beep—now faster, indicating climb, now slower, to a low monotone: That's sinking air, stay away from that!

Lee talks me through a couple of proper high-bank turns to center up in the lift, with a notch of flaps (the manual detent lever selects four positions: -4 for cruise, 0, +5 and +10 degrees) to increase lift and slow to our best minimum sink speed of 45 knots. The rapid vario beeps reward us with the song of climb all the way around the 360. In five minutes, we've circled up several hundred feet, completely on the energy of the thermals, though it's a marginal lift day.

Before long, we're down to Lee's personal power-off safety minimum of 1,500 feet. We restart the engine, motor back up to 3,000 feet, and head north to explore under more clouds.

The Ideal "Hybrid"?
I could way too easily spend all my words exulting over the total pleasure of flying the Phoenix. It's effortlessly enjoyable—under power or turning silently in lift. If a powered sailplane lives in your house of dreams, I'd be remiss not insisting you arrange a demo.

Phoenix is about as easy to land as any LSA, even in the long-wing configuration (plug-on, swappable tips yield a 36- or 49-foot span). I had anticipated needing to stay on top of those long 15-meter wings, but full-span flaperons give you all the roll control you need, right down to flare speeds. Suh-weet!

The 5- and 10-degree flap settings are useful for lowering soaring speeds. Landings are typically done with the effective midwing spoilers, which bestow powerful command over final glide-slope. "Think of it as having a gas pedal," Jim says. "If you're coming up a bit short, back off on the spoilers."

My first landing was surprisingly easy. The Phoenix has a tailwheel like most gliders, but no tailwheel endorsement is required since it's classified as a glider. Regardless, the nose angle right at three-point touchdown and during taxi is modest: It's no sweat seeing over the panel glare shield. A hand brake on the stick is effective and intuitive to use. Lee describes three-pointers as "autoland." The 40 pounds of downforce on the tailwheel gives sufficient control up to crosswind speeds he says you wouldn't want to fly in anyway.

The cockpit is soooo comfortable: The reclined, thigh-supporting seats fit well and optimize both power-cruising comfort and the need for low-frontal-drag soaring aerodynamics. Phoenix can cruise 900 nm (eight hours!) at 118 knots (36-inch wing) at 5,000 rpm on one 26-gallon tank-up (two wing tanks of 13 gallons each)—better than many leading power-only LSA. Even with the 15-meter span, you get 114 knots!

The Piper Archer soldiers on into a new generation

Learning to fly is, in many respects, simpler than it's ever been. True, airspace is more congested, especially around the 80 or so major airline hubs, and aspiring pilots probably have more to learn, but today's trainers are about as sophisticated and easy to fly as possible. These days, it seems that Garmin glass avionics extend practically to the bottom rungs of most manufacturers' model lines. Admittedly, that talented glass-cockpit system is a complex device, but once a student gets in step with the big Garmin, flying the airplane becomes almost second nature.

The ranks of general aviation teaching machines have been dominated by Cessnas. Piper has always had a significant presence in the training class, but Cherokees and their successors have had an uphill battle in catching the older 150/152 and, more recently, the Skyhawk. Still, various versions of the PA-28-180/181 are popular as training aircraft. My Pilot Peggy started working on her private license in an Archer a while back, and absolutely loved the airplane. She switched to a late-model Skyhawk when the Archer's owner took his airplane off leaseback.

Similarly, I know other folks who won't accept anything less than an Archer. A few years ago, a good friend with an American oil company stationed overseas in Manila, Philippines, called and requested that I find him a nice Archer in which to teach his daughter to fly, and for use during his frequent trips back to the home office in Los Angeles. Barry wanted just the right airplane, was adamant about it being an Archer, wasn't in any big hurry, and encouraged me to be very picky. Over the next 18 months, I looked at a half-dozen airplanes, and was amazed at how few were on the market. Apparently, pilots who find good Archers hang on to them.

You could buy an Archer LX, earn your private certificate in it, go on to add an instrument rating, and eventually upgrade to a commercial license.

Now comes the Archer LX, an airplane Piper hopes will help improve its grip on the entry-level trainer/traveler market. The very nature of flight training is changing, and Piper hopes to help change it. A decade into the new millennium, Cessna, Diamond and now Piper, are placing more emphasis on learning to fly in a four-seat, midrange airplane rather than a dedicated two-seat trainer; then, transitioning to higher ratings, transporting family on vacations and weekend getaways, or flying business trips in the airplane.

The Piper Archer LX fits perfectly into such a multimission profile. Now that the 160 hp Skyhawk has been shelved, leaving that market exclusively to Piper's Warrior, the Archer LX is a head-to-head competitor with the Skyhawk S, a 180 hp variant of the basic 172 (though the S is fuel injected rather than carbureted). Except for the wing configuration, the Archer and Skyhawk are remarkably similar airplanes in many respects. They share the same horsepower, fixed-pitch props, four seats, fixed gear and cabins of comparable size. Both airplanes emphasize simple systems, gentle handling and landing characteristics that redefine the term "benign."

For many pilots, the Skyhawk/Archer debate devolves to an aviator's preference for high wing or low wing, a choice that often harkens to the type of airplane he or she trained in. There's almost no chance that debate will be resolved anytime soon. Read More...

