December 2012

Volume XLII
Number 12

The
consumer
resource for
pilots and
aircraft
owners

2
Pa 012 I
Cessna 206 ge nd
31 ex
Heroic load hauler on the used market … page 24

Quiet on the cheap … page 4 Piper’s Matrix … page 8 Cirrus repacks … page 18

4 BARGAIN ANR HEADSETS 12 BOOT REPLACEMENT 18 CIRRUS CAPS REPACKS

Lightspeed and Telex are top Two systems to pick from, but If a used model needs one,
picks not much price competition knock $10,000 off the price

8 PIPER MATRIX 15 GARMIN GDL 88 21 MYWINGMAN APP

Lots of rrange, club seating The first of many does-it-all Bendix/King’s debut of sim-
and speed sans complexity ADS-B boxes pler navigation and planning
 F I R S T W O R D

EDITOR
Rick Durden Renting: What’s Reasonable to Expect?
I just received an e-mail from an acquaintance outlining the stunningly bad
MANAGING EDITOR experiences he had with airplane rental at an FBO near his new home. He
Larry Anglisano loves to fly but according to more than one pilot, the only FBO near him is ut-
terly indifferent to its rental fleet and customers. He’s about to take his consid-
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR erable discretionary recreation money and spend it on something else.
Paul Bertorelli With all of the hand-wringing
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR we do about pilots who quit flying,
Jonathan Doolittle I’ve wondered why one of GA’s
significant business problems—
crummy, unprofessional rental
SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT
experiences—continues unabated.
P.O. Box 8535
Big Sandy, TX 75755-8535
I’ve watched too many pilots quit
800-829-9081 flying because the only operator in
www.aviationconsumer.com/cs the area made the rental experi-
ence a pain in the whatsis rather
FOR CANADA than fun.
Subscription Services Sure, renting is expensive, but
Box 7820 STN Main it’s cheaper than ownership. Yes, I’ve heard the constant background bitching
London, ON 5W1
about the high price of the rental airplanes that has been going on since the
Canada
Wrights opened a flight school. It will never stop.
Back Issues, Used Aircraft Guides In reality, every pilot I know was aware from the beginning that flying wasn’t
203-857-3100 cheap. Invariably, they were willing to pay for what they thought was going to be
a heck of a lot of fun.
REPRINTS: Aviation Consumer can Too often what they got was an operator who considered airplane rental a los-
provide you or your organization
with reprints. Minimum order is 1000 ing proposition and only did it because it was required under the airport’s FBO
copies. Contac t Jennifer Jimolka, contract. Too many times the airplane interior was filthy, the squawk sheet hadn’t
203-857-3144
been addressed for weeks, upon getting to the airport they were told, “Oh, yeah,
the airplane broke yesterday, it should be back on the line tomorrow” or walked
AVIATION CONSUM out to find an unairworthy airplane.
ER (ISSN #0147-9911) is At the risk of coming up with a cliché “bill of rights” for renters, there are some
published monthly by basic, reasonable customer expectations that an FBO should meet with its rental
Belvoir Aviation Group business. I’m not advocating a concierge-style arrangement, just that the business
LLC, an affiliate of Bel- should be customer-friendly, professional and profitable—the rental rate must
voir Media Group, 800 be at a level that will generate a profit for a well-run business, pilot complaining
Connecticut Avenue, notwithstanding.
Norwalk, CT 06854-1631. Robert Eng- The airplanes should be clean, inside and out.
lander, Chairman and CEO; Timothy H. If an airplane goes out of service, the upcoming people on the schedule should
Cole, Executive Vice President, Editorial be contacted immediately so they don’t waste a drive out to the airport. If there is
Director; Philip L. Penny, Chief Operating another airplane available and the pilot is qualified for it, even if $10 or $20 more
Officer; Greg King, Executive Vice Presi- per hour, it should be offered to the customer at the rate of the airplane that he
dent, Marketing Director; Ron Goldberg, was scheduled to rent.
Chief Financial Officer; Tom Canfield, Vice Customers should be encouraged to note squawks and they should be worked
President, Circulation. off as soon as possible.
Refurbish interiors every few years. There’s nothing wrong with old airplanes.
Periodicals postage paid at Norwalk, CT, Nevertheless, the customer is stepping up to pay for a quality rental; airplanes of
and at additional mailing offices. Rev- any age should work well and look good.
enue Canada GST Account #128044658. Have a system in place so that a pilot who will be carrying a full cabin load
Subscriptions: $84 annually; single cop- can make certain the airplane isn’t topped off just before her turn to use it.
ies, $10.00. Bulk rate subscriptions for Make it convenient and secure to depart or return outside office hours.
organizations are available. Copyright Have a comfortable area for passengers to wait, with clean rest rooms.
© 2012 Belvoir Aviation Group LLC. All Make it easy to understand how your insurance is set up and be honest in
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole explaining what your renters might want to do to further protect themselves.
or in part is prohibited. Printed in the USA. Make it fun. Do such things as organize, not pay for, a monthly evening at a
local restaurant so renters can socialize with others of like interests. Make sure
Postmaster: Send address corrections to one of your instructors is there to talk up flying and be a mentor. Use social
AVIATION CONSUMER, P.O. Box 8535, Big media to alert users to events they might like or would want to rent one of the
Sandy, TX 75755-8535. In Canada, P.O. Box airplanes to attend.
39 Norwich, ON NOJ1PO, Canada. Publish- Pilots who have good experiences come back and help make the rental busi-
ing Agreement Number #40016479 ness profitable and an integral part of a successful FBO. —Rick Durden

2 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com December 2012
 L E T T E R S

The Zen of Spark just as everyone has—I have thrown “The FAA requires using a mask
I maintain 13 airplanes for a flying out with a tear in each eye. instead of a cannula above FL180.”
club averaging 500 hours monthly. Two years ago, I found one I’ve read this many times, but it is
We have transitioned to Tempest Champion fine wire with half of the not in the FAR Part 91 regarding op-
plugs, having used Champions for insulator missing. My fear was the erations. It only appears in the FARs
50 years. The reasons are exactly damage it may have caused to my in Part 23, which applies to aircraft
as you outlined. Center electrode turbocharger vanes on its way out. certification, and then requires a
cracking was getting annoyingly CHTs were normal, so I failed to mask be provided for systems used
significant, but the real straw on the consider the more damaging detona- above FL180. It says nothing about
camel’s back was the resistance issue. tion issue. This year I found another what a pilot or passenger must use.
Both have been fine wire Champion There is not a limit of FL180 for
completely solved with half the insula- passenger or pilot use in operational
by changing plug tor missing and sections of the FARs.
brands. yet another with a With a reservoir cannula and
High resistance cracked insulator pulse oximeter, there is no reason a
was showing up that was only seen cannula cannot safely be used above
as hard starting, under the magni- FL 180.
primarily on our fying lamp at my
152 training fleet, spark plug cleaning/ Charles Robertson, MD
and to a lesser gapping station. St. Louis, Missouri
degree on our These incidents
Warrior fleet. We were on different
first noticed it sev- cylinders and not
eral years ago on on the same engine. CORRECTION
a newly overhauled engine with new After reading your article, I say with In the Garmin G500 versus
Champion REM37BY plugs. Within a gasp in my spark plug replacement G600 article, July 2012 Aviation
150 hours, it was almost impossible checkbook, all Champions—fine Consumer, we included the L-3
Consumer
to start, although once it did start it wire or not—are being replaced with WX500 as an available remote
ran just fine. Tempest massives. input. Garmin tells us the inter-
Troubleshooting eliminated all I strongly recommend focusing the face won’t work yet, but it will
other engine and mag problems. investigation on material, engineer- with a future software release,
When we finally changed out the ing and manufacturing processes at expected later next year.
plugs with new (Champions), it Champion, not on operating condi- Our advice to those installing
started instantly. Two hundred hours tions. Find the differences between these two systems—have your
later, it was back to burning up the the two companies’ plugs and you shop add the data wires now so
starter. At the time, I heard that will find the guilty component. they won’t have to tear the in-
Cirrus owners were having similar stallation open again next year.
problems. K. Dingman
We then began having the same Via e-mail
problem with the other three Cessna CONTACT US
152s. It was solved with new plugs. In a sidebar to your spark plug ar- Editorial Office
That caused us to start check- ticle you quoted Champion’s Kevin 616-901-6516
ing the resistance in the plugs. We Gallagher as stating that measuring E-mail: consumereditor@hotmail.
immediately had to discard many resistance on a 9-volt ohmmeter com
Champion plugs with resistance of doesn’t give a true reading of the re-
over 15,000 ohms. We have gone to sistor’s performance. To the contrary, Subscription Department
Tempest plugs and have completely Military Spec MIL-S-7886B, Section P.O. Box 8535
eliminated the problem. 4.7.2 states, “Each spark plug shall Big Sandy, TX 75755-8535
be checked for stability of internal 800-829-9081
John Hunter resistance and contact measurement Online Customer Service:
Via e-mail of the center wire resistance by use www.aviationconsumer.com/cs
of a low voltage ohmmeter (8 volts
I own and operate a Beech Duke. or less).” Back Issues,
GAMIjectors are not offered for the Used Aircraft Guides:
380 HP turbocharged, intercooled John Herman 203-857-3100
Lycomings installed. I use a very nice Tempest Plus Marketing Group E-mail: customer_service@belvoir.
engine monitor, do not run LOP and com
do no shock cool. I can promise you Supplemental Oxygen For weekly aviation news
that the plugs I have dropped—and In reading your November 2012 ar- updates, see www.avweb.com
I have dropped a few over the years ticle on oxygen systems I ran across,

December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 3
 COCKPIT ACCESSORIES We put our high-priced ANRs
away and lived with a variety of
lower-cost models for a couple of
months. All survived our abuse.

maintenance technicians, who use

headsets every day for ground and
flight testing. We also passed them to
back seat passengers, including picky
teenagers. Some of the pilots in our
sample group own the high-priced
Bose A20—which escalated expecta-
tions. Without revealing sell prices,
we asked our testers how much they
would pay for each model, if they
would buy them. Each tester was

ANR on a Budget:
given an evaluation checklist that,
on a four-point scale—poor, fair,
good, excellent—rated four major
categories, to include comfort, styl-

Lightspeed, Telex Tops ing, audio performance and durabil-

ity. We then took the average of all
the categories and issued each model
a final overall score.
You don’t have to spend big for a good-performing ANR
COMFORT FOR ALL
headset. Our tests of the market’s mid to lower-end found We learned early in our testing that
models that deliver comfort, quality and value. headset evaluation is subjective, par-
ticularly when it comes to comfort.
For example, good fit and comfort
by Larry Anglisano for one pilot was excellent to an-
other. For instance, one tester always
flies with a ball cap, so he graded
comfort based on the pressure point

G
ot $1200 to spend on a head- many models in one article. Instead, at the top of the hat. Another always
set? That’s what you’ll have we consulted with retailers who flies with earrings, so she focused on
to pony up for a Bluetooth- sell a lot of headsets, including the how the ear cups pressed the ear-
equipped Bose A20—a high-end folks at Gulf Coast Avionics, who rings.
model that easily ranks at the top graciously sent us some models they The other subjective and mission-
of the ANR food chain. Don’t get us think represent the current buying specific category was durability and
wrong—we think the flagship Bose trend in budget ANR. We also talked for this, we listened closely to the
A20 continues to set the standard by with Sporty’s, for their view of the flight instructors in our group. They
which all other aviation headsets are market. Last, we surveyed a hand- plug and unplug these things many
judged. If we had the dough, we’d ful of buyers who had their sights times every day, toss them on top
buy a set for every seat. on particular brands. Ultimately, we of cowlings and wings and hastily
On the other hand, our recent chose six models, the lowest-priced shove them into their flight bags.
sampling of a half dozen lower-cost unit selling for around $200 with Like some of our testers, if your
models proved that there are worthy the highest-price model discounted headset never leaves your airplane,
alternatives. Whether it’s a spare set to $799. The sample group included you don’t subject them to such rigor.
to toss around the back cabin or one unique, non-ANR model. Our advice is to buy a headset-
for primary use in the left seat, we Our testing process was basic—we from a vendor that can offer an
found a variety of models that offer tested them the way you would use exchange, if it turns out you don’t get
solid performance without draining them in the real world. We skipped along with it.
the budget. geeky lab analysis and complicated
audio engineering data. Instead, LIGHTSPEED SIERRA
OUR EVALUATION we assembled a diverse test group While we hate to spoil a surprise,
We reeled in over a dozen ANR of a half-dozen active pilots and the Lightspeed Sierra was the hands-
models to test—and even that didn’t handed these things out like candy down favorite of every tester in
cover the entire market. While we on Halloween. Our group included our group. The Sierra weighs in at
used every one of them, there’s no flight instructors, charter pilots, 16 ounces and has a high-quality
way we could effectively report on so go-places aircraft owners and even and rugged feel, in our view. It also
4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com December 2012
earned cheers for comfort, much in Back-seaters demand
part for its oblong headband design ANR comfort, too. The
that limits clamping pressure. Beyerdynamic HS800,
The Sierra is one of the higher-
priced models in the sample group, top right, got raves for
street-priced at around $600. We high-end audio quality
think it’s a good value, given a long and German ergonom-
list of standard features. These in-
clude an integrated cell phone Blue- ics. The dirt-cheap Gulf
tooth interface that at times flunked Coast GCA-ANR, lower
the pairing test—ignoring more than right, were a comfy fit
one iPhone handshake. It also has a
stereo music input, but you’ll have to on small heads.
hard-connect a music device because
the wireless Bluetooth only works for
telephone input. Speaking of music, ticed after engine start in our test
the headset has a smart music mut- Bonanza, which was equipped with
ing function that lowers the music a Garmin GMA340 audio panel.
volume for incoming radio trans- Microphone audio performance was
missions. The set runs on two AA accurate while the phone audio was
batteries that should last upwards of a bit trebly, as one tester commented.
40 hours. There’s auto-shutoff, a low We took the 30XT on a multi-hour
battery indicator and accurate dual trip and hardly noticed that they
volume controls that are built into a were on our head. We especially
modern control module that earned
cheers for having a sturdy, high-end
feel. BEST ANR CONTROLS
There were a couple of complaints
on the Sierra’s performance when
the ANR circuitry was shut off.
More than one tester noted that
this passive use created muffled
phone audio. “I wouldn’t want to
fly with these long distance with-
out the ANR,” said one tester. On a
side note, we’ve used the Bose A20
with the ANR circuitry turned off,
and had similar results. Lightspeed
throws in a sturdy, padded carry
case, music patch cable and a five-
year warranty.

