Mooney Acclaim Ultra: Tops in Raw Speed

inquiries for the DeltaHawk engine are from overseas buyers. Does that answer the question in the above headline? You draw your own conclusions, and in the interim I’ll keep tabs on the DeltaHawk engine’s certification status and we’ll report on the progress. —Larry Anglisano F I R S T W O R D 2 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 L E T T E R S CONTACT US Editorial Office 860-614-1987 (EDITORIAL ONLY) Email: consumereditor@hotmail.com Subscription Department P.O. Box 8535 Big Sandy, TX 75755-8535 800-829-9081 Online Customer Service: www.aviationconsumer.com/cs Used Aircraft Guides: 203-857-3100 Email: customer_service@belvoir.com For weekly aviation news updates, see www.avweb.com MORE ON LSA SAFETY I enjoyed your LSA accident review article in the August 2018 Aviation Consumer. I was a Light Sport pilot ex- aminer (DPE) for many years until I retired at the end of January this year, so I have more than a passing interest in the category. Conspicu- ous by its absence is any mention of the Evektor Sportstar. We had (past tense) several of them here in south- ern Indiana, and I administered a lot of checkrides in the Sportstar. I believe that the Sportstar is a major player in the LSA community, with a couple hundred of them flying in the U.S. At one point I think they were the third most numerous LSA, be- hind Flight Design and Legend. That would put them in the middle of the pack of the ones you considered. And I know the Sportstar had its share of accidents. Why did you omit the Evektor from your accident statistics? Larry Boothe via email We initially set out to include all the LSAs, but because of the sheer number of manufacturers, had to pare it down to something manageable, both for editorial space and time resources. That project required close to two weeks of work so we contained it by picking the top 10 aircraft in the FAA registry. The FAA registry shows 92 Evektors in the U.S. That made it number 11 on the list. The registry lags so there are more than that, but that’s true of all the air- planes. In retrospect, I might reconsider because the Evektor line has a pretty bad accident record. Just a quick look reveals 36 accidents, three of them fatal. That would give it the highest overall rate, and toward the top in fatal rate, depending on the time period considered. In a pre- vious article, we did look at the Evektor and the results were about the same. BACKUP EFIS SNAG I’m trying to keep the panel of my 40-year-old Cessna 172 up to date, but in smaller bites and not having to drop $20,000 all at once. When looking at the options for digital attitude indica- tors, the devil is in the details. I’m a belt and suspend- ers guy and not ready to get rid of my vacuum attitude in- dicator yet. I have two—the vacuum and the electric AI. I also have an Avidyne IFD540 that needs a baro input to sequence track- to-altitude legs for missed approach guidance. To get the baro output I could buy an air data computer and appropriate altimeter, priced over $6000. The more logical option seems to be an electronic attitude indicator, but Garmin’s G5, Dynon’s D10A or Sandia’s SAI340 Quattro don’t have the required digital out- put. But the L3 ESI-500 does. Unfortunately, it’s only approved as a backup, which means I’d have to keep the old vacuum gyro in the primary position—ridiculous given the ESI-500’s capabilities. When you looked at the backup EFIS market in 2015 you mentioned the FAA’s new guidance for install- ing electronic attitude indicators as primary without providing a specific reference. Recently, L3 informed me its instrument is only for backup. Where is the paper trail to convince a shop to install one as primary? Vince Fischer via email The shop is the one to create that paper trail, referencing the FAA’s policy state- ment PS-ACE-23-08, which we specifi- cally wrote about in that December 2015 Aviation Consumer EFIS article. In summary, the policy statement says that it’s acceptable to replace single-function vacuum-driven attitude instruments with electronically driven attitude indicators as long as they have an independent standby battery capable of meeting the intent of multiple EFIS installation advisory circu- lars. Follow the guidance and the FAA considers the installation a minor alteration, as long as the instrument has a TSO. The ESI-500 has an STC, which specifically defines the device as a standby backup instrument