Wings, webbed feet and wheels add up to the ultimate hybrid bird

The first clue that I'm in for a not-so-ordinary demo ride is when pilot Kerry Richter takes me through a departure stall (power on) over a small Florida lake. He shoves the throttle forward, then hauls back hard on the stick, right to the stops. Suddenly, I'm looking through the windscreen...straight up at the deep blue Florida sky. The deck angle is ridiculous. What's this, rocket-launch time? And the SeaRey just hangs there and never breaks.

"Okay, how about an accelerated stall?" Richter asks, and before I can answer, and showing no inclination to finesse the poor widdle airplane, he racks it into a good 60-degree bank, again hauling the stick all the way back. I'm grinning even as I warily watch the lake just 300 feet below. I'm contemplating a stall, involuntary wingover and rapid descent toward watery doom. But again, the stall never comes. The SeaRey hangs on, grittily demonstrating its solid aerodynamic chops without so much as a stall burble or a foot of lost altitude.

Richter laughs and rolls the airplane out. "That's all it does. We could sit here all day and never stall it. This is a very strong, stable airplane." Amen, brother. His cavalier airmanship tells me my host is either (1) a Top Gun wannabe bored stiff with the air show meet/greet routine, or (2) a guy who really knows this airplane inside and out.

The 44-inch-wide interior on the SeaRey features center control sticks, side-by-side fabric seats and Garmin avionics.

It's number 2. In the rush to get airborne, I hadn't realized that Richter is the designer and manufacturer of the SeaRey, and knows it better than anyone alive. And he's not done with me yet. Still at low altitude, he kills the power, again yanks the stick to the stops, and the SeaRey pulls up into a, shall we say, vigorous nose-high angle (I won't say we entered an aerobatic pitch angle—I won't say that), and once more, I'm enjoying the Neil Armstrong view of the blue sky.

But wait: There's more. When the SeaRey stalls, he kicks the big rudder hard right, and we're pointing straight down...well, 70 degrees down, which feels like the same thing. Fifty feet above the water, he rounds out and slides us onto the near-glass, late-day, sun-kissed water. And that's all in just the first 10 minutes.
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Premier Aircraft of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has created its own ultra version of the Diamond DA40 XLS

Those of us in the aviation press privileged to review new aircraft are sometimes taken to task for not being appropriately critical. The sentiment often seems to be, "If you're not finding things to dislike, you're not doing your job." That's more of a challenge with some airplanes than others. True, there are a few marginal designs, but some models are just too adorable to dislike. Think a husky puppy in a dog bowl or a kitten with a ball of string.

Or, think a Diamond Star. A few weeks ago at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Fla., I wished I could take a Star home with me. Flying with Premier Aviation's Jeff Owen, I had an opportunity to renew acquaintances with the four-seat Diamond, and the experience was equal parts fun and joy.

I'm sorry, all you cynics out there, but the Diamond Star is an absolute ball to fly. Sure, it would be great if it could inhale sky at 3,000 fpm and rip along at Mach .80, but it's already the fastest certified four-seat single above the planet with only 180 hp bolted to the nose. It's also the only one with an aft door, the largest back seat, and arguably the quickest handling in the class.

Jeff Owens' 2011 demonstrator was a special airplane upgraded by Premier Aircraft of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Premier sells more Diamond Aircraft than any other dealer in the world, so it's not surprising that they understand what the Diamond customer wants. Strangely, the modified Star is known as the Premier Edition, and it features upgrades in a number of areas. More on the Premier model later.

Esthetically, the basic DA40 is an automatic winner. Anyone who can't appreciate the sheer grace and beauty of a Diamond Star may need to consider a dog and a white cane. All the Diamond designs are the result of a continuing effort to round off the edges of general aviation. They reflect the shaved-leg smoothness of composite surfaces; semi-sailplane, high-dihedral, high-aspect-ratio wings; waspish empennage and elegant T-tail—all of which lend the Star an aerodynamic elegance, surprisingly uncommon in its class.

Okay, while it's true a sexy design helps any airplane sell, grading an airplane on looks alone is like ranking NASCAR drivers on their knowledge of Chaucer. Fact is, the Star has the numbers to back up its appearance, and the airplane's performance and utility are only enhanced by the Premier mods. Jeff Owen explains: "We wanted to offer a package of options to improve a buyer's choices, and the Premier Edition includes several of those. We made it a point to incorporate functional items as well as comfort and cosmetics features." Read More...

A lively, refined STOL winner 26 years in the making

Takeoff roll on the 100 hp Kitfox is a mere 320 feet, and stall speed is a slow 37 knots.

Just a few minutes into my flight with Kitfox's head honcho John McBean, it's obvious the current Kitfox Super Sport (SS) resembles the original kit plane of the 1980s, mostly in name only.

Oh, it has that lovely Kitfox look with the P-51 Mustang tailfeathers, sits like a Kitfox when you look over the cowl in its traditional taildragging stance (tri-gear also available), and sounds like a Kitfox when you crank up the Rotax to spin its composite prop. And the wings fold back for towing, trailering and garage storage, just like the original. But this lovely STOL sport bush plane is to the Denney Aerocraft Model 1 I built in the mid-'80s as the Shelby GT500 is to the original '65 fastback Ford Mustang. Same genetics, vastly evolved bird.