TELEX STRATUS 30XT

With a focus on battery power man-
agement, the 18-ounce Telex 30XT
earned a reputation in our test group
for its durable and handsome design.
It feels sturdy, too, with rubber-
capped volume controls that are
located on each ear cup. Speaking of
ear cups, the cups on the 30XT of-
fered a solid seal on ears of all sizes
without excessive clamping pressure.
The Telex offers three adjustable
pressure clamping settings with its
Comfort Cam lever, where dialing in Clockwise from left, the user controls on the Beyerdynamic,
more pressure offers a tighter seal on Lightspeed and Flightcom were favored for their high-end
the ear and increased noise reduc-
tion. The obvious trade-off here,
feel and modern ergonomics. These modules serve double-
which we confirmed while wearing duty as power supply, entertainment input and power con-
sunglasses, is less comfort. We noted trol. As a rule, lower-end models had lesser-quality control
ANR circuitry-induced white noise sets.
with the Stratus, but this went unno-
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 5
 The Flightcom present in the phone audio,” said
V90ANR, top, scored one, while another reported that the
microphone audio had a tendency
well for durability to clip. The dual, earcup-mounted
but its microphone volume controls, however, worked
performance was lack- with linear accuracy.
The V90 comes with generous
ing. The Telex Stratus auxiliary input capability, including
30XT, middle, topped dedicated music and telephone audio
in styling and ergo’s. that automatically mutes with in-
coming radio communications. The
The Lightspeed Sierra, headset runs on two AA batteries
bottom, was favored that are preserved by an automatic
for doing nearly every- shut-off circuit that Flightcom calls
the Sure Power System—chopping
thing well. the power after 15 minutes of lifeless
audio.
There’s no Bluetooth on the V90,
but instead, a cable-required cell-
liked the sturdy microphone boom phone interface jack, which worked
and thick wind muff. well in our trials, as did the auxiliary
The 30XT runs on two supplied input jack for music input. Street-
NiMH rechargeable batteries that priced at around $430, we think
we found to have good endurance, the V90 could be a better headset if
although for long trips, we prefer it had a slightly smaller profile and
to use Alkalines, which the unit loses the old-fashioned metal frame.
can accommodate. Telex supplies a
variety of wall charging plugs, mu- GULF COAST GCAANR
sic input patch cable and a headset The $205 GCA-ANR was the least
storage bag that proved to be way expensive set in our group. It held its
too small. own against models that cost nearly
three times as much. It weighs 19
FLIGHTCOM VENTURE 90 ounces and while some of our testers
The V90 got high scores for durabil- complained of the headset’s clamp-
ity, particularly for the washable ing pressure, it fit comfortably on
polar-fleece head pad and thick smaller heads. While marketed as an
leather ear seals. It ranked high for entry-level model, it doesn’t skimp
modern styling, with its carbon fiber on useful features including a stereo
print design on the ear cups. The and mono select switch, automatic
17-ounce V90 also scored well for shutoff, plus cell phone and music
its control module, which is both input interface. Gulf Coast says the
durable and functional, with an ac- two AA batteries can power the ANR
curate battery life annunciator. But circuitry for 30-40 hours. The head-
for audio performance, our testers set comes with gel ear seals and ear
carried them in with mixed results. seal covers. The ANR control module
“There was an odd background noise has a no-frills feel but for an ANR

MODEL SCORE HITS MISSES PRICE

BEYERDYNAMIC
GOOD COMFORT, HIGHEND MUSIC INPUT WHERE’S THE BLUETOOTH? $799
HS800
FLIGHTCOM
FAIR DURABLE EAR SEALS, RUGGED BUILD MICROPHONE CLIPPING ISSUES $429
V90ANR
GULF COAST
FAIR GOOD FIT FOR SMALL HEADS CONTROL MODULE FEELS CHEAP $209
GCAANR
LIGHTSPEED
EXCELLENT COMFORT, AUDIO, STYLING, VALUE FINICKY BLUETOOTH CONNECTIVITY $600
SIERRA
TELEX
EXCELLENT MODERN ERGONOMICS, STYLING TINNY PHONE AUDIO, RASPY MIC $569
STRATUS 30XT
CLARITY ALOFT
GOOD EXCELLENT AUDIO PERFORMANCE FINICKY FIT FOR SOME SMALL EARS $525
CLASSIC

6 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com December 2012
that sells for under $200 and per-
forms to reasonably high standards, CLARITY ALOFT IN-EAR HEADSETS
we’re not complaining.
Because many ANR buyers consider volume knob, music input jack, and
BEYERDYNAMIC HS800 them, we included the entry-level, stereo/mono switch.
To many, Beyerdynamic is an unfa- in-the-ear headset from Clarity Every tester in our group em-
miliar name in the aviation headset Aloft in our tests. We compared braced the freedom of the de-
arena. Founded in Berlin in 1924, the in-ear models in the February 2011 sign over any traditional models,
company developed dynamic issue of Aviation although two tiny-eared female
studio microphones in the late Consumer. The $525
testers struggled to obtain a good
1930s and in 2008 developed entry-level Classic
the first aviation headset with model from Aloft fit, despite bending the flexible ear-
DANR, which is Digital Adap- easily held its own band. If you are sensitive to stuffing
tive Noise Reduction. Digital- against every ANR earbuds in your ears, you’ll likely
ly-controlled ANR circuitry model we tested. In snub the ear canal-stuffing design.
uses high-speed clocked mi- fact, we think the It’s important to insert the foam
croprocessors which, accord- set matched and in buds completely in your ear or
ing to the company, combines some cases bettered you’ll lose considerable sound
feedback and feedforward the audio quality of damping. Speaking of sound damp-
algorithms for a noise reduction per- every other model. The Aloft Classic ing, don’t necessarily expect the
formance found in no other aviation unit is passive, which means it has in-ear design to always match the
headset. no ANR circuitry. Instead, expand-
sound-proofing afforded by high-
How did it perform in our testing? able foam ear canal tips are stuffed
end, full-ear enclosures. We had
Quite well, although we initially had inside the ear canals to provide
some doubts. Energizing the ANR 35-45 dB sound damping, similar no complaints while using them in
circuitry in the HS800 produces a to what ANR can offer. The frames, any of our test aircraft and noted
noticeable digital-like white noise, which wrap behind the head, are excellent microphone audio per-
which the company describes as a connected to ear hooks that fit over formance—proving that you don’t
counternoise to unwanted noise. We the ear, are eyeglasses-friendly and necessarily need ANR circuitry for
couldn’t quite wrap our heads around lightweight. A controller houses a canceling noise.
the theory but we can attest to excel-
lent noise-cancelling qualities, which
is what matters the most. Speaking German-made Beyerdynamic HS800 in the group. Still, our test group
of head-wrapping, most of our testers to come up on top, based on its price. still preferred the Lightspeed Sierra,
spotted the set’s obvious quality We shopped mail-order retailers and which sells for $200 less. Based on its
finish. The genuine leather-wrapped found the HS800 discounted to $799, performance, comfort, features and
earcup and headband surfaces reek— but it was still the most expensive in styling, we declare it a solid win-
literally, of high-quality leather. our group. While we think it pushes ner—with the Telex 30XT winning a
“They smell like the leather interior the boundaries of budget pricing, close second, based on their overall
in my BMW and are just as comfy,” we used it as a benchmark, based on performance, build quality, comfort
noted one tester. But some of the price. Did it live up to its high price and value.
testers noted more clamping pressure tag? We think so, with fine fit, finish Last, we think you’ll be happy with
than they would like.“They are far and exceptional ANR. Speaking of any of the units we sampled, but as
from uncomfortable, but I wouldn’t music, the HS800 will deliver seri- with any headset, you really need to
give up my Bose A20s for them,” said ous hi-fi on the fly—better than any try them before you buy them.
one tester.
Battery endurance of two AA
alkalines is fair, lasting 25 hours and CONTACTS
are preserved by automatic shutoff.
Strutting its studio roots, the HS800 Aloft Technologies Lightspeed
offered the best music input quality 612-747-3197 503-968-3113
of any in the group—with a bass re- www.lightspeedaviation.com
flex system that rivals high-end audio
www.clarityaloft.com
control panels, while a selectable mu- Beyerdynamic Gulf Coast Avionics
sic automute circuit stifles the input
when you don’t want to miss a radio 631-293-3200 800-474-9714
call. As much as we liked the HS800, www.beyerdynamic.com www.gca.aero
we think buyers should demand a
Bluetooth from a headset that’s priced Flightcom Telex
at nearly $800. 800-432-4342 800-392-3497
WRAP IT UP
www.flightcom.net www.telex.com
We started this review expecting the
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 7
 AIRCRAFT FLIGHT TRIAL

Piper Matrix: Matrix outsold the Mirage five to one

because, dealers say, it had a substan-
tially lower price. So much for price

Speed Sans Complexity sensitivity.

DEFLATED MIRAGE
When Piper announced the Matrix in
Piper hit on a winning formula when it yanked the the fall of 2007 for the 2008 model
year, we thought they had come adrift
pressurization out of the Mirage. It continues to be a from market reality. If a buyer could
brisker seller, even in a soft market. afford an expensive cabin-class single,
who would opt for a non-pressurized
version over one with pressurization?
by Paul Bertorelli What we mistakenly discounted was
the large price Delta between the two

W
hen Piper introduced the flight levels. Almost 25 years later, it models. In 2008, a new Mirage sold
Malibu in 1984, it was a decided to revise the model down- for $1.1 million against $785,000 for
stunning success because of ward by yanking the pressurization, the Matrix.
its high performance, tony club seat- defying the fundamental notion that Piper convinced dealers that it
ing and pressurization—nose hoses high-priced features are what buyers could deliver at the lower price if
were no longer required to live in the want. the volume was right. It worked. The
The Matrix was, as were the Malibu company produced 101 Matrix air-
C H E C K L I S T and Mirage, an instant sales success, craft the first year, but that fall, when
selling more than 100 during the first the financial meltdown occurred,
Who needs pressuri- year to a market that everyone else sales nosedived. Still, Piper managed
zation? Evidently many had missed: high-performance piston to move 33 airplanes in 2009 and
buyers don’t. owners who wanted a step-up, but another 23 in the blackest recent year,
who couldn’t afford a turboprop or 2010.
Matrix doesn’t quite felt unqualified to fly one. What’s the appeal? The lower price
deliver turboprop As of 2012, the Matrix is in its fifth
performance, but model year and although sales for all
operating costs are low. the OEMs have tanked, the Matrix With stretched nose and wide
and its pressurized stablemate, the gear stance, above, the Mirage
At $903,000-plus, Mirage, continue to be strong sell-
ers for Piper, accounting for more
and Matrix are unmistakable
equipped price has
escalated substantially. than a third of its total sales by units. but also indistinguishable from
In 2008, the introductory year, the each other at a distance.
8 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com December 2012
Garmin’s G1000, top photo, is standard equipment in
the Matrix/Mirage. So is a GFC700 autopilot, right,
whose control panel lives under the MFD. G1000
keyboard is on the lower shelf of the power pedestal,
bottom photo.

