Search Results for: Garmin G1000

In that vast wasteland we call television, a clever commercial has been making the rounds lately. It depicts a hapless sad sack in a crumpled white suit bumbling through a nighttime cityscape setting off fires, floods and other assorted mayhem. The catchline is “risk never sleeps.” It sure enough doesnt, but the other essential element of accidents is opportunity. Consider this: In two years time, Cirrus Design will have sold more than 1000 turbocharged SR22s, each capable of effortless cruise in the mid-20s. The risk, of course, is hypoxia, and 1000 airplanes is enough opportunity to give an insurance executive ulcers.

With the advent of the new glass cockpits, a lot of thought went into the kind of training that would be necessary to adequately prepare a pilot to safely utilize these more sophisticated systems. The FAA worked with the general aviation industry to put together a set of standards for glass cockpit training. The original […]

A dream had just come true. Cessna invited me to spend a couple days with its new Mustang. I would pick the trips that looked interesting, and do the flying on my own. Cessna’s top instructor and Mustang designated pilot examiner, Kirby Ortega, would be in the right seat to offer the occasional suggestion, and […]

At first glance the newly certified Mooney Ovation3 looks like just another Mooney (which, granted, is a little like saying “just another Porsche.”) But behind the familiar long-body lines are a couple of big changes. Even before the Ovation3 came along, these airplanes were fast, and over the past few years they’ve gotten faster, and […]

The first “glass” cockpit airplane that I flew was a Falcon 10 or 100, well over 20 years ago. At that time the nomenclature was EFIS (for electronic flight instrumentation system), the equipment was from Collins radio and basically it replicated the mechanical flight instruments. I recall that the depiction was not particularly crisp and […]

Four of the last five airplanes that I bought were new. The one that wasn’t new had but 500 hours on it. That was years ago, the last being in 1979. Still, I know the real thrill that comes from getting a brand-new airplane and being the only person, other than the test pilot, who […]

I am being a recalcitrant student. “Put the heading bug on the airport runway heading,” my friend Bruce says. “Why?” “That way you’ll know which way the runway heading is,” he answers. “Or,” I reply, “I can just look at the compass.” To my way of thinking, if I can’t remember that I’m taking off […]

The best way that I can think of to describe Cessna’s new light jet Mustang is that it is, in all respects, a Citation. That means it has pleasant and predictable flying qualities, uncomplicated and robust systems, good payload and range, and it delivers on all of the promises Cessna made when it introduced the […]

“Columbia 2536 Tango is cleared to the I69 airport, direct Hagerstown VOR, then as filed, maintain 4,000, departure on 134.15, squawk 0510.” I have gotten that same route clearance many times in my P210 and to take the measure of the new Columbia 400 I would run it out and back over this familiar 320-nm […]