Banking the light-handling Kitfox into tight 360s over the central Florida landscape is an excursion into handling confidence. Unlike the original rudder-hungry version I built, the SS acquits itself well rolling in and out of turns, with just a touch of rudder to keep things centered up.

Most compelling is how solid the airplane feels. If the original kit version's flight personality was somewhat ultralighty, the Super Sport is more responsive and substantial, more like a "real" airplane. The pushrod controls add such a nice "right now" response to the handling. And those trademark drooped, full-span flaperons add snap to the turns, without making it twitchy or easy to overcontrol.

At takeoff and landing speeds, though, the flaperons will still provide strong roll response, so new/student pilots should keep their input light on the stick, or risk overcontrolling. Those flaperons also serve up a cleaner, "fatter" lift envelope for landing. You can drop in at just 36 knots (around 42 knots clean), roll out in just over 300 feet, jump off in the same distance, climb out well over 1,100 fpm and do it all over again. Works for me.

The Super Sport is a fully mature, beautifully finished and refined airplane. It's solid in the air and on the tarmac, and it handles the grass and dirt with aplomb.

Climbing up, doing stalls, or rather attempting to (it likes to hang docile on the prop in power off/on modes), pulling on flaps or adjusting trim with the electric push toggle is all thoroughly modern S-LSA-worthy. By that I mean this is no rewarmed kitplane with rough finish and eccentric flying habits you need to master before you can fly it comfortably. No knock implied against homebuilts, but some designs can challenge low-timers and traditional spam-can drivers alike, early on.

No, the Super Sport is a fully mature, beautifully finished and refined airplane. It's solid in the air and on the tarmac, and with the big optional balloon tires, it handles the grass and dirt with aplomb. This S-LSA version is wonderfully responsive, comfortable on long trips, yet certainly sporty enough for backcountry operations.

Bottom line? It's fun to fly, well priced against most of the S-LSA market (the kit side of the business helped with that these last tough years), and an all-around example of what an LSA can be, given enough time and market support to evolve its full potential.

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A turbo benefits far more than high-altitude cruise

Bill Cox and Jade Duckart pilot a new 2011 Cessna Skylane along the western side of Southern California's rugged Catalina Island.

Back in 1979, I purchased one of the very first Mooney 231s, my first-ever new airplane. At the time, the price seemed more applicable to something with a three-car garage and a circular driveway. Still, with all the tax benefits (investment tax credit and accelerated depreciation), the 231 turned out to be an excellent financial move. This was the first of the turbocharged, four-seat Mooneys, however, and the turbo system wasn't quite ready for prime time.

I purchased the 231, and immediately leased it on an all-encompassing, two-year contract from the date of delivery, so I had little to do with the airplane until 1981 when the lease expired. (In fact, I didn't even see "my" Mooney until the lease expired.) I found out later that the engine had suffered turbocharger problems from the beginning, and those problems continued when I took the airplane back, after the warranty expired, of course.

Between 1981 and 1987, when I finally traded the 231 for a Turbo Executive, I went through three more turbos, despite toeing every operational limit on temperature and cooldown. "

Fortunately, today's turbos are a new, more reliable generation of blowers. Mooney and every other manufacturer that uses turbochargers employ systems that are greatly improved from those first semiprimitive systems. By all accounts, today's turbos are as durable as the engines themselves, and operating characteristics are so similar, you might forget there's a compressor out front.

Case in point—the Cessna Skylane TC. A year ago, I made a 14-hour delivery of a new 2010 model from Lakeland, Fla., to Long Beach, Calif., and more recently, I flew a 2011 T182T equipped with essentially every option. Both experiences only served to reinforce the belief that today's turbochargers are tough compressors. Better still, the Skylane's sloped controller is automatic. It won't allow an overboost beyond the 32/2,400 limits under most conditions.

The Cessna store in the mountainous West of Southern California, Pacific Air Center on Long Beach Airport, only orders T182s for inventory (though they'll be happy to order anything you wish). Company president Rich Manor comments, "Here on the West Coast, the IFR MEAs for any flight other than right along the beach will nearly always be 11,000 feet or higher. A normally aspirated Skylane can climb to that altitude without problems," Manor continues, "but a turbo provides so much more flexibility of route, weather and height that most Western pilots prefer to have a blower out front. That becomes especially important for operation over the mountains north and east."

The Skylane TC's Lycoming engine is gently turbosupercharged. In other words, it develops more than the normal 29 inches of manifold pressure. Specifically, the TC's TIO-540-AK1A mill produces 235 hp at 2,400 rpm and 32 inches mp. Keep in mind, this is a significantly derated version of an engine that can develop 350 hp, so it's not even breathing hard at 235 hp. Read More...

Meet a top-quality, good-cruisin’, fun-flyin’ German composite

Developed by Germany-based FK-Lightplanes, the FK9 ELA Executive is a friendly airplane that offers excellent cockpit visibility, with overhead and rear windows, and features a BRS parachute for safety. The aircraft that we flew for this report was nicknamed Sparrow by its owner.

As my aerial host Mike Hansen climbs us through 2,500 feet to top the afternoon bumps, I'm already feeling settled in with my guest chariot, the FK9 ELA Executive.

I've wanted to fly the ELA, (which isn't an E-LSA—it stands for European Light Aircraft) for some time. It sports graceful compound curves and a strong composite/hybrid construction. And the FK9 series of aircraft, designed and developed since 1989 by Otto and Peter Funk of Germany-based FK-Lightplanes, is highly respected overseas, if not well known this side of the Big Water. It's time to correct that inequity.