is one, but the Matrix delivers equiva- avionics, with two

lent performance to the Mirage, PFDs and a central
without the complexity of pressur- 15-inch MFD with a
ization. And without the weight of keypad control panel
cabin plumbing, it has slightly better that resides in a new extension of
payload. Dealers and owners say it’s the power pedestal. Along with the
marginally less expensive to main- G1000 comes a GFC700 autopilot,
tain, although we’re not sure that’s a the AP of choice these days. There’s
significant draw for a buyer who can also a known-ice package—pneumat-
afford most of a million bucks for a ic boots—and an oxygen system that
new airplane. most owners seem to want. While the
The Matrix is essentially identical original Matrix was almost $400,000
to the Mirage. It has the same fuselage less than the Mirage, that price dif-
and wings, the same control system ference has melted away, according
and the same powerplant, a Lycom- to dealers we spoke to. It’s now about
ing TIO-540-AE2A at 350 HP with a $150,000—still less money, but less
pair of turbochargers. The interior is of a no-brainer decision against the
identical as well. Mirage. Pilot qualification and insur-
When the Matrix appeared in 2008, ance may determine which way the
Piper was still wedded to Avidyne and deal goes.
the early airplanes have Entegra suites
with dual Garmin GNS430s, GTX EXTRA POUNDS
330 transponders and an STEC 55X One of the original selling points of
autopilot. The high-aspect ratio wings the Matrix was Mirage-level perfor-
are equipped with optional speed mance at equivalent fuel economy tanks, with only two gallons unus-
brakes and the airplane needs them, with about 50 more pounds of able. For the model we flew, that
because even in the non-pressurized payload. The original Matrix we flew works out to 516 pounds of tanks-full
version, it’s often asked to come down in 2008 had an empty weight of 3071 payload or just three people and no
fast from on high. The boards make pounds against 3121 for the 2012 baggage. The CG envelope is wide
that practical without reducing the model, which was equipped with air enough so that keeping it legal isn’t
engine to a cylinder-chilling idle. conditioning. Max gross weight is much of a chore and as fuel goes
(Even if you don’t believe in shock 4358 pounds for a useful load of 1236 away, the CG trends slightly rearward,
cooling, gentle power changes make pounds. although not enough to worry over.
more sense than abrupt ones.) Even though it’s not exceptionally The Matrix has a zero fuel weight
For the 2012 model and since thirsty, the Matrix tankers a lot of of 4123 pounds, which happens to
2011, the Matrix has Garmin’s G1000 fuel—122 gallons total in two wing be the same as its maximum land-
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 9
 The Matrix’s TIO-540- immediately on ingress. The airstair
AE2A swings a three- is wide and easy to enter and the two
rear seats are easily accessible. There
blade scimitar prop, left. are two baggage areas: a large one in
Like most manufactur- the nose and a smaller one aft of the
ers, Piper has converted rear seats. Getting into the cockpit
exterior lighting to is a squeeze, especially for tall pilots
or those large of girth. But once the
low-draw LEDs, lower muscle memory is ingrained, it’s do-
photo. able.
The Matrix/Mirage cockpit has
come a long way in 28 years. Thanks
kids. And for many buyers, to glass, the basic panel is free of
the pax are kids, hence the clutter, with the G1000’s three screens
family appeal. For adults, dominating the panel, the gear switch
the Matrix is a good three- in easy reach and breakers on the
or four-person airplane with lower left panel and left sidewall.
1000-mile plus range. Since G1000 has a keyboard, Piper
Cirrus owners stepping up— extended the power pedestal to pro-
depending on the model—aren’t vide a mounting point. That makes
getting much of a speed bump it a definite head-down to use, but
in the Matrix. Owners who want its functions can be duplicated with
to avoid the bother of oxygen for knobs and keys on the main screens.
themselves and passengers will The original Malibu had its primary
likely cruise at 12,000 feet and be- electrical switches as rockers right on
low. The Matrix is happy here and the panel, but with the Mirage and
will turn in 180 to 190 knots on Matrix, Piper moved them to the
about 18 GPH, at what Piper calls overhead. Not the best solution, in
normal cruise. The Lycoming TIO- our view, but at least they’re placed
540-AE2A isn’t one of GA’s most forward enough to be easily readable.
fuel-efficient engines, so it will The air conditioning in the airplane
give up two or three gallons to the we flew was welcome on a hot Florida
large-displacement Continental day in August. In southern climates,
equivalents. The POH doesn’t this is almost a must-have because
publish any lean-of-peak settings, unlike other singles, you can’t open a
but recommends lean to peak against door to drink in the prop blast.
a 1760 TIT limit. We’re not sure if the Before you can fly a Matrix, you
engine will run well lean of peak if have to taxi it. It’s not hard, but the
the fueling is tweaked. (General Avia- wingspan is 43 feet, so you need
tion Modifications, Inc., does offer to pay attention on the ramp and
GAMIjectors for this engine.) taxiways to avoid catching a wing
At economy settings, fuel consump- or a snowdrift. As far as operating
tion drops to as little as 11 GPH, for a the airplane itself, getting past the
40-knot give-up in speed. While that complexity barrier of the G1000 is
will certainly extend the range, we’re probably the most challenging task. If
not sure how many owners would fly you’re current on the G1000, fine. If
a $1 million airplane at 140 knots just not, bring someone who is.
to save a few bucks on gas. On takeoff, the airplane holds the
If you want to drag centerline like it’s on
it into the flight levels, MATRIX VIDEO rails and at 80 indicated,
the Matrix will take you a healthy tug pulls it off.
ing weight.Owners stepping up there. At FL200, it will Visibility over the nose
and expecting a family airplane are true about 195 knots at is good and the airplane
getting that, but not one without normal cruise or 150 climbs at 700 FPM. The
compromise. With four seats filled knots at economy cruise. sight picture gives the
and 100 pounds of bags, the airplane As with the Mirage and impression of the prop
has payload left for 76 gallons of fuel. Malibu, maximum ap- being a long way for-
That’s about 3.5 hours with minimal proved altitude is 25,000 ward—it is—and with
reserve for about 650 miles of still-air feet. the baggage between
range. With six aboard, the fuel load you and the engine, the
can be 36 gallons, but will bump CABIN, FLIGHT cabin is quiet.
above the zero fuel weight, unless The Matrix comes into Flying with Piper’s
the passengers are especially svelte or its own as a luxury liner www.avweb.com Bart Jones, we did some
10 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December
August 2012
slow flight and maneuvering and for
a 4000-pound airplane, the Matrix is
MATRIX MARKET: BRISK, BUT NO FRENZY
surprisingly light on its feet. The long With the Matrix, Piper created ones can do,” says Kirk of the older
wings make for stable, predictable somewhat of a topsy-turvy market. glass systems. Whether it’s a buyer’s
slow flight, but also some breakout The airplane was introduced at or a seller’s market for the Matrix is
inertia that increases perceived roll such a low introductory price—fully debatable. Fitzgerald thinks sell-
force. Pitch feels relatively heavy for $400,000 below the $1 million Mi- ers have the advantage. “There are
a single, but aggressive trim keeps rage—that it found plenty of buyers always sellers out there who will let
it from being objectionable, in our in the introductory year. their airplanes go if they think some-
view. “For the 2008 economy, the Ma- one will pay too much for it.
We climbed to 12,000 feet and
trix was a very successful airplane,” The key is to price it right and it
found the airplane cruised a bit above
book on a warmer than standard says Mike Fitzgerald, of SkyTech, will move within three weeks,” says
day: about 187 knots and 19 GPH. Inc., a Baltimore Piper dealer and Fitzgerald. Over-priced airplanes
Cylinder head temperatures during Mirage/Matrix specialty shop. Two and beaters will languish because
climb never things have although the market is brisk, there’s
exceeded 400 changed that. no buying frenzy.
degrees, but The financial Wait, beaters? Are there really
settled down meltdown of $700,000 airplanes out there that
to a high of late 2008 reset have been run into the ground by
380 degrees sales of every- cruel owners? “With every airplane,
in cruise. thing (includ- I am always surprised in the dispar-
Bart Jones
ing expensive ity with maintenance. I’m always
told us that
one thing he airplanes) and amazed at the owners who will,
and owners Piper pushed shortly after the warranty runs out,
like about the price of have just the local guy maintain
the Matrix the Matrix up the airplane instead of a shop that
is its operat- 16 percent, knows the model and has a lot of
ing flexibility. “If I need to stay low effectively closing the gap with the experience working on it. I don’t
because of the wind, I can do that. Mirage. If the Matrix was supposed think they give much thought to
My fuel flow doesn’t change, but my to fill the void left by ending produc- how that’s going to impact the value
airspeed does. I think I’ve got more tion of the Saratoga, it may be too of the airplane,” says Kirk. And that
flexibility than a turbine. Westbound rich for that. can easily lead to a $50,000 pre-buy
in the winter in a 260-knot turbine is
What does this mean for buyers or a gulf between buyer and seller
just painful,” Jones says. You have to
stay high into the wind because flying of late-model Matrix aircraft? Oddly, that tanks the sale.
lower will tank the range. while Piper’s higher prices for new Kirk says a pre-buy on an M-class
Getting the airplane down from airplanes should have propped airplane shouldn’t be done by just
altitude requires planning and if up the value of the original 2008 any shop, but by a specialist such as
you’re bad at that, just pop the yoke- airplanes, they’ve depreciated none- Mead Aircraft Services or SkyTech.
mounted speed brake switch and theless and there are some excep- Ferry and inspection charges for
point the nose down; 3000 FPM tional values on the market. those shops might be a fraction
comes easily. Once in the pattern, the “You look at new one and it’s well of paying for an expensive repair
Matrix is comfortable at 90 knots and over a million, but you look at a 2008 missed on a cursory pre-buy.
crossing the numbers at 80 or a little and it’s selling for not much more Neither Kirk nor Fitzgerald are
less limits the float.
than half a million. I know of one certain where the Matrix market will
CONCLUSION that sold here in town recently for go from here. The price Delta be-
Although the reduced price difference $540,000,” says Chris Kirk of Kansas tween the Matrix and Mirage is only
between the Matrix and the Mirage City’s WildBlue LLC, which also spe- about $100,000 and Matrix owners
makes it less of a value than it once cializes in Piper’s M-class airplanes. tend to be transient: They fly the
was, we think it’s still an impressive To put that in perspective, a 2011 airplane for a few years, then move
performer for step-up owners who Cirrus costs barely $100,000 less, up to a Mirage or a turboprop.
don’t want to fool with pressurization making a four-year old Matrix a lot Some, says Kirk, are moving out
and/or who aren’t customers for a of airplane for the money. Of course, of airplanes entirely, not as a func-
single-engine turboprop. it will be equipped with Avidyne’s tion of the Matrix but the buyer.
Piper and dealers tell us there’s a Entegra rather than the Garmin Matrix buyers tend to be older and
slight cost savings in reduced mainte-
G1000 and even though buyers financially established. As some near
nance and the slight payload advan-
tage of the Matrix over the Mirage prefer the Garmin suite, the two are retirement age, they aren’t interest-
is a plus. Insurance is also cheaper, functionally similar. “In reality, it ed in maintaining half-million dollar
especially for low-time pilots. can’t do anything less than the new assets.

December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 11
 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE C H E C K L I S T

Boot Replacement:
Reports of quality of B/E
Aerospace and Goodrich
boots were all positive.

Minimal Competition Process is demanding

and requires skill—use an
experienced shop.

Stick with an experienced shop. A little homework Delaying replacement

can increase cost as
can keep your price down as discounts vary in a system components fail..
competitive market.
than the boots themselves, are more
by Rick Durden likely to suffer from early retirement.
In our conversation with Steve
Mayer of BE Aerospace, maker of the

W
hen your airplane’s in an- We’ll talk about expected boot life Ice Shield line of boots, he described
nual, you probably monitor in just a moment, and there are ways a situation he sees too commonly:
the caller ID with dread, liv- to extend it. However, what we did The owner flies his airplane about
ing in fear of a call from your A&P that learn from our investigation was that 100 hours a year, getting into ice two
portends something expensive. If your when it’s time to replace one or all of or three times and uses the boots to
airplane has de-ice boots—approved the boots on your airplane, procras- handle it. He puts off replacement and
for known icing or not—they could tinating is likely to increase the cost. either runs into a serious problem in
easily be this year’s money hole. A full- When boots have significant air leaks, ice when one wing boot works, but
up replacement set can cost, installed, it not only means the vacuum pump the other doesn’t because a corroded
anywhere from $11,000 for a single to works harder to inflate them, but the valve has failed, or he’s shocked by
$20,000 for twins. entire system is working constantly to the cost when he does replace a boot
keep them sucked because so much of the underlying
flat against the air- system has to be repaired.
frame. That means Rubber de-icing boots have been in
that moisture is get- use since 1932 when Goodrich (now
ting sucked into the UTC Aerospace Systems, but we’ll
system. use the Goodrich name because it’s
The result is that familiar and the change was so recent)
the valves, hoses, developed them for the Northrop
relays and other Alpha airliner. Boots have become
components, which increasingly sophisticated and now
ordinarily last longer consist of a number of layers of neo-
prene rubber and polymers that have
been impregnated with ingredients
designed to protect against the effects
of ozone and UV light, the bane of
rubber products.

EXPECTED LIFE
The life of de-icer boots is affected by
frequency of use, how much and how
high the airplane to which they are at-
tached flies, exposure to sunlight and

The old and the new, upper

left. Red-capped hose is the air
hose that goes into the wing
and connects to the rest of the
system. Getting the old boot
off can be a messy, demanding
process, left.

12 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012

the radius of the wing leading edge.
Over time, the anti-aging chemicals DE-ICING BOOT CARE AND FEEDING
migrate out of the rubber. Everyone
we spoke with recommended using Both de-icing boot manufactur- mended application is every 50
Agemaster #1 semi-annually to replen- ers make products designed to flight hours during icing season. A
ish the anti-UV and ozone ingredients enhance the life and performance quart covers 400 square feet—list
and extend the life of the boots. of the boots. price is $300.
After 40 years in the business, The composition of the boots The overwhelming recommen-
Bob Hayes, QA Manager at Yingling includes chemicals that fight the dation we received from users,
Aviation, Wichita, Kansas, expects the
destructive effects of UV and ozone and the product we have used,
shortest boot life to be on commuter
airliners. In his experience, boots in on rubber materials. While those for enhancing the effectiveness of
that environment—never hangared, chemicals help extend the useful de-icing boots is ICEX II. As with
flying in the flight levels and being life of the boots, they eventually IceShield Plus, Goodrich recom-
activated often—will last three to four lose effectiveness, largely because mends application every 50 flight
years. they either break down or the mol- hours during icing season. A quart
Ken Fisher, manager of the Good- ecules migrate out of the rubber. covers 400 square feet—list price
rich Service Center in Akron, Ohio, a Age Master #1 is designed by is $294.
facility that does nothing but install Goodrich to be applied to the Goodrich also makes Shine-
and repair de-icing boots, said that boot surface, where it penetrates Master, a two-part cleaning and
boots on airplanes that are hangared to restore the neoprene rubber cosmetic product to improve the
so they are kept out of sunlight when
protective chemicals. The shops appearance of de-icing boots.
not operating, washed regularly with
warm, soapy water and are main- we spoke with were unanimous in Covering about 200 square feet,
tained with Age Master will last as recommending Age Master and ShineMaster Prep sells for $59.95 at
long as 20 years. He also said that air- said to apply it twice a year (Good- Aircraft Spruce, with ShineMaster
craft with larger radius leading edges rich recommends twice a year or Gloss priced at $87.50.
do not stress the boots in operation after each 150 hours of flying time, One of the cheapest ways to
as much as those with tighter radius whichever comes first). Cost is $190 improve boot longevity is to wash
leading edges, so the boots will last a a quart. them frequently with warm, soapy
little longer. IceShield Plus is a silicone-based water.
There are two manufacturers of de- coating designed by B/E Aerospace We are aware that a number of
icing boots, Goodrich,and B/E Aero- to increase boot effectiveness by pilots use such household products
space (formerly SMR). Each publishes
making it slicker so ice does not as Pledge to make the boots slicker
repair manuals for its various models
which, along with reference to the adhere as well. One B/E employee and help them shed ice. Based
maintenance manual for the specific recommended it for increasing the on our research, we recommend
type of airplane, provide mainte- life of boots, but none of the other against this practice as such prod-
nance instructions and set limits as people we contacted used it for ucts contain chemicals that can and
to whether damage or wear can be that purpose, nor did B/E literature will attack the rubber and reduce
repaired or the boot must be replaced. reference boot longevity. Recom- boot life.