A Fine Pedigree
Hundreds of well-made, sweet-flying FK aircraft are flying worldwide. The company was heralded in Europe as the top "ultralight" manufacturer last year over other powerhouse builders like Flight Design and Remos. You likely know of one model—the stylish, star-crossed FK14 Polaris, rebadged a few years ago as the SRS and intended as Cirrus Aircraft's S-LSA.

Alas, when the economy's Grim Reaper began swinging its indiscriminate scythe, the SRS program was shelved in favor of a more robust revenue producer: the Cirrus Vision Jet. A contractural embargo between Cirrus and FK restricted the FK14's introduction to Yankee country, since Cirrus wanted to keep its options until its own economics improved, so the FK14 has yet to debut.

And that's a double "alas," because Polaris is a gorgeous, perky low-wing flivver that could take the market by storm, just like the short-lived PiperSport.

Last April, a thrilling, newly reworked taildragger version, the FK14 LeMans, knocked everybody's socks off at Aero, the air show/convention in Germany.

The LeMans' exotic retro-style, double-bubble, side-by-side open cockpit recalls romantic flivvers of yore such as de Havilland's Gypsy Moth. Simply put, it's a jazzy, rakish beauty.

Thus, FK-Lightplanes, a progressive, top-notch company that continues to produce the folding-wing, popular FK9 MK IV, embraced globally for its training chops, friendly-fly persona and quality construction.

Jon Hansen, Hansen Group's founder, Mike's father and sole U.S. importer of the FK line, recently introduced me to another beauty, the FK12 Comet, a super-sexy S-LSA aerobatic biplane that inveterate sky-scribe Bill Cox will report on soon. Read More...

A pressurized, turbine, high-speed cruiser from Extra Aircraft

Single-engine turboprops are a relatively recent development in general aviation. The Cessna 208 Caravan was the first of the type and the most successful, with more than 2,000 built so far, but the 208 was a dedicated utility airplane, more often a cargo container than a luxury people-hauler.

If you’re considering cross-country machines, the first successful turbine single was the TBM-700, a plush six seater introduced in 1991 and reminiscent of the Piper Malibu. The Pilatus PC-12 premiered in 1995, and the Piper Meridian in 2001, bringing the current certified class to three models.

The price range of the three airplanes is as wide as their capabilities. The Meridian is the entry-level machine, a comfortable 260-knot six seater based on the Malibu, and currently base-priced at about $2.1 million. The TBM-700 has now evolved to become the TBM-850, another six-place airplane that clocks along at 300 knots in exchange for $3.3 million. Finally, the PC-12 tops the class in size and weight with up to 11 seats at 280 knots and a typical price tag of $4.4 million.

There have been several other aborted attempts along the way—Beech’s Lightning and the Interceptor 400 to name two—plus a number of conversions that replaced existing piston powerplants with turbine engines. The only one of the latter to meet with major success has been the Piper Malibu JetPROP. (JetPROP LLC of Spokane, Wash., has sold a remarkable 260 P&W PT6A turboprop conversions for the Piper Malibu and Mirage, nearly 25% of total Malibu production.)

Now comes the Extra 500, Walter Extra’s high-wing carbon-fiber take on what a turbine single should be. The airplane has been in development for almost a decade, though it’s regarded as a new design on this side of the Atlantic. Most pilots know Walter as the father of the famous Extra 230/260/300/330 series of sportplanes that have competed so successfully in the aerobatic arena for the last quarter century.

The 500 is a definite departure for Extra Aircraft of Dinslaken, Germany. The airframe and wing are essentially identical to those used on the Extra
400, a short-lived piston product that premiered in 2003. That first nonaerobatic Extra was a preliminary, toe-in-the-water experiment to see if there might be a market for a Malibu-like, high-speed cruiser. The 400 was a carbon-fiber design that used a water-cooled Continental TSIOL-550-C engine rated for 350 hp, a less-than-optimum choice, as it turned out.

I delivered N400EX, the first Extra 400 to be ferried across the Atlantic, from Germany to Arizona in 2004, and the trip was interesting, to say the least. (Other Extra 400s were shipped to the U.S. in pieces and reassembled at Extra’s American distributor, Aero Sport, in St. Augustine, Fla.) No one on the North Atlantic route had seen an Extra 400, so the airplane was a source of instant curiosity wherever I went. Read More...

Four if by land, two if by sea: making a great plane greater

Imagine this: You make a two-point landing...or a four-point! Then you back-taxi, take off and fly over to a lake. You land on the smooth-as-glass, sparkling water and beach the amphib next to your friend’s beach party. After lunch, you and your buddy pile in to lake-skim the local waterways at 20 feet. Welcome to amphibious flying, where your landing sites and possibilities for fun increase exponentially with the simple addition of water.

Four If By Land...
Aerodynamically and aesthetically, the Legend Aircraft AmphibCub is a distinctive creature. No longer a taildragger, the plane anchors to wheeled floats with rigid struts. That pretty much levels things up to tricycle-gear country.