REPLACEMENT GUIDELINES
In general, damage or wear that For example, Kevin Mead, pro- the paint on the wing and fuselage
does not leak air does not need to be prietor of Mead Aircraft Services, around the boot, which means care-
repaired, pinholes and tears can be which specializes in the Piper PA46 fully masking the area. Then the tech-
repaired, but replacement is mandated series, has seen installation errors that nician notes the location of each stall
once there are cuts, tears or ruptures ranged from lumpy or crooked boots strip, as they will have to be replaced
of an inflatable tube or that exceed to one coming off in flight. once the new boot is on. Next, the fun
a given size, there is excessive air Experience matters—it takes Mead part—tearing off the old boot.
leakage, pinholes at the leading edge 11 hours to replace one wing boot on That usually starts with a razor
of the boot or there is debonding or a Malibu while some shops take 20. blade cut along the leading edge, be-
bulging. What’s involved in replacing boots? ing careful not to nick the metal of
Once the time comes for replace- Step one is simply to cycle the boots the wing itself, and then physically
ment of a deicer boot, our recommen- and make sure they work—all of the ripping the boot off.
dation is to have it done at a shop that system components are functioning Once the boot is off, care must be
either specializes in the process or properly. A routine boot replacement taken to then clean the area complete-
does it regularly. This is not the time does not include any work on the ly to remove all traces of old boot and
to trust your airplane to someone who internal system components and is adhesive. This is the first area where
says that he’s always wanted to replace priced accordingly. inexperienced installers get it wrong.
a set of boots. Not only can much go Once the integrity of the inflation/ Every shop we spoke to emphasized
wrong, it can get expensive paying for deflation system is confirmed, the the need to clean down to shiny, bare
someone’s learning curve. boot work can start by protecting aluminum (or paint, if such is the
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 13
 dents are minor, no flight to equalize between the boot
bird strikes, we found and airframe, otherwise there will be
that this work was static discharges, resulting in pinholes
generally included in in the boot. Conductive cement loses
the quoted price of its conductivity over time and may
replacement, although need to be reapplied if pinholes start
some shops added the to appear in a boot.
cost of this labor to Kevin Mead advised us that he has
the final bill. observed corrosion under the conduc-
The first step in the tive cement on Malibus, so he now
installation is to use a uses Brushable Black from Sterling
chalk line to mark the Lacquer, a conductive polyurethane
precise leading edge that seals out moisture.
of the wing, as it is Once the conductive cement has
the basis for aligning been applied, the stall strips are
the boot. The remain- reinstalled and the airplane is ready
der of the installation to go. There is a cure time before the
procedure depends boots can be fired—for FASTboots it is
upon whether you one hour; for conventional boots the
have selected a time we were told varied from 24 to
“conventional” boot 48 hours.
or Goodrich’s FAST-
boot. A FASTboot has COST
the adhesive already For a high-performance piston single,
applied to the boot, prices for replacement of a set of boots
requiring only that is in a range from $11,000 to $16,000;
the protective paper for light twins, the range is $12,000 to
be peeled off before $20,000. Prices for the boots them-
putting the boot on selves were quite close between Go-
the wing. Once clean, odrich and BE Aerospace. Goodrich
the wing needs only makes boots for all types of de-iced
to have a primer ap- GA aircraft; BE Aerospace does so for
Preparing for boot installation means cleaning plied before FAST- about 85% of the fleet.
the area down to bare aluminum, top. Install- boot installation. A We found that shopping around
ing a FASTboot on a King Air at the Goodrich conventional boot, can make a difference because the
either B/E Aerospace labor time and price varied between
Service Center. or Goodrich, requires installers, different shops could get
a process of applica- different discounts on the boots and
tion and activation of B/E Aerospace and Goodrich seem
case). The newly installed boot will a liquid adhesive. always to be offering some sort of
show every bump, so getting the wing Two coats of 1300L adhesive are deal. These factors accounted for the
clean is a matter of assuring a good applied to the wing and the boot, wide range of prices we quoted at
bond—any failure to do so is cosmeti- with a half hour drying time allowed the beginning of the article. Further,
cally obvious. after each coat. The adhesive is then installed, FASTboot and conventional
If any corrosion is found, it must activated with toluene. This is another boots were competitive in price.
be treated before the new boot is spot where experience matters. We B/E Aerospace has a line of distribu-
installed. All dents must be filled or heard of problems that arose from tors and installers and has dedicated
fi xed as well. So long as corrosion is technicians who thinned the adhesive personnel who train personnel at its
within tolerance for treatment and too much or got it too “wet” in the approved installers.
activation phase, so that the boot did Goodrich provides its boots
not adhere well. through a single distributor, Aviall
The boot is then pressed onto the and does not approve installation
CONTACTS wing, boot centerline to wing cen- facilities except for its own Goodrich
terline, and a metal roller is used to Service Center on Akron-Canton
Goodrich (UTC Aerospace Systems) assure there is a good bond with no Airport. It has been in business some
330-7840-5477 wrinkles or air bubbles. This step is 60 years and offers same-day boot
www.goodrich.com the same for both a conventional or replacement for most aircraft. Its
FASTboot. prices were within the ranges quoted
Once the boot is on the wing to by other installers.
B/E Aerospace the satisfaction of the technician, a It also offers some incentives: Any
304-846-2554 conductive cement is applied around airplane that has a boot replacement
www.beaerospace.com the edges of the boot. This allows the
electrical charges that build up in continued on page 32

14 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012

 NEW AVIONICS C H E C K L I S T

Garmin’s GDL 88: Provides a full-up,

self-contained ADS-B-
compliant system.

ADS-B In and Out Now Receives both ADS-B Out

frequencies, 978 MHz and
1090 MHz.

The new GDL 88 does ADS-B Out, receives both Requires major installa-
tion with little room for
In frequencies and is compatible with non-Garmin shortcuts.
boxes.
weather rather than taking early
by Rick Durden advantage of ADS-B.
The dual-linked receiver in the
GDL 88 means it receives all infor-

G
armin describes the GDL 88 ability to link to an ADS-B compli- mation on all ADS-B Out-equipped
as the “fi rst dual-link solu- ant transponder gives a reasonably traffic in the area, no matter
tion for certified aircraft that easy way of avoiding the limitation whether they are transmitting via
not only provides a path to ADS-B of fl ight below 18,000 feet and in transponder on 1090 MHz or UAT
Out compliance for many pilots, no other country other than the on 978 MHz. It is also compat-
but also brings subscription-free U.S. of using a UAT. ible with active traffic systems and
weather and advanced traffic dis- when receiving information regard-
play to the cockpit.” WEATHER ing multiple aircraft, it assigns
While we’re more than a little Flight Information Service-Broad- priorities to each and identifies and
tired of hearing marketing types cast (FIS-B) weather is sent by the removes any duplicate reports of
trumpet everything from a cup of FAA through the ADS-B ground sta- other aircraft.
coffee to software version umpty- tions free of charge. Using the GDL
dot-twelve as a “solution,” we found 88 and a compatible fl ight display, TRAFFIC
that the GDL 88 is currently the the user can see graphical NEXRAD Ground stations also transmit Traf-
easiest way to get a full-up, radar, METARs, TAFs, SIGMETs, fic Information Service-Broadcast
self-contained ADS- AIRMETs, NOTAMs and TFRs as (TIS-B), which is received by the
B-compliant well as some other informa- ADS-B In capabilities of the GDL
system. (See tion such as winds and 88. That traffic information is the
the sidebar temperatures aloft. same as ATC sees from radar and
on page 16 AIM section 7-1-11d ADS-B, so it is not limited to ADS-
for ADS-B lists the information B-compliant aircraft. The GDL 88
basics.) available
and coverage
CAPABILITIES radii.
The GDL 88 complies with There are some
the ADS-B Out requirement via the limitations such as
Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) NEXRAD is high-
route, however, it is also capable of res for 250 miles
tying in with a number of different, around your loca-
ADS-B Out compliant transponders tion and low-res
and assuring that the same squawk outside that and
code is being transmitted by the NOTAMs many
transponder and the UAT equip- only show for a
ment without needing some sort 100-mile radius.
of separate control panel to do so. Such limited limi-
While the GDL 88 uses the UAT tations are not a
ADS-B Out compliance route and reason to keep pay-
does not contain a transponder, its ing for subscription

A GDL 88 unit, above. FIS-B NEXRAD radar re-

ceived via ADS-B In by a GDL 88 and displayed on
a Garmin GTN 750, right.
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 15
 A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON ADS-B
As of 2020, nearly every aircraft mandate of ADS-B Out because it
flying in the U.S. will be required can be used at all altitudes and in
to have appropriate ADS-B Out other countries.
equipment. That means, simpli- We suspect the Universal Access
fied, the ability to transmit WAAS Transceiver (UAT) was named by the
GPS-generated position, 3D same person in charge of placing
velocity, altitude and some other misleading names on bills in Con-
information approximately every gress. It isn’t universal. It cannot be
second while in motion to ground used for ADS-B Out compliance in
stations for ATC use and to other any other country or above 17,999
aircraft in the area. feet in the U.S. That’s the downside.
There are two methods of The upside is way up, however,
complying with the transmission it not only transmits the required
requirement, a Mode S transpon- data for ADS-B Out—on a frequen-
der with “extended squitter”— it’s cy of 978 MHz—it allows ADS-B
okay, this really is a family maga- In, that is, it receives, also on 978
zine, we’ll explain in a moment— MHz, the stuff being sent out by the
or a Universal Access Transceiver FAA ground stations and by other
(UAT) —only it isn’t universal, only aircraft using a UAT to send out po-
the transponder option is—yes, sition and movement information.
we’ll explain. That means you get weather
A squitter is a device that information that is nearly as good
transmits packets of data, squirts as what you are paying a monthly
it, at regular intervals without fee to get right now and it’s free.
being prompted to do so. Mode Plus you get traffic information Traffic information received by
S transponders have a squitter to regarding other airplanes around
the GDL 88 as displayed conven-
send out a limited amount of data you that are ADS-B Out compliant,
regarding the aircraft. An extend- the percentage of those that are tionally on a GTN 750, top. Us-
ed squitter is capable of sending will steadily be increasing. ing TargetTrend, the movement
more data in each packet. Receiving free weather is a sig- of other aircraft relative to yours
Some current Mode S transpon- nificant carrot offered by the FAA to is displayed, above, allowing
ders can be modified to extended encourage ADS-B compliance early.
faster threat assessment.
squitter status for a fraction of Over the next few years, the savings
the price of buying a new, compli- on the price of an airborne weather
ant one. The transponder with subscription will pay some of the
rate and groundspeed.
extended squitter transmits data ADS-B equipment installation.
When on the ground, other ADS-
on a frequency of 1090 MHz and Garmin has created an “ADS-B B-equipped taxiing aircraft and
receives TCAS information on a Academy” (www.garmin.com/us/ moving vehicles are displayed.
frequency of 1030 MHz. intheair/ads-b) within its Website We like that Garmin recognizes
The transponder with extended where you can learn more of the that not all aircraft have a compat-
squitter is the truly universal basics of ADS-B and how it will af- ible fl ight display to view traf-
method of complying with the fect your flying. fic data. The GDL 88 is set up to
activate an indicator light to advise
that traffic is in the immediate area
allows the traffic information to be to all TIS-B traffic information, and give a voice alert that calls out
observed on a compatible display. only with regard to aircraft that are distance, bearing and relative alti-
The user sees what a controller sees. ADS-B Out equipped. tude (if the aircraft is squawking
Garmin has developed a new In aircraft with Garmin GTN se- altitude or is ADS-B compliant).
display feature with the GDL 88, ries avionics the GTN will automat- Garmin also recognizes that get-
which it is calling TargetTrend. It ically declutter the traffic display ting up to speed on ADS-B is not
takes into account the fact that and show those that are the highest intuitive and involves a learning
your aircraft is moving through priority and will group targets. If curve so it has created a “Learning
space and provides a velocity vector you want more information about Academy” on its Website. While it
display that shows how ADS-B Out- targets in a group, you touch the gently pushes its own products, we
equipped aircraft are moving with group and it then shows all the felt that it was objective, unbiased
relation to you, which allows faster targets. You can select any target and accurate and a good way to be-
threat assessment. It does not apply displayed and call up its closure gin to understand this new system
16 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 GDL88D: ANTENNA CHALLENGES
One of the many challenges techni- 88D Diversity model, it will require
cians face in planning a modern dual L-Band blade antennas, one
installation is placing critical anten- installed on the top and the other
nas. A GDL 88 retrofit, or other on the bottom of the airframe.
permanent-mount ADS-B system But antennas aren’t the only
won’t be an exception. That’s be- challenge in a full-up ADS-B inter-
cause the antenna farm that exists face. The GDL 88 is a stand-alone
on the airframe might need to be box that needs to be mounted re-
reconfigured to accommodate the motely in the airframe. Garmin has
critical ADS-B antennas. done a nice job of making the GDL
First is the required GPS anten- 88 compact, measuring six inches
na. Like any GPS antenna installa- high, less than two inches wide and
A Garmin SafeTaxi diagram tion, the mounting geometry, loca- seven inches deep. It’s a box that
showing ADS-B-equipped air- tion and surrounding interference can be mounted horizontally or ver-
craft and vehicles on the ground on the airframe can affect system tically under the panel, in the tail, or
as displayed on a GTN 750. performance. in a dedicated avionics bay.
Proper installation means When the wiring tools come
respecting at least two feet of out of the toolbox, the GDL 88
we’re going to be living with before clearance from communications has a liberal and rich interconnect
long. antennas or any other antenna that architecture, capable of playing
emits 25 watts or more of power. ARINC 429, RS232 and Ethernet. For
PRICES Further, to minimize the effects GDL 88 flavors that don’t utilize a
The GDL 88 comes in four versions: of shadowing, Garmin doesn’t built-in GPS, the unit will need to be
for aircraft with a WAAS GPS want the antenna closer than nine interfaced with a GNS or GTN-series
source and not desiring “diversity,”
inches from any antenna—either navigator.
an antenna on the top and bottom
of the airplane, the basic GDL 88 active or passive. Technicians are This means the shop will need to
is $3995; if there is a WAAS GPS accustomed to working with these open the radio stack to gain access
source and the reception advan- challenges but the fact is, they’re to wiring. Of course, they’ll need
tages of diversity are desired, the running out of available antenna to do this anyway, to interface the
GDL 88 with diversity is $4495; a real estate on small and medium- GDL 88 with a compatible display
unit with built-in WAAS and with- sized airframes. and with the transponder systems.
out diversity is $5143; the GDL 88 Installations that use an existing To be sure, we think the dual-
with WAAS and diversity is $5643. WAAS GPS navigator for the ADS-B link GDL 88 represents one of the
Prices do not include antennas. position source will have the ad- most worthy full-up ADS-B inter-
vantage, since the antenna will al- faces we’ve seen to date, but it will
CONCLUSION ready be installed on the airframe.
We like what we see for functional- require a major installation with
ity of the GDL 88 in that it Since a popular dual-link GDL 88 little room for short-cuts, as critical
allows reception of both ADS- installation will include the GDL performance hangs in the balance.
B Out transmission frequencies
so that it reads all ADS-B traffic,
something that is going to be-
come increasingly important, that
it is compatible with more than
just other Garmin displays and
transponders and provides a way
to transmit on both ADS-B Out
frequencies even though it does not
itself contain a transponder.

CONTACTS
Garmin
866-739-5687
https://fly.garmin.com

December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 17
 MAINTENANCE MATTERS Buying a Cirrus means accept-
ing the 10-year and $10,000-
plus parachute repack interval.
Tearing off and then repairing
the fiberglass parachute hatch is
major work on first generation
models.

that’s roughly the size of an aerosal

paint can.
As for pilot interaction, it’s sup-
posed to be a simple concept—pull-
ing the parachute handle in the
headliner deploys the solid-fuel rock-
et out of the hatch that covers the
concealed compartment where the
parachute is stored. As the rocket car-
ries the parachute rearward from the
back of the fuselage, the embedded
airframe harness straps release from
the fuselage. Within seconds, the
parachute canopy inflates, control-
ling the aircraft to a safe rate of de-

Cirrus CAPS Repacks: scent. To date, there have been close

to 40 CAPS deployments, according
to a running tally kept by the Cirrus

Expense, Depreciation Owners and Pilots Association.

The CAPS falls under the Type
Certificate of every certified SR20
and SR22. Interestingly, BRS doesn’t
own an STC for the system they
The fleet of older Cirrus airframes could face further build, but we’re told this could
change and may simplify mainte-
depreciation because of pricey parachute upkeep. We nance procedures. Cirrus owns the
look at the economics and the CAPS repack process. rocket design and rigs, packs and
ships the parachutes. The 10-year
repack requirement can be satisfied
by Larry Anglisano by installing an overhauled para-
chute or a new one. Owners rarely

C
irrus owners rave about having we discovered that all repacks aren’t chose then latter given the approxi-
the CAPS parachute system as created equally. mate $15,000 cost, according to the
the ultimate safety backup, but shops we interviewed. An overhauled
if you’re shopping for a used Cirrus, CONTROLLED DESCENT kit costs approximately $9000, not
know this: Many used airframes are The airframe parachute that’s part of including labor. Further, the 10-year
coming up on the required 10-year every certificated Cirrus is courtesy
parachute repack cycle. This work of Cirrus Design co-founder Alan C H E C K L I S T
is expensive, requires considerable Klapmeier, who lived to tell about
down time and can only be accom- his own midair collision early in his G2 models won’t require
plished by select and highly special- flying career. He wanted the original time-consuming fiber-
ized shops. SR20 to have a life-saving device for glass work after repack.
This should be taken into consid- such an emergency or any other situ-
eration when negotiating the sale ation where a pilot loses control of Shops have done enough
price and if you pull the trigger on the airplane. In a nutshell, the CAPS, repacks that cosmetic
an airplane that needs the repack, made by BRS Ballistic Recovery work quality is improving.
you should know what you’re getting Systems for Cirrus, consists of a 51-
into first. In this article, we’ll take square-foot packed parachute that’s Total costs for a G1
a look at this major service event, installed mid-fuselage in a storage repack could approach a
including the mandatory repack bay. The parachute is connected to whopping $14,000.
requirement and what you should an extraction harness that’s driven
expect for costs. During our research, by a solid propellant rocket motor
18 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 CAPS REPACK AT A GLANCE
You’re going to do what to my airplane? Accessing the parachute on G1 models, lower right photo, is a crude process
that requires a drill and a slide hammer to break open the fiberglass hatch. The fiberglass repairs and paint work that
follow are time-consuming steps that only specialized shops can handle.

repack isn’t the only CAPS main- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms only. Thanks to a redesigned para-
tenance to deal with. There’s also and Explosives. As if FAA oversight chute access panel that was designed
a six-year replacement of the line isn’t enough government to answer in the baggage area bulkhead of
cutters used in the parachute deploy- to, the ATF performs regular inspec- second-generation Cirrus models,
ment. All of the shops we spoke with tions of the shops, who are required the finishing work that follows
said they complete the repack within to have special facilities equipped a CAPS replacement on these is
20 to 30 hours for pre-2004 aircraft, with cabinets to securely store the greatly simplified—almost making
which are the first-generation SR20 rockets, among other requirements. the service event a while-you-wait
and SR22s. The job on second-gen- Techs who handle the rocket are process. In these aircraft, the para-
eration aircraft are expected to be a background checked. Further, each chute is accessed and fished out from
lot easier, thanks to direct parachute technician that performs a CAPS a bulkhead in the baggage bay. But
access. More on that in a bit. replacement is exclusively trained for G1 models, cosmetic work is a
and licenced by Cirrus. Unlike most critical part of the process that often
SPECIALIZED WORK airframe work, the parachute repack requires a minimum of five days
Many owners naturally assume the process can’t be taught from one downtime.
CAPS replacement can be performed technican to the other on the shop We surveyed several shops who’ve
by any Cirrus service center, but level. Each needs to receive special- accomplished a fair number of re-
this isn’t the case. That’s because ized training at Cirrus. pack jobs, and all stressed the impor-
of the specialized work and certifi- The other prerequisite for a CAPS tance of delivering an aircraft that
cated training that tags along with repack includes the shop’s ability has exceptional paint and fiberglass
the parachute repack. Due to the to perform a bonding repair to the work. Steve Miller, Director of Main-
propellant-powered rocket that’s airframe’s composite structure fol- tenance at Leading Edge Aviation in
part of the parachute deployment, lowing the CAPS replacement. This Tampa, Florida, seemed meticulous
the work is partially governed by the is true for first-generation aircraft when it comes to this work. His shop
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 19
 USED CIRRUS MARKET: CAPS MATTERS cian removes the line cutters and
the two primary straps are discon-
Looking to score a sweet deal on per year. “A 2001 SR20—that might nected from the parachute so it can
a used Cirrus? A pending 10-year be valued at $100,000—may really be removed from the storage bay and
CAPS repack may be a feather in be worth around $90,000 if its 10- a new parachute cover can be fitted.
your bargaining cap. That’s what we year repack is coming due in a year This is a critical step because the
heard from more than one Cirrus or less. If it’s been accomplished, CAPS cover has a reinforced strike
the CAPS value holds its own,” Steel plate on its underside—the area
buyer, after they either negotiated
where the deployed rocket hits, caus-
the cost of a pending CAPS repack told us.
ing it to break away from fuselage.
from the asking price, or convinced Aircraft Bluebook In some earlier
the seller to accomplish the repack makes reference to aircraft, the para-
as part of the deal. Face it, drop- the CAPS service. chute straps were
ping $12,000 or more for this pricey It says, for a 2003 chafing due to un-
service within the first couple years SR22, to deduct dersized holes in
of ownership is a sure way to stress $11,250 wholesale the structure. The
the budget. and $15,000 retail if repack project is
To get a feel for the current sales the required 10-year when most shops
climate of preowned Cirrus, we BRS inspection hasn’t enlarge the access
been complied with. hole and provide
talked with Jaime Steel from the
chaff protection as
respected Steel Aviation Aircraft Last, given the
necessary.
Sales firm in Ohio. When it comes to high volume of Cirrus Once the new
resale, Steel is the Cirrus expert— models that Steel parachute, hard-
selling nearly 800 Cirrus models in Aviation has worked with, they ware and rocket are fitted into the
her career. She said there’s a certain made it clear that there can be sig- bay, the new cover is bonded into
amount of airframe depreciation nificant differences in the quality of place using a low-level adhesive so
that tags along with the cherished the finishing work that’s required of it’s firmly attached but can still break
Cirrus parachute system. G1 CAPS replacements. away during deployment. An inex-
One quick way to figure out the You can bet this cosmetic work perienced technician may slop too
possible CAPS hit at resale is to will have at least some effect when much filler around the cover, which
it’s time for resale—a reason to can induce high resistance between
divide an average $12,000 service
the cover and fuselage. From here,
cost by 10 years, which generally choose a shop that pays attention
basic body work and painting tech-
values the parachute usage at $1200 to this detail. niques are utilized to obtain the fin-
ished product. If you are considering
changing your tail number, now may
is a busy Cirrus certified service including paint, primer, sanding be the time to do so, unless your
center and one of approximately 150 wheels and other finishing materials. shop masks the existing numbers.
shops in the country approved for He also noted the high costs of ship-
the CAPS replacement. According to ping the parachute kit. Owners will PREPARE FOR SERVICE
him, not all repacks are performed pay for these shop expenses, which Aside from putting money away for
to the same standards, at least when is included in the current price of a parachute repack, first-generation
it comes to the airframe repair and around $11,750 that Heritage cur- Cirrus owners can plan for the event
paint work that follows a CAPS re- rently charges. by keeping the composite surfaces
placement. As he put it, “If an owner clean and when possible, storing the
can see evidence of fiberglass and CRITICAL PROCESS aircraft out of sunlight. That’s the
paint work, it means it wasn’t done No matter where you go for the advice we were given from two shops
right.” Leading Edge has certified, work, the first step is a crude one— who are seeing some neglected air-
professional aircraft painters on removing the parachute rocket and craft. “We’ve had a couple of aircraft
staff that, unlike some other shops related small components from the come in for the parachute repack
we spoke with, don’t believe in tape airframe. For G1 aircraft, the CAPS with faded and stained paint, which
masking around registration num- access cover is removed by drilling made the new fiberglass and paint
bers when reworking the fiberglass. a hole into the fiberglass cover and work stand out like a sore thumb,”
Instead, his shop often replaces the using a slide hammer to break the said Luke Jean of Heritage.
tail numbers as part of the refinish- bond between the fuselage and the Of course, one way to avoid these
ing work. Leading Edge currently cover. This is an ungentle process hassles altogether is to buy a second
charges around $11,500 for a G1 that essentially damages the sur- generation Cirrus that won’t require
repack. rounding fiberglass and requires fiberglass and paint work. It will still
Luke Jean, who heads the mainte- subsequent structure and cosmetic require the 10-year repack, but the
nance division at Heritage Aviation repair. process will be much easier with less
in Burlington, Vermont, described Once the cover is removed and the downtime, limited cosmetic con-
the increasing costs of consumables, parachute is exposed, the techni- cerns and lower labor costs.
20 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 AVIATION APPS C H E C K L I S T

myWingMan For iPad: A well thought-out app

that offers decent flight
planning with DUAT.

Bendix/King Simplicity We like the shallow menu

structure and AHRS
interfaceability.

Bendix/King is convinced that pilots need avionics Come on, guys, how
about building portable
that are easier to use. This new tablet app is its idea ADS-B hardware for this?
of simple navigation.
weather interface but not the option-
by Larry Anglisano al WxWorx XM in-flight weather. For
pre-flight planning, the radar, satel-
lite, Metar, TAF and winds aloft data

B
endix/King sees its potential right corner of the screen. This is for capabilites are sufficient, but we wish
market slice as building avion- selecting the data to be displayed the radar images can be put into
ics that are easier to use than in the active window. Since the motion. A myWingMan subscription
a Garmin. While it has yet to deliver program has up to three-way split includes Seattle Avionics charts, VFR
any clean-sheet designs of its own screens, the larger window is the ac- sectionals, enroute charts plus 3-D
since announcing its comeback over tive window, while smaller ones are terrain data.
a year ago, the newly introduced reference windows. Available from iTunes now, the
myWingMan tablet app could be the The app interacts with DUAT for VFR version of the app is $99 and
launch pad for a fresh product line. filing flight plans, using preset air- the IFR version is $149, not includ-
Despite a market that’s flooded craft and user profiles. Once in the ing a weather or AHRS unit. Bendix/
with aviation navigation apps, the cockpit, the user can select customiz- King is planning to connect my-
company thinks myWingMan sets able screen modes for all phases of WingMan with the in-development
a new standard for what pilots can flight—from pre-flight to approach, KSN770 navigator, through the
expect from future mobile flight accessed with the flight mode tab at Aspen Connected Panel interface.
planning and navigation tools. We the top of the screen. There’s also a planned version of the
think it’s a start. app for the Android platform.
SYN VIS AND WEATHER
FLAT APPLICATION When connected to the Levil
The myWingMan app attempts AHRS unit, myWingMan
to present the user with oodles of provides a virtual chase
information without having to hop plane and traditional for-
around numerous screens. This drag- ward view synthetic vision
and-drop flat application design display. There’s also a nifty
avoids the trap of getting lost in G-meter as standard which,
menu structure, which we found to in our view, is nothing more
be mostly true. On the other hand, than amusing.
we initially found ourselves head We used the Internet
down and staring at the screen, won-
dering how to accomplish rudimen- myWingMan excels in
tory tasks, such as building a flight
plan or fetching a frequency. flight planning and is
But once your fingers do some easily con-
walking on the map, flight planning figurable to
is straightforward. Simply touch the
map and you’re greeted with a list of display up to
surrounding airports, navaids and three pages
fi xes. Select any of them from the list of data.
and you’ll have the option of adding
them to the flight plan. Modifying A simple
a flight plan from the map is the ex- function
pected drill of holding and dragging. wheel menu
A major part of navigating the
app is using the on-screen function
tab cuts to the chase for
wheel tab that lives in the lower selecting data on the fly.
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 21
 FLIGHT TOOLS C H E C K L I S T

FSS Revamp: Access to nearly all the

data available to a FSS
briefer.