I suppose, technically, the retractable wheels fore and aft make the lovely creature a “quadcycle-gear” airplane. And having four wheels bestows interesting characteristics for ground landings. You can land level on all four wheels, just like a flying car; nose-high on the two rear wheels like a tricycle or taildragger plane; or, in a crosswind, on the two side wheels of the upwind float. Now, how cool is that?

Back To The Ground
Presenting yourself to the airplane on land, you look up at the cockpit—and I mean up; it’s a tall bird. Aesthetically, this presents a sense-memory challenge for those with appreciable Cub time. The feeling of newness grows once you climb into that lofty cockpit. And what a sight you’re greeted with. Your head is nine feet above ground. Looking out over the nose to an open, commanding view is a kick...and we haven’t even fired up yet!

The metal Baumann BF 1500A amphibious floats, resplendent in classic Cub yellow, add so much sunshine you want to just soak it all in.

The LSA standard allows another 110 pounds on top of the max legal LSA weight of 1,320 pounds for duck feet, bumping max takeoff weight (MTOW) to 1,430 pounds. The Baumanns add a net weight of 160 pounds, resulting in a 990-pound empty weight and 440 pounds of useful load. Even so, the airplane cruises at almost the same speed as the wheeled version since the floats provide around 100 pounds of lift, helping unload the wing and resulting in less drag.

Taxiing from that lofty perch is way cool. Feed in pressure to the heel brake (Grove hydraulics) to initiate turns, taxi fast enough for rudder control, and you’re good to go. The 100 hp Continental 0-200 cranks a big 72-inch prop that’s pitched at 46 inches for a balanced off-water climb (750 fpm) and cruise (we saw 85 knots) performance.

All the controls are well placed in that roomier (three inches wider than a J-3) cabin. There’s a Johnson bar landing-gear lever on the floor—nice, long and smooth-working. All flight surfaces are cable-rigged but feel near pushrod-tight. And the airplane’s owner, Charlie Pickett, has some very cool modern gear in this classic son-of-a-fun flyer’s panel: a fully rigged Dynon SkyView with EFIS and synthetic vision, a Garmin 496 GPS, Garmin SL-40 nav/com, a PS Engineering PM1200 intercom, an all-electric panel, a...enough, the sky’s calling!
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How to make a great LSA even better? Fine-tune that cockpit!

The expansive gray concrete of Oshkosh’s runway 27 drops away. Golden early-morning sun throws long shadows ahead of us, the sky is clear and blue with picture-perfect white puffball clouds, and before we’re 500 feet AGL, I’m smiling large.

Really now: What better way to start your day than in a Remos GX?

The GXNXT is the newest iteration of my favorite-handling LSA, the GX. The airframe and flight characteristics are the same: It’s the cockpit that’s gotten an updo.

My host is Ryan Hernandez, the easygoing CFI down South who’s wrangling demo duties for Remos, on behalf of Tommy Lee’s Adventure Flight Aviation out of Springdale, Ark.

Hernandez has a few hundred hours in the GX. He also wears a Wichita Tin hat by teaching in Cessna 172s and 182s, doing contract flying in twins and pulling right-seat duty in a Citation Jet. That diverse GA background prompts me to ask what he likes most about the GX.

“Its handling characteristics,” he answers, and that’s no surprise to me. “It’s just great for training. I always recommend this airplane to my new students, over a Cessna 152 or 172, because you can go right from light-sport training to the private and the instrument rating, at a more affordable cost.”

He tells me Tommy Lee rents the GX for $95 per hour. Even older Cessnas can rent for more than that. Factor in the lower fuel burn of the industry-stalwart 100 hp Rotax 912S engine, and you’ve got a winner for flight-school operations.

The Plane NeXT Door
We head north to nearby Brennand Airport, a lovely flying-community strip far from the madding Oshkosh air-traffic crowd. Crossing over the strip to enter a left pattern, I’m remembering why I was so impressed the first time I flew the GX 18 months ago: It’s as friendly and familiar as the girl next door. I’ve yet to fly a more enjoyable LSA. The steerable nosewheel and pushrod ailerons and elevator make for a smooth, no-slop control feel. No matter how rusty you may be, the airplane makes you feel like an ace again. What a sweetheart.

The GXNXT is forgiving and stable, and requires little rudder to initiate coordinated turns. The bird has a wonderfully crisp, balanced, sports-car-like (but not overly sensitive) responsiveness whether you move the stick around subtly or briskly.
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Why air-show star Rob Holland is expecting big things from the new MX Aircraft MXS-RH

In the relatively short span of aviation history, invention—usually driven by the necessity of war and/or competition—has accelerated the growth of aircraft performance at an amazing pace. In less than 40 years, in just the speed category, we went from the Wright Flyer topping out at 30 mph in 1903 to the first-ever operational jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, which clocked speeds over 550 mph. In the next 35 years, jet performance took off and peaked in 1976, when the SR-71 Blackbird sped to a still unsurpassed (as far as we know!) record 2,193 mph.

You can’t achieve that type of growth rate without having “game changers” along the way. A “game changer” would be an aircraft that redefines an ability and/or performance in its category by accomplishing something that previously wasn’t feasible, practical or even safe. Examples include the 1915 Fokker Eindecker with it’s then-new ability to fire a gun through the propeller arc straight ahead, defining the airplane as a weapon. In the early ’30s, response to fears about wooden aircraft being safe airliners brought about the innovative all-metal construction of the DC-2, changing the airline industry forever. The perfect combination of a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and the P-51 Mustang with its laminar-flow wing, allowing for speed, maneuverability and the range to escort bombers all the way to target and back, changed the tide of World War II. Bill Lear and his Model 23 jets showed the world that if time is money, now there’s a class of business aircraft that can save gobs of it with speed and luxury. And in the world of aerobatics ruled by the biplane, Leo Loudenslager and his custom Laser 200 won a still-unprecedented seven U.S. Aerobatic Championships, showing the sport-aircraft world that the monoplane was going to be the new direction for competition and air-show flying in the future.

Today, with the exception of military aircraft, you don’t hear much about “game changers.” That’s why my heart leapt when I heard air-show performer Rob Holland’s voice-mail message after he had tested out the latest offering from MX Aircraft (www.mxaircraft.com), the MXS-RH. “This aircraft is going to be a game changer,” he said in his always-calm voice about his first impressions of the new plane.

“Pulling straight, I climbed 3,500 feet effortlessly and then accelerated unbelievably quickly out of the top,” Holland continued. “This plane carries energy like a 2,000 hp warbird that weighs only 1,200 pounds! The controls are so light, and the rudder authority is unbelievable. I will be able to do maneuvers I could only dream of before!” But a game changer? That’s a pretty bold prediction.

Holland would know; he has one of the most sought-after air-show acts (www.ultimateairshows.com) and a list of aerobatic titles as long as your arm, including Advanced World Champion. For the past four years, he has been flying the MX2, the two-place version from MX Aircraft, and has worked with the company to help it become one of the premier builders of top-level aerobatic aircraft in the world.

“We listen to the best in the business for design ideas,” says company founder and owner Chris Meyer. “In addition to building state-of-the-art, safe, solid designs, our goals include continued improvements in speed, maneuverability and even more control responsiveness while, all the time, working on making the aircraft lighter. The MXS-RH is the culmination of everything we’ve learned in speed modifications, from working with the Red Bull Air Race to incorporating ideas from champions like Sergey Rakhmanin and Rob Holland on making a more potent tail for unprecedented pitch and yaw authority.”

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A look at new single-pilot turbines

Diamond D-Jet

Among pilots, hope isn't the only thing that springs eternal; it's the next plane. Whether you dream of moving up, down, or sideways, there's sure to be some new offering to light your fire. And, if your fire involves a turbine, there are a lot of interesting products brewing. According to industry watcher and resident jet expert Cyrus Sigari, co-owner of JetAviva, "This is a dynamic market right now. We see renewed activity from business operators and owner-pilots wanting more capable small-turbine aircraft. New, efficient turbofan technology and single-engine economy drives a lot of that interest." With that thought in mind, here's a look at some interesting single-pilot jets and turboprop programs working their way to a market near you.

Category I: Nano-Micro-Very Light, Mostly Personal Jets

The good news for jet-pilot wannabes is that there are quite a few manufacturers, some new and some not so new, still eager to create a small jet with four to six seats at a price tag (mostly) below $3 million. Driven by the idea of a single engine and by new, efficient engine technologies, there are a lot of possibilities.

Yep, Eclipse is still around, though it's a completely reformulated company with new owners, a new name, a stronger partner and a new strategy.

Eclipse Aerospace EA-500

With apologies to Dan Hicks, you have to wonder, how can we miss them if they won't go away? Yep, Eclipse is still around, though it's a completely reformulated company with new owners, a new name, a strong partner and a new strategy. With Sikorsky Aircraft as a partner, and renamed Eclipse Aerospace, the company is on a completely new path. The first thing to go was the low price—a "new" refurbished and upgraded EA-500 jet will now set you back $2.15 million. Next, it reestablished support with service centers in Albuquerque, Chicago, Boca Raton and Istanbul. Finally, Eclipse is working on upgrades to bring all existing EA-500 jets up to the same standards and equipment. The 375-knot twin-engine EA-500 now comes with the Avio Integrated Flight Management System made by ISS. This WAAS-enabled package provides full flight management, chart display and weather-datalink capability. Current EA-500s are now fully deiced and ready to cruise up to FL410. About 60% of the 260 airplanes in the fleet have been upgraded at this time. The company is still on track to restart the production of new EA-500 jets in another year or so. Although costs still are being evaluated, the company hopes to reintroduce brand-new EA-500s at a price below $3 million. Contact: www.eclipseaerospace.net.

Eclipse EA-500

Piper Altaire

Aimed at owner-pilots and corporate users demanding more cost-effective executive aircraft, the new single engine from Piper promises to be among the most efficient jets in the sky. With a maximum certified ceiling of FL 350, the Altaire will operate above most weather. A Williams FJ44-3AP engine will produce a projected maximum speed of 360 ktas while burning only about 77 gph. Piper projects that at a long-range power setting, the Altaire will cruise 1,300 nm with NBAA-standard reserves.

The Altaire has a bigger cabin than the original Piper jet prototype (which was based on the Meridian fuselage), and features the latest Garmin G3000 avionics suite. Six seats and a number of interior trim options provide a first-class cabin experience. Options include a seventh seat, a lavatory or a closet. A heated nose compartment and rear cargo area in the cabin provide a total of 47 cubic feet of space that together can handle over 400 pounds of baggage. Trailing link gear, FADEC engine control and speed brakes, always popular with pilots, will be standard. Piper hasn't yet determined if anti-lock brakes will be standard or an option.

Piper Altaire

The Altaire program is currently in full swing with final design reviews in process, production tooling being fabricated and space at the Vero Beach factory undergoing refurbishment for production. Currently, the only aircraft flying is the proof-of-concept airplane, but plans include building five or six conforming aircraft. One will be used for static ground testing, and one dedicated to lifetime testing. The rest will go into the flight-test program. Piper says that the program is on track to deliver the first customer airplanes by late 2013 or early 2014, with a training partner soon to be announced. The current price is $2.5 million with a CPI price escalator. Piper currently has enough orders to fill the first three years of production. Contact: www.piper.com. Read More...

Piper’s Meridian is the least expensive, production, single-engine turboprop in the world, still the leader of the Piper tribe

The benchmarks of speed in general aviation have traditionally been easy to define. Back in the days when velocity was measured in mph, the two most common goals were 150 and 200 mph. Many singles could top the 150 mph mark—not many could touch 200 mph.

A truly slick Bonanza could sometimes manage 200 mph, and there were a few Mooneys that could match the magic 200, but the majority of piston speedmeisters in those days were twins.

Today, speed is measured in knots, and the bar has been raised accordingly. Two-hundred knots (230 mph) is the new, not-so-impossible dream, but again, there are few single-engine, piston airplanes that will achieve that goal. Flying 250 knots (287 mph) is a VERY difficult task, and no current, certified piston single achieves that speed (though the Mooney Acclaim S comes close).

The New Goal

That may be a contributing factor in the emergence of single-engine turboprops. Piper's Meridian is the most recent entry into the certified uniturbine market, a good idea that was finally born in 2001.

The PA46-500TP upped the ante to 260 knots, 50 knots quicker than the derivative Piper Mirage. Better still, it provided Piper with an entry-level airplane to a market the Vero Beach manufacturer hadn't seen in nearly a generation. Piper's twin-engine, world-beater, Cheyenne 400LS was the company's last turbine product, discontinued in 1991, but capable of blazing along at 350 knots.

The Meridian reintroduced Piper to the high-altitude regime. While it's true the turbocharged Mirage, Matrix and Seneca V are all capable of flight at 25,000 feet, few pilots choose to cruise that high with piston engines.

Turbines are made for the high road, and the Meridian will spend virtually all its time in the flight levels where traffic is usually light, weather and turbulence are most often well below and terrain isn't a factor unless you're flying in Alaska, the Andes or the Himalayas.

Simplicity Redefined

Turboprops in general employ massive simplicity masquerading as complexity, and that's only appropriate, as the Meridian is among the simplest of turboprops. The myth among piston pilots is that turboprops and jet engines are almost too complex for mere humans, and that's exactly backward.

Piston powerplants are, by far, the more complex, especially those on such heavy general aviation iron as the 421, Duke and Commander 680. True, things happen faster in a turboprop or jet, but the engines themselves are almost ridiculously simple, especially in contrast to piston mills that may have 250-300 moving parts.

Turbines dispense with turbocharging, operating as normally aspirated, flat-rated engines. Their potential power at sea level is far in excess of full-rated power. The pilot restricts power to a given torque limit at sea level, then adds power as he climbs higher. On the Meridian, max thermodynamic rating is 1,029 shp, but the flat rating is limited to 500 shp. This is somewhat analogous to the old manual turbochargers on Aerostar 601s that demanded adding power as you climbed higher.

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Soar, tour, train: With this baby, you do it all!

Maybe she dressed kinda funny. Maybe he kept to himself. She was a little eccentric, joined after-school clubs and was an A student. He was a loner; didn't play football or run track, wasn't the flashiest guy on campus, didn't drive a cool car. Then one day, walking down the hall or hurrying across the quad to class, this person you barely knew swam into your field of view, something shifted inside you, and your world lit up in a new and mysterious way.

That describes my sudden affection for the Pipistrel Virus. I had seen it around and planned to eventually report on it or one of its graceful siblings: The Slovenian company produces an intriguing family of capable and even exotic aircraft. But until that Oshkosh AirVenture day when I drove out to quaint Brennand Airport, I hadn't caught the Virus bug. Then I flew it. Game on.

The Virus (pronounced "Vee-roos") sports an aerodynamically slippery bullet-with-a-T-tail-stinger look. It's very comfortable for extended, economical, long-range motor touring. And its long, elegant wings support excellent soaring performance, too (24:1 glide ratio, around 200 fpm sink rate). Virus pilots get 800 miles or so range in a cabin that's roomy and well-upholstered enough to prevent distressed posteriors. It's an excellent trainer, too, and thus brings a hybridized value to light-sport flying that few LSA can offer.

Alright, we might as well get it out of our system: English-speaking pipples tend to wrinkle up their noses at the unusual name "Virus." "Pipistrel" comes from the company's beginnings in 1987 when it manufactured powered delta-winged trikes, reminding the locals of bats. So yes, Virus and Sinus (another Pipistrel motorglider) might seem to suggest the company sells sick flying rodents or bats with post-nasal drip. Ba-dah-bing! Okay, joke's over. Just use a Slovenian accent—"Vee-roos" and "See-noos"—and all sounds kosher.