Web Access, Hazard Alerts Alerts of new adverse

conditions can be sent to
the pilot after briefing.

The new Lockheed Martin website gives access to Relatively limited features
currently, new ones are
nearly everything a briefer can see and will send post- promised.
briefing adverse condition alerts to the pilot.
Spider Tracks). It will eventually use
by Rick Durden ADS-B. Because the system is set up
to consider an area about 50 miles
on each side of the flight plan route,

L
ockheed Martin Flight Services Privatization of the FSS network over the time in which the aircraft
(LMFS) has created a website via a 10-year contract between the should be at a given point on the
for flight planning, filing flight FAA and LMFS has saved the taxpay- route, it is anticipated that relevant
plans and adverse condition alerting. ers some $1.7 billion according to alerts will eventually be sent during
It’s mostly easy to use, we like what Jim Derr, LMFS’s director of flight the flight itself.
we see and are looking forward to services. As part of the contract,
planned increased capabilities. LMFS has been working with the PERSONAL HOME PAGE
One of the larger displays at AOPA FAA to come up with ideas through The website proved easy to use with
Summit this year was created by which the FSS system can help some shortcuts we liked and a sur-
LMFS to announce the rollout of its reduce the stubbornly high general prisingly large geographic weather
new website for flight planning and aviation accident rate. The result coverage area. On initial use, you tai-
adverse condition alerting. Our first is the new website (https://www. lor a home page with as many as four
reaction was, so what? After all, with lmfsweb.afss.com) that allows a pilot weather charts of your choice and
the plethora of flight planning apps to self-brief using about 98 percent the METARs, TAFs and NOTAMs at
available today, who cares about of the material that an FSS specialist as many as three airports. From then
another one? Besides, given all the looks at in a telephone briefing, file on, that weather info displays when
attention to flight planning apps, flight plans that go into the system you sign in. On your initial visit or at
do pilots even make phone calls to immediately and sign up for LMFS’s any later date, you can also sign up
1-800-WX BRIEF any more? new Adverse Condition Alerting for, although we were frustrated that
It turns out that thousands of Service (ACAS). once we had signed up for alerts—in
pilots call FSS every day even if they the “Account Preferences” tab—we
self-brief via their computers or ALERTS could not go back and see what we
digital devices, and LM’s web portal According to Derr, ACAS uses a had signed up for and confirm what
is a handy tool that looks to get even “four-dimensional model, three- we had done.
more useful over the course of the dimensions plus time,” to send alerts The “Weather” tab opens up virtu-
next year or so. to pilots of adverse weather condi- ally all of the information available
tions, TFRs and urgent to an FSS briefer and includes all of
PIREPs that arise between North America, Central America, the
the time the pilot files a Caribbean, northern South America,
flight plan and launches the Atlantic and Pacific.
on the flight. This service The “Flight Planning and Brief-
is free and available for ing” tab gives you a choice of an
any pilot who requests it, FAA or ICAO flight plan form. Once
whether the flight plan is you have filled in the required fields
filed via telephone with a you can hit the “brief” button and
briefer or on the website. generate a full briefing, much as you
Alerts are sent via e-mail, would receive from an FSS specialist.
text message and/or iridium We eventually figured out that pop-
satellite device (currently up blockers have to be turned off to
get the briefing pages to show. The
LMFS announced its first page of the briefing generated is
Alerts and Hazards to Flight, includ-
new website at AOPA ing TFRs. Of those, presidential
Summit. TFRs, the bane of so many pilots, are
22 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
the first thing to appear, something The first page
we liked. Some other services bury that pops up in
TFRs in pages of data as pilots have an LMFS brief-
discovered to their dismay after a
TFR bust. ing shows TFRs,
Going back to the flight plan page right—they
allows you to tailor your flight plan aren’t buried in
as you wish based on your briefing
and then file it. Because you have pages of text.
filed it through LMFS and it goes Charts, with
directly into the system, it is imme- color-coded
diately available to an FSS special-
ist should you need to call up and weather and
amend it. Many of us have learned TFRs are avail-
that is not the case when filing able through a
through another service, as many
hold the flight plan until a fi xed time
link to Sky Vector, below
before proposed departure before right.
putting it into the system.
The “Airports” tab pulls up much after the accident, time that
of the information you might want may be critical. According
about an airport, including approach to Derr, LMFS will intro-
charts, except for the identity of duce Surveillance Enhanced
FBOs and information on fuel prices. SAR in the spring. Through
Under “Tools,” you can find a guide an aircraft’s iridium satel-
to abbreviations, which we found lite device (the vendor will
ourselves relying on because MET- charge a fee—LMFS will
ARs and TAFs are not presented in not) SAR will be triggered
decoded form. if the airborne unit stops
The “links” tab takes the user transmitting, pings station-
to Sky Vector’s aeronautical chart ary or the pilot pushes the
website, which we found easy to use, emergency call button on
includes weather information and the device, significantly
graphical TFRs. Currently a flight cutting down the time until
plan created on Sky Vector does not the real search is underway.
automatically transfer to the LMFS Derr said that another
site, however, we were advised by early development will be “live talk to a FSS briefer, the LMFS web
LMFS chief architect, Mike Glasgow, meeting” capability on the website so portal provides flight planning infor-
that the two companies are working that a pilot on a telephone briefing mation in a format that is familiar
on a way to gather the route elements with a Specialist can share the same and easy to use. We don’t know how
so they may be pasted onto the route screen image, allowing what almost many times we’ve filed a flight plan
field on the LMFS flight plan. amounts to the long-lost and popular a few hours prior to departure and,
in-person briefing. once aloft, discovered that thunder-
SEARCH AND RESCUE “Auto-summarization” should storms had popped up unexpectedly
We like what we have seen so far. appear on the website in 2013. A along our route, so we are looking
We are looking forward to see what printout of a full briefing can involve forward to taking advantage of the
LMFS does with the capabilities of dozens of pages of material—when a ACAS.
the site in the next year. Flight Ser- pilot calls FSS, the specialist sum- We are also very interested in the
vices director Derr gave us an outline marizes the data for the pilot, culling upcoming enhanced SAR and other
of what we might expect. He first out the extraneous material. An features and will be reporting on
explained that LMFS is involved with algorithm developed by LMFS will them when they come out. LMFS
over 10,000 search and rescue events do this automatically on the website, has some innovative ideas that may
annually. SAR is not initiated until saving time for the self-briefing pilot. enhance safety. We’re hoping it can
an airplane is at least 30 minutes If the pilot desires more, it is still deliver.
overdue. The first step is usually a available with a few clicks.
series of telephone calls to see if the Chief architect Glasgow said that
airplane has landed, and the pilot
simply forgot to close the flight plan.
decoded weather and a nav log are
also coming to the website as well as
CONTACTS
The start time and initial calling upgraded ACAS so that alerts will ap- Lockheed Martin Flight Services
process also means that an airplane pear on the pilot’s home page. 800-WX-BRIEF
that goes down 20 minutes into a
three-hour flight is not going to be CONCLUSION https://www.lmfsweb.afss.com
the subject of a search for some time Especially for those who prefer to
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 23
U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

Cessna 206
A broad-shouldered load hauler that’s at home every-
where from the bush to a family outing.

W
e Americans like our stuff. floats, turbocharge it, dump skydiv- cally known as the 210-5. It had two
We accumulate it madly and ers from it, and carry small packages doors up front and a relatively small
take it with us when we go or just your family. It has proven rear door on the left side. The engine
places. We happily buy and jam our tough and reliable enough to be a was a 260-HP Continental IO-470.
highways with SUVs, minivans and fi xture in the bush throughout the This airplane was a fi xed-gear ver-
gigantic pickup trucks, each able to world, holding on even as turbines sion of the recently revamped 210;
comfortably swallow several people shoulder out piston-power. it was produced for two years, with
and their stuff. So popular has been the 206’s 577 delivered.
Yet, when it comes to airplanes, combination of simplicity and In 1964, Cessna responded to
it’s tough to fulfill the deep-seated load-carrying that it’s one of three demand for more utility and cre-
desire to haul ated the U206 (U for
our stuff. Some Utility) Super Sky-
are optimized for wagon, with a 285-HP
speed, with little Known for its ability to carry heavy loads in Continental IO-520A,
flexibility in load- redesigned wing and
ing. Some aren’t,
and out of tight spots, Cessna’s 206/Stationair bigger flaps. Intended
their designers is also a rock-solid instrument platform. as a flying pickup
preferring to truck, even the seats
carry people and were optional. There
things reliably was one door for the
over long distances or into small piston-powered singles Cessna saw pilot and a big double door aft on
areas. Compromises can be made, fit to bring back to the land of the the right side.
but the results sometimes please few living. As a result and in addition to The next model year saw the 205
customers. Perhaps the poster-child a wide range of mid-1960s and later become the P206 Super Skylane,
exception is an airplane such as the airframes on the market, one can with “P” representing “personal”
Cessna 206 Stationair, which carries also opt for a brand-new one. or “passenger,” depending on with
the SUV/minivan/pickup concept to whom you’re speaking. The P206
a capable conclusion. HISTORY had the same door arrangement as
It’s not fast, nor is it that slow, but Cessna’s biggest fi xed-gear piston the 205, but with the bigger engine
it is stable, rugged, reliable, has six single is really three models, though from the 206. The U206 was by far
real seats and is remarkable for being all are essentially the same airframe. the more popular of the two.
able to carry a half-ton or so after It was originally introduced in 1963 In 1967, the U model got a take-
the tanks are filled. You can put it on as the 205, a fi xed gear 210, techni- off-weight boost and a new engine,
24 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

CESSNA 206 STATIONAIR

9 ft. 9 in.
28 ft.

Drawings courtesy
in.
36 ft. 7 in. www.schemedesigners.com

CESSNA 206 SELECT MODEL HISTORY

MODEL YEAR ENGINE TBO OVERHAUL FUEL USEFUL LOAD CRUISE TYPICAL RETAIL

1965 U206 SUPER SKYWAGON CONTINENTAL IO520A 1700 $30,000 65 1540 LBS 144 KTS ±$68,000

1965 P206 SUPER SKYLANE CONTINENTAL IO520A 1700 $30,000 65 1510 LBS 143 KTS ±$63,000

1970 U206E STATIONAIR CONTINENTAL IO520F 1700 $26,000 65 1575 LBS 143 KTS ±$84,000

1970 P206D SUPER SKYLANE CONTINENTAL IO520A 1700 $30,000 65 1480 LBS 142 KTS ±$70,000

1980 U206G II STATIONAIR CONTINENTAL IO520F 1700 $30,000 92 1598 LBS 147 KTS ±$128,000

1980 TU206G II TURBO STATIONAIR CONTINENTAL TSIO520M 1600 $40,000 92 1534 LBS 152 KTS ±$135,000

1986 U206G II STATIONAIR CONTINENTAL IO520F 1700 $30,000 92 1598 LBS 147 KTS ±$157,000

1986 TU206G II TURBO STATIONAIR CONTINENTAL TSIO520M 1600 $40,000 92 1534 LBS 152 KTS ±$175,000
2004 206H STATIONAIR LYCOMING IO540AC1A 2000 $45,000 92 1249 LBS 142 KTS ±$230,000
2004 T206H TURBO STATIONAIR LYCOMING TIO540AJ1I 2000 $52,000 92 1249 LBS 150 KTS ±$260,000

CESSNA 206 RESALE VALUE SELECT RECENT ADs

1970 U206E 1986 U206G
220K –
DATA: AIRCRAFT BLUEBOOK PRICE DIGEST AD 2011-10-09 SEAT RAILS AND ROLLER
– HOUSING INSPECTION
180K –
ONE-TIME SEAT BASE/BACK ATTACH
– AD 2008-05-09
BRACKETS MODIFICATION (206H)
140K –
–
INSTALL QUICKDRAINS; REPETITIVELY
100K – AD 84-10-01
INSPECT FUEL TANK FILLER AREA
–
60K – DISCONNECT CIGAR LIGHTER OR
AD 79-08-03
1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2012 INSTALL CIRCUIT PROTECTION

SELECT LATEMODEL COMPARISONS

PAYLOAD/FULL FUEL CRUISE SPEEDS PRICE COMPARISONS

1970 U206E STATIONAIR 1970 U206E STATIONAIR 1970 U206 $84,000
1970 TU206E TURBO 1970 TU206E TURBO STATIONAIR 1970 TU206E $91,000
1970 PIPER PA32300 1970 PIPER PA32300 1970 PIPER PA32300 $68,000
2004 T206H TURBO 2004 T206H TURBO STATIONAIR 2004 T206H TURBO $200,000
2004 PIPER PA32301 6X 2004 PIPER PA32301 6X 2004 PA32301 6X $245,000
800 1000 1200 1400 120 130 140 150 100K 150K 200K 250K

December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 25
U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

The panel of this 1980 model

206, above left, shows avionics
upgrades one might expect to
find on the current market. The
G1000 panel of the most recent
version of the 206, lower left.

or without turbocharging, Cessna

wants in the neighborhood of
$500,000 for a new one.

MARKETPLACE
Enormous fi xed-gear singles aren’t
all that common in the marketplace.
In terms of mainstream aircraft,
the choices are pretty much lim-
boosted cruise speed ited to the Cessnas and Piper PA-32
by about six MPH. The Cherokee Six/Saratoga. Prices are
cleanup included more- comparable, and which makes the
streamlined wheel better choice depends in part on
pants and improved your needs. The big Pipers have a
cowl flaps. wing spar running through the cabin
In 1977, the horse- right behind the front seats, disrupt-
power of the turbo en- ing the loading area somewhat, and
gine was upped to 310 the Cessna is definitely the airplane
(for takeoff only) on of choice for floats. Both companies’
both the TU206 and the products have proven reasonably reli-
T207. A wet-wing fuel able over the years.
system was introduced The Pipers do have an edge in
the 300-HP Continental IO-520-F, in 1979. TBO. While the best one can hope
while the P model kept the 285-HP In 1980, the seventh seat of the for from any Stationair model is
IO-520-A. Turbocharging became 207 was widened to hold up to eight a 1700-hour TBO, the -540-series
available on both variants in 1966, passengers. This created the Station- Lycomings bolted on the Pipers have
with a 285-HP Continental TSIO- air 8, but the designator remained a TBO of 1800 hours (for the TIO-
520C. The P206 was discontinued in 207. The world would have to wait 540-S1AD), and as much as 2000
1970, with a total production run of for the Caravan to see the 208 and hours in the case of the IO-540-
647. The remaining U206 and TU206 the ultimate evolution of the high- K1G5 on the Saratoga and Cherokee
were offered with either a utility wing, strut-braced single. The 207 Six. Piper’s TBO advantage is erased
or passenger interior, and renamed was discontinued in 1984, and the if one is considering a ‘98 or later
Stationair. 206 two years later. Lycoming-powered 206.
A stretch of the fuselage brought It was a great run. Along the way,
into being the 207 Skywagon in 206s saw several suffi xes added, LOADING
1969, powered by the 300 HP IO- starting with the 206A in 1966 and This is the name of the game for Sta-
520-F. One more seat was added, culminating, temporarily, with the tionair pilots. While no airplane can
bringing the number available to 206G in 1986. More than 7000, by handle anything you can fit in it, the
seven. Useful load went up by about serial number, U206s had entered Stationair comes closer than most.
30 pounds. An additional bonus the market, along with 647 P206s, Full-fuel payloads of 1000 pounds or
was a nose baggage compartment, the 577 aforementioned 205s and better are not at all uncommon.
easing the task of getting the CG in another 788 207s. The big rear cargo doors—creat-
the proper place during loading. The But then a funny thing happened: ing an opening more than 44 inches
turbo model of the 207 was powered In the mid 1990s, Cessna started wide—make getting bulky cargoes
by a TSIO-520-G, also with 300 HP. making piston-powered airplanes inside less of a chore than in other
Camber-lift wings, which feature again. After starting up assembly aircraft. Another nice touch is the
a slightly cuffed leading edge, were lines for the 172 and 182, the Model lack of a lip at the doors, so cargoes
added in 1972. These improved low- 206 returned in 1998, powered not don’t have to be maneuvered up and
speed handling at almost no cost to by a Continental IO-520 but by a over to get them inside.
cruise speeds. At the same time, the 300-HP Lycoming IO-540-AC1A. The airplane can be flown with
baggage compartment got a seven- Offered only as the 206H Stationair the cargo doors off which, combined
inch stretch (more on this later). and, thanks to a 310-HP Lycom- with solid low speed handling,
An aerodynamic cleanup in 1975 ing TIO-540-AJ1A, available with makes them popular with aerial
26 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

photographers and public benefit The right-side

flying organizations involved in con- cargo doors make
servation research and monitoring. access to the rear
Public benefit flying organizations
LightHawk and CAVU are 206 own- seats easy, right,
ers and use them in remote areas of especially when the
North, Central and South America. Greisman fam-
Specialty kits were made avail-
able so the Stationair could take on ily of six, middle
such jobs as glider towing, parachute right, goes to visit
jumping and even aerial hearse relatives, although
service. There also is a cargo pod
available. baggage is limited
With or without the cargo pod, to the area behind
the Stationairs offer ample loading the rear seats.
flexibility. The allowable CG range is
fairly wide, making cargo/passenger
With passenger
positioning less of a juggling act than seats removed,
with many aircraft. However, despite the 206 hauls a
some pilots’ assertions that, “If
you can get it in, you can take off,”
tremendous volume of
weight and balance computations are cargo, bottom right.
not optional. Several accidents over
the years show it is possible to load a
Stationair outside its envelope. though. It makes the Sta-
tionair an excellent IFR plat-
COMFORT form—stable and rock-solid.
While the Stationairs have large It also makes for a relatively
cabins, they’re not long on com- smooth ride in turbulence.
fort with a full load of passengers. Another benefit is that
Noise levels, particularly during the Stationair is reluctant
takeoff and climb, can be fairly high to stall. Pitch forces are fairly heavy
as piston-engined singles go. And to begin with. Compounding this is
the rear-most seats—row three in the generally nose-heavy loading of
the 206, rows three and four in the the airplane. Since the CG envelope
207—leave little in the way of leg is so long, and most everyone wants
room. to sit up front, the CG is often at or
Another comfort consideration is near its forward limit. Also, with
the baggage compartment. In spite of power on, the deck angle required
Cessna’s best efforts, it doesn’t quite for a wings-level stall is alarming.
match the capabilities of the passen- Put it all together and the Stationair degrees of flap, which helped tre-
ger compartment. As a result, pas- is not generally a willing participant mendously for short arrivals. Howev-
sengers may find themselves sharing in stalls. er, the airplane just won’t climb with
space with their bags. A drawback of this nose heavi- that much aluminum hanging out in
ness is a tendency to arrive nose first the breeze. Cessna later limited flap
PERFORMANCE during landing, especially at light travel to 30 degrees.
Top cruise speeds will run in the weights. It takes a hefty pull on the
145-knot area while burning 15 yoke to flare properly. Thus, Station- MAINTENANCE
gallons per hour or more. Throttling airs are no strangers to hard, nose- Simplicity is a good thing, and helps
back to a leisurely 135 knots cuts gas first landings that sometimes damage keep maintenance costs down...but
consumption to a more reasonable the aircraft. In the 207, the nose bag- on the other hand, Stationairs are
12.5 GPH. gage compartment can simply add to working airplanes by and large, and
Handling matches the aircraft’s the nose heaviness. However, using wear and tear can easily turn the tide
size. Pilots who enter the Stationair less than full flaps for landing (say in the other direction.
after climbing the Cessna model lad- only 20 degrees) can ease the control We’ve seen problems with the
der may find the aircraft is just more forces required to flare. Also, as one tail, mostly corrosion caused by the
of the same—only heavier, although reader aptly put it, “That is what trim foam-filled elevator and trim tab get-
the ailerons are notably responsive, was invented for: Use it.” ting soaked with water and pulling
even at slow speeds. Few own- Like most Cessna singles, the 206 of rivets, screws and nuts. Obviously
ers seem to mind the fairly heavy does pretty well in short/soft/rough a concern if the airplane was ever on
controls: Snappy handling is not why field operations, a big factor in the floats.
they bought the airplane. purchase decision for many of our Some of the brackets in the tail
This is not without its benefits, respondents. Early models had 40 can crack. There have also been some
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 27
U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

(www.txskyways.com) or Atlantic
ACCIDENTS: MUNDANE TO THE BIZARRE Aero (www.atlantic-aero.com) would
be your mama-bear solution.

RICHARD GREISMAN
To gauge the Cessna 206’s ac- losses and six maneuvering crash-
cident record, we looked at the es, including one in which the As far as type clubs, the Cessna
most recent 100 accidents in purpose of the flight was to con- Pilot’s Association (www.cessna.org)
which the NTSB assigned a prob- duct terrain following maneuvers is your one-stop shop for all things
able cause. The pattern emerg- at low level and gross weight. The Cessna. The Cessna Flyer Association
ing confirms for us that pilots of airplane hit a mountain. (www.cessnaflyer.org) also comes
airplane with great utility some- Takeoff accidents included at- highly recommended.
times are a little too optimistic tempted departures from frozen,
regarding what the airplane will rough, soft or short surfaces, and OWNER COMMENTS
do. either failure to keep the airplane I bought my 1980 U206 in 2006 for
Unsurprisingly, runway loss on the “runway” or hitting some- $185,000. It had a new interior and
of control was the number one thing once in the air. upgraded avionics. I bought it for
cause of pilots and airplanes com- One airplane was so overloaded personal use as there our six of us
ing to grief, however, we were with building materials and in our family, including my six-foot-
impressed that a couple of those people, some without seatbelts, four-inch son. We live in Oklahoma
events included criticism from the that witnesses said the tires were and fly it regularly to Arizona. I’ve
NTSB regarding the site chosen nearly flat. It stalled, crashed and averaged putting about 70 hours a
for the landing and not because burned after takeoff. year on the airplane.
the site was off-airport, but be- What we didn’t find among the Insurance was initially over $7000
cause the surface was so bad. NTSB data was a smoking gun, a year as I was a 58-hour pilot. Once
We did find it interesting that unless it’s news that pilots fly the I got my instrument rating the rates
the category “other” was tied for 206 into unusual situations. As a went down to where I now pay
number one. Those accidents in- result, don’t be surprised if your $2004 for a $1M smooth policy.
cluded four 206s on amphibious insurance agent asks how you Average cost for five annuals has
floats that landed gear-down on plan to use your new-to-you 206. been $1539. I’ve added some avion-
water, which generally means the ics and GAMIjectors. In the time I’ve
airplane inverts violently. Fatali- owned the airplane I’ve only had to
ties were always involved. ACCIDENT SUMMARY replace the spinner, EGT probe, bat-
There was one suicide and one tery, a fuse and repair the beacon the
in-flight breakup in a thunder- RLOC 25% brakes.
storm. One pilot misjudged his OTHER 25% I normally cruise between 9 and
turn to final at a remote strip ENGINE 20% 11,000 feet, LOP, burning 12 GPH at
and hit a cliff with the right main TAKEOFF 12% a true airspeed of 138-140 knots.
gear, which separated from the FUEL STARV. 7%
I purchased the airplane so the
airplane. The result of the subse- entire family could travel together. I
MANEUVERING 6%
quent landing back at home base looked at the 206, 210, Cherokee Six
was predictable. IMPROPER IFR 5% and the Lance/Saratoga retractable. I
There were 20 engine power opted for the weight carrying ability
of the 206 and a non-retract because
of my limited flying time, plus the
instances of cracking door posts, of the crankshaft; 96-12-22, recurrent high wing matters when dealing
though these problems have not inspection of the oil filter adapter with the Arizona sun. I did not look
proven to be a safety issue. and 2011-10-09, seat rails and roller at 206s with fuel bladders as I did
Given the number of respondents housing inspection. not want to deal with their potential
who routinely operate out of short The 206/207 is also subject to the problems.
and rough fields, combined with the infamous 84-10-1 fuel tank bladder The ability to carry a great deal of
nose-heavy landing tendency, we AD. weight is important to me because I
recommend paying close attention prefer to fly with full fuel for safety,
to the landing gear (particularly the MODS, CLUBS and can do so in the 206 and still
nose gear), brakes and the prop for There’s probably a modification have a big load in the cabin. It is
erosion from the detritus on back- available for the 206/207 to allow slow, but I do not feel as if it ever
country strips. it to do most anything someone gets ahead of me. It is a great instru-
There have been a couple of might want. This includes skis, floats, ment platform but it is also a lot of
206/207 specific ADs: 85-2-7 calls for long-range tanks, STOL kits, vortex fun to just fly around for sight-seeing
inspection of a roll pin in the fuel generators and various speed mods. or in the pattern shooting landings.
selector, and 85-10-2 mandates re- One can even opt for an STC’d I think the slow speed, especially at
current inspection or modification of 450-SHP Rolls Royce turboprop en- the stall, makes for safe touch and
the induction air box. Other ADs of gine, courtesy of Soloy (www.soloy. goes.
note are 91-15-4 and 82-27-2, inspec- com). If that is too much, and the My best story came out of a sad
tion of the prop; 97-26-17, ultrasonic factory IO-520 isn’t enough, maybe event—my daughter was badly in-
inspection and possible replacement an IO-550 from Texas Skyways jured in a skiing accident, suffering
28 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

READER SERVICES
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TO CHANGE YOUR MAILING OR

The 206 can be flown with the cargo door removed, making it ideal E-MAIL ADDRESS, RENEW YOUR
for skydiving as well as aerial photography and natural resources SUBSCRIPTION OR TO
CHECK PAYMENT STATUS,
monitoring. Here observers on a LightHawk flight are documenting VISIT OUR
flamingo nesting sites in the Yucatan. (Photo by LightHawk.) ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Log on at:
numerous fractures. Driving to the 120 gallons of fuel on board, higher www.aviationconsumer.com/cs
airport for the trip home was agoniz- cruise speed and lower stall speeds. I To change your address by mail,
ing for her. The 206 proved to be don’t usually fly with fuel in the tip attach your present mailing label to
this form (or a copy of this form) enter
the best airplane ever. We used the tanks, except for very long trips. The
your new address below and mail it to:
big cargo door opening to easily get full flap, power off stall speed has
her into the fully-reclined rear seat, dropped to an unbelievable 35 knots
strapped her in and stuffed pillows indicated when lightly loaded. THE AVIATION CONSUMER
around her. She slept comfortably all The TSIO-540 engine seems to P.O. Box 8535
the way home. be happy at 18 gallons per hour at Big Sandy, TX 75755-8535
maximum cruise at nearly all alti-
Richard Greisman tudes giving speeds from 160 knots
Name _____________________________
Via email at 12,000 feet to 170 knots at 18,000
feet. The plane is certified to 27,000 Company __________________________
I purchased a new turbo 206 in early feet with speed increasing slightly Address ____________________________
2008, base the airplane in Denver and fuel consumption dropping at Address 2 __________________________
and use it for business and personal higher elevations.
City _______________________________
travel around the western half of the Annual inspections have been
U.S., often crossing the high moun- predictable so far, averaging just over State ___________ Zip: ______________
tain ranges of the west. When I was $2000. The main problem that I’ve E-mail _____________________________
evaluating alternatives, I considered had is that the Garmin G1000 soft-
a variety of cabin-class twins and six- ware is updated every year during To order or renew a subscription,
enter your name and address above and
place singles. Ultimately, I decided to the annual and creates an interface check the subscription term you prefer:
go with a new 206 which provided problem with the Ryan TAS. This
[ ] 1 year (12 issues) $69
a platform for gaining experience seems to always take a bit of extra ef-
[ ] 6 months (6 issues) $34.50
flying with a glass cockpit and would fort to get everything re-integrated.
[ ] Check enclosed [ ] AMEX
give me decades of reliable service, Insurance has been slightly higher
[ ] MasterCard [ ] Visa
hopefully following me into retire- than I was expecting at $5000 per
ment. year, but is mostly related to the hull Card # _____________________________
Some of the add ons to the air- value. Expiration Date _____________________
plane were extended range/tip fuel As an instrument platform, the Signature _____________________
tanks, gap seals, active traffic (TAS) airplane is exceptionally stable in
and XM weather. The extended fuel every weather condition that I’ve YOUR RENEWAL
tanks provide an interesting combi- encountered, no sick passengers, IS JUST A CLICK AWAY!
nation of higher useful load (1420 yet. It took some effort to become www.aviationconsumer.com
pounds), increased range with nearly proficient with the G1000, but it was
December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 29
U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E