Dave White, a big, super-friendly CFI, and partner/fearless leader Rand Vollmer, retired Army Col., West Point classmate of CIA Dir. David Petraeus and...founder/majordomo of San Antonio Light Sport Aircraft (SALSA—catchy, eh?), ran a clinic at Brennand on how to do a bang-up job giving demo rides for prospective customers. Every day it was flyable, the SALSA and Pipistrel clan were at Brennand, boring happy holes in the sky all day long with the Virus.

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Boeing’s venerable Stearman is one of the smallest landplanes the company built

Shortly after I purchased my first airplane in 1968 (a Globe Swift), I shared an executive hangar with a Ryan PT-22 and a Big Yellow Stearman, the latter owned by a retired Pan Am captain. Yes, it was one of those Stearmans, a totally restored prize winner, a perfect example of time standing still. It was as perfect as unlimited money and several thousand hours of TLC could make it. Doug was fanatical about his airplane and also given to a certain amount of whimsy.
I rode with him several times, but they were always rides, not flights, as he'd conveniently removed the front stick, so no one else could actually fly his airplane. As it happened, his Stearman's registration was N22747, and Doug, characteristically irreverent, took every advantage of the N-number.

He flew the airplane regularly, and said he delighted in contacting approach control at Long Beach, called simply SoCal in those days, and announcing, "SoCal, this is Boeing 747 at the east tip with Oscar. We'd like the ILS to Long Beach."

Doug chuckled that the controllers were always amazed when they assigned him a discrete squawk and identified his airplane on radar, flying the approach at 70 knots. The next call from ATC was usually something like, "Say again type aircraft."

These days, I have another friend with an equally pristine Boeing Stearman, Mike Hanson of Westminister, Calif. Hanson doesn't fly many ILSs in his Stearman, real or practice, but he and his vintage Boeing model 75 are a common sight in the skies over Southern California. His airplane is a fully restored Navy N2S3 trainer, a 1943 model, one of the 10,346 built by Boeing as primary flight-training machines during World War II, and used all over the world as a military trainer. Since the airplane never saw combat, there was little to demilitarize after the war, and thousands of Stearmans were sold as surplus.

Hanson is a roofing contractor by trade, and as he admits, he came by his classic airplane in perhaps the best/worst way possible. He inherited it. "I had a good friend in the early 1990s who owned this airplane and a Bonanza," Hanson explains. "He dearly loved his Stearman. When he died a few years later, he willed it to me, and suddenly, I became caretaker of a treasured piece of aviation history."

Since then, Hanson and his wife, Kendle, have established their own freelance barnstorming business (www.biplanefun.com) out of Compton, hopping rides above the spectacular Palos Verdes coastline. The Hansons have logged some 2,000 hours in their classic Boeing in the last 13 years.

Unlike some antique flying machines that seem to sit in their hangars, the Stearman isn't a shop queen. Hanson reports maintenance hasn't been that difficult, partially because of the number of airplanes still on the registry. Read More...

Cessna’s hit airplane keeps getting better with age

The 2012 Skyhawk features three new exterior paint schemes and a Garmin GTS 800 traffic system that integrates with the G1000 and is ADS-B compatible.

All really great flying adventures begin at dawn," wrote Stephen Coonts in his cross-country odyssey Cannibal Queen, and those words were all I was thinking about as I drove to the airport with the sun still hiding and the new day before me. I was excited because I'd be flying Cessna's new Skyhawk, and the prospect was enticing.

To some, the idea of flying Cessna's venerable 172 may not conjure up adventure, but to me, the airplane is something of an aerial version of Chevrolet's classic 1956 Bel Air—a vehicle whose pedestrian character belies the fact that it's simply a cool ride. They were both born in the same year, and who doesn't like an airplane they call The Pilot Maker?

So much has been said and written about Cessna's Skyhawk that any conversation should begin with what the airplane isn't, because that's where its strength lies. The 172 isn't very fast, and it's not an exemplary hauler. It's not miserly on fuel nor is it a fast climber. The Skyhawk doesn't land especially short, nor is it highly maneuverable. The Skyhawk is none of these, yet is enough of each, and that's why it's the biggest-selling aircraft in general aviation history.

That morning, I would be flying with Rich Manor, President of Pacific Air Center, one of Cessna's most successful dealers. Our plan was to depart Long Beach and head over the rolling hills of California's Central Coast and stop at Santa Maria for breakfast. That's a typical mission for a Skyhawk, so I wanted to experience it in its natural habitat. The forecast was for clear weather with winds picking up in the late afternoon.

There's no need for a detailed history lesson on the Skyhawk, but pilots may like to know today's 172 was borne from the idea of putting tricycle gear (then called Land-O-Matic) and a new empennage on the Cessna 170 airframe. Otherwise, the original 172 was identical to the 170: manual flaps, a 145 hp Continental O-300 engine and a gross weight of 2,200 pounds. There was no rear window on the first 172, and most of us have seen the straight tail it sported those first years.

There were 1,174 of these babies that rolled off the production line the first year—8,999 in the first five years! The airplane was a runaway success. Pilots loved its gentle handling, benign flight characteristics, the simplicity of its tricycle gear and those big flaps that made landings easier for beginners. In 1960, the bird got its now-recognizable swept tail; in 1961, the name "Skyhawk" was first used. The rest really is history. Read More...