Even with all six seats occupied,

there is a surprisingly large
space for baggage.

rivers in Alaska and in salt and fresh

water operations from Seattle north
to the Inside Passage in British Co-
lumbia, Canada. On floats, the 206
with the IO-520 engine required
that the cowl flaps be open at all
times to get appropriate cooling. The
operator I flew for called for takeoffs
at 25 inches and 2500 RPM, mostly
to keep the noise level down. Unless
the airplane was heavily loaded,
or the area was tight, the reduced
power takeoff was manageable.
Heavy, full power was neces-
sary, sometimes pressing against
the five-minute limit, especially on
glassy water. An issue that came up
regularly was carrying too much in
the back end, either passengers or
worth every minute. Landings are a Garmin 430, S-Tec 50 autopilot, baggage. Even though the airplane
predictable and smooth, even in JPI 830 engine monitor, GAMIjec- was in CG, it could be a real chal-
the high cross wind conditions that tors, VGs and a Maxpulse pulse lenge to get the floats up on the step
Denver enjoys every once in a while. landing light. on takeoff. If you couldn’t get on the
So, obviously, I’m pretty high on Our most common maintenance step the CHTs would redline and
the 206. It provides a great combi- cost is from prop erosion from the five-minute limit on full power
nation of huge loads, reasonable gravel aprons and runways. We have would get hit and you’d have to go
speeds, crazy endurance and good had to replace the prop once in the back and do something to change
maintenance costs that are common last four years. We download the the loading.
to Cessna products. engine data about every two weeks The rule of thumb most of us
to monitor the health of the engine. used was that if the tails of the
Mike Henderson Operations are almost exclu- floats started to look even with the
Denver, Colorado sively LOP with fuel burns about 10 surface of the water before the pilot
GPH—speed is not important and climbed on board, you were headed
For the past four years I have been fuel is very expensive in Central for a challenging takeoff. This is
the “crew chief” for LightHawk’s America. This has allowed us to where the 206 on Edo floats mat-
1977 Cessna U206. LightHawk is keep the engine running cool and tered to me.
a non-profit, public benefit flying healthy to well past TBO—we only If I could get the airplane on the
organization that makes use aircraft recently replaced it with a factory step, it would eventually come off
and volunteer pilot in support of reman. Operating costs run $155 the water, even if you had to lift
conservation throughout North and per hour, not including engine one float at a time on glassy water.
Central America. LightHawk’s 206 reserve. On PKs, getting on the step did not
spends six months of the year being Our 206 is a workhorse, not a guarantee the airplane would come
flown by volunteer pilots in Central show horse. It does yeoman work off the water, I might end up just
America and Mexico, where it aver- for us and is a favorite of our vol- high-speed taxiing.
ages about 500 hours of use each unteer pilots and the passengers we The 206 flew well on floats with a
year in some challenging condi- fly. good load, handled turbulence well
tions. but didn’t seem to like flying too
We fly with five seats in the Will Worthington slowly on final approach as it would
airplane to leave room and weight Via email develop a very high sink rate. The
for a life raft, survival gear and the pilots I flew with and I found that a
specialized equipment often carried I have flown several 206s on floats, power-on approach was the best for
by our conservation partner passen- one on PKs, the rest on Edos. The managing gusts and sink rate, with
gers. The ability to fly with the cargo Edos seemed to be a good design for a little bit of power carried all the
door removed has made the air- the 206, almost always easy to get way to touchdown.
plane popular with photographers, out of the water even when loaded,
scientists and journalists. the 206 with PKs was a dog. My Greg Bedinger
Upgrades to the airplane include flights were in and out of lakes and Via email
30 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012
 U S E AVweb_Vrt_BlvrAvtnAd_final_4C
D A I R C R A F T G U I 12/13/06
D E 8:4

2012 EDITORIAL INDEX

A LSA Finance Woes............................Feb/20
ADS-B From Garmin ......................Aug/13 Lynx Bluetooth Headset..................Apr/16
AeroFusion Additive ........................Jan/22
Aircraft Antennas........................... May/10 N-Q
Altitude Minders ............................. Oct/12 Personal 406 Beacons ....................Aug/17
Angle of Attack ............................... May/
May 13 Pilot Logbook Apps ....................... MayMay/1
y/16
As Cheap as it Gets .........................Aug/20 Pilot MyCast Morphs .................... May/19
Austro’s Aggressive Play ................... Jun/04
Avidyne Plug and Play.................... Sep/20
Pipistrel Virus SW .......................... May/
May 04
Portable Oxygen ............................ Nov/15
Quick WX for Droid ........................Apr/17
AVweb’s
Avgas Replacement ........................... Jul/11
AVMap EKP-V ...................................Jun/12 R,S TOP FIVE
Redbird’s Bold Move ......................Jan/07
B-E • Podcasts – Biweekly
Reducing Lead Fouling .................. Jun/23
Budget Transponders ..................... Nov/08
ReKrete Floor Cleaner .................... Jan/11 podc with aviation
podcasts
Bulletproof Engines ............................... Mar/11 Renegade Falcon ............................. Feb/04
Cabin Sunshields .............................Sep/17 newsmakers
Renter’s Insuarnce.......................... Nov/21
Cessna Grand Caravan..................... Jul/17 Retrofit Checklists ......................... Nov/19
Cessna’s New Diesel ....................... Sep/04
• Brainteasers – PPut your
Retrofit Fuel Computers.................. Jan/14
Cessna’s Reborn TTX ......................Aug/04 Rotax 912iS .................................... May
May/08
y/08
aviation
viation knowledg
knowledgee to the test
test
Cessna 152 vs. LSA ......................... Apr/20 Sennheiser S1 Passive..................... Sep/23 with these int
interactiv
cti e quizzes
Cirrus Examined .............................Jan/04 Ship’s Radar Upgrades....................Aug/14
Cockpit Apps for Droid? ...............Mar/18 Spark Plugs ..................................... Nov/12
• Video of the week –
Compact Folding Bikes ....................Jul/20 Stratus ADS-B Weather ......................June/15 Some of the most int
inter
eresting
eresting
Compass Replacement ................... Feb/08 Super Legend ...................................Oct/04 plane and pilot videos ar
around
Corrosion Treatment ......................Mar/08
T
Cylinder Survey .............................. Apr/04
Tax Considerations ........................ Mar/22Mar
• Picture of the week –
Datalink WX for iPad ......................Feb/10 A showcase
ccase
ase for our rea
readers
TBM 850........................................... Apr/09
De-ice Boot Replacement .................. Dec/12
Diamond’s DA42V1 ....................... May/20
Telex Ascend for Jets .......................Aug/23 keen eeyes
yes an impeccab
impeccable ttast
aste
aste
Trig Avionics TY Radios ..................Jun/21 in aerial
rrial
ial photogra
photography
raphy
Dynon D1 Pocket EFIS .................. Sep/08
Turbine Step Ups .............................Feb/13
Dynon Skyview.............................. Nov/19 Turboprop Conversions ........................ Oct/16 • The Pilot’
Pilot’s Lounge –
F,G S-Z Need we say mor
N more!
Flying Eyes ....................................... Oct/23 VoiceFlight VFS101 .........................Jan/12
FSS Web Access.................................Dec/22 Vortex Generators ............................Jun/17
Fuel Tank Reseal ..............................Feb/18 Which Garmin Retrofit? ..................Jul/08 All this and more
GAMIjectors .................................... Oct/08
Garmin’s ADS-B WX .......................Sep/14
Garmin GLO ................................... Oct/14
Your Li-ion Future...........................Aug/09
USED AIRCRAFT GUIDE FREE
Gear of the Year ................................ Jul/14 Cessna Cardinal RG ........................ Jan/24 at A
AVweb.com
Gippsland GA8TC ......................... Mar/ Mar 04 Cessna Hawk XP ............................ May/24
Glass Panel Upkeep ........................ Oct/20 Cessna Skymaster ............................. Jul/24
Good Glass Deals ............................ Jan/18 Cessna 185 Skywagon ....................Aug/24
Cessna 195 .......................................Mar/24
H-M Citabria and Decathlon ..................Jun/24
Husky A-1C ...................................... Jun/08 Diamond DA20............................... Sep/24
Interior Shop Survey .......................Sep/10 Diamond DA40 Star ...................... Nov/24
Legacy LSA Choices ..........................Jul/04 Piper Saratoga and Lance............... Apr/24
Lightning Detectors ........................ Apr/13 Piper Seneca .....................................Feb/24
LSA Accident Survey ...................... Nov/04 Pre-201 Mooney .............................. Oct/24

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION (Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685). 1. Title of Publication:
Aviation Consumer. 2. Publication No.: 0908-2600. 3. Filing Date: 9/28/12. 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly. 5. No. of Issues
Published Annually: 12. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $84.00. 7. Known Office of Publication: 800 Connecticut Ave., Norwalk,
CT 06854-1631. Contact person: Greg King, 203-857-3119. 8. Headquarters or General Business Office of the Publisher: Same
as above. 9. Publisher: Same as above. Editor: Rick Durden. Managing Editor: Larry Anglisano, Belvoir Aviation Group, LLC.
800 Connecticut Ave., Norwalk, CT 06854-1631. 10. Owner: Belvoir Media Group, LLC 800 Connecticut Ave., Norwalk, CT
06854-1631. 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total
SUBSCRIBE
B
BSCRIBE
amounts of bonds, mortgages or other securities: None. 13. Title: Aviation Consumer. 14. Issue date for circulation data below:
August 2012. 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation (Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months/ No. Copies
of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date): a. Total No. of Copies Printed (12,575/12,150) b. Paid and/or Requested
TODAY!
TODA
Circulation: 1. Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (10,744/10,267). 2. Paid In-County
Subscriptions (0/0). 3. Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribu- at
tion (599/598). 4. Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS (0/0). c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation (11,343/10,865).
d. Free Distribution by Mail: 1. Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541 (808/803). 2. In-County as Stated on Form 3541 (0/0).
3. Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS (0/0). 4. Free Distribution Outside the Mail (165/82). e. Total Free Distribution
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AVweb.com/register
and/or Requested Circulation (92.1%/92.5%). 17. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete.
Gregory M. King, VP Circulation, 9/28/12.

December 2012 w w w.av iat ion con sume r.com The Aviation Consumer • 31
 FEEDBACK WANTED

CESSNA T303

For the March 2013 issue of Avia-

tion Consumer, our Used Aircraft
Guide will be on the Cessna T303,
the 1980s twin Cessna developed
De-icing Boots however, it is not equipped to replace
the internal components of de-ice
to replace the 310. We want to
know what it’s like to own these
systems or repair major corrosion or
(continued from page 14) airframe dents. planes, how much they cost to
operate, maintain and insure and
at its facility gets free labor on all RECOMMENDATIONS what they’re like to fly. If you’d
boot work—including further replace- Our inquiries led to an even split like your airplane to appear in the
ments—for the life of the aircraft, between preference for Goodrich and magazine, send us any photo-
and until the end of the year, a boot B/E Ice Shield boots. Bob Hayes said graphs you’d care to share. We
replacement includes a free fuel top he prefers Goodrich, but admitted it accept digital photos e-mailed to
off. was because he’d been installing them the address below. We welcome
B/E Aerospace guarantees 48-hour for so long that it was purely a per- information on mods, support or-
delivery of boots from the time the or- sonal preference, that he’d installed ganizations or any other pertinent
der is received, with shipping included a lot of Ice Shield boots and thought
comments. Please send corre-
in the boot price. they were every bit as good.
Goodrich does not give a delivery We did hear some complaints spondence on the T303 by January
time guarantee but stated that if the about delays in obtaining Goodrich 1, 2013, to:
boots are in stock at the distributor, boots, which may be why B/E makes
they can go out overnight. If they are a point of advertising and promising Aviation Consumer
not in stock, delivery time is gener- 48-hour delivery of Ice Shield boots to e-mail at:
ally 30-60 days. The Goodrich Service your installer. We received no indica- ConsumerEditor@
Center states that it is generally able to tion that either company had the edge hotmail.com
schedule airplanes in for replacement on quality—both were well liked.
within a week or two. As to FASTboots versus conven-
The Goodrich Service Center has tional—the operators who needed a
the equipment and does boot work fast turnaround and the ability to use
on airplanes dating from the 1930s, the boots right away, notably com- tional boot means there is some play
muters, corporate and so it can be “finessed” during installa-
air taxi operators like tion, as Bob Hayes put it, if the initial
FASTboots. contact isn’t spot on.
Some shops told That being the case, unless you
us they prefer con- are in a hurry to use the boots right
ventional boots out of the shop, it appears to us that
because the adhesive conventional boots allow a little more
arrangement on the margin for error during installation.
FASTboot means that No matter what, we strongly recom-
once it’s on the wing, mend going with a B/E-approved
it tends to be on for installer or an FBO who has installed
good and it’s difficult a lot of boots.
to fix a misalignment. Finally, we think that a shop should
The wet nature of the provide a firm quote and stick to it
adhesive on a conven- so long as needed corrosion and dent
treatment is reasonable. We liked the
policy of Goodrich’s service facility:
Finishing touches Its manager, Ken Fisher said, “What
on an installation. we quote—that’s what you pay.”
32 • The Aviation Consumer w w w. av iat ion con sumer.com December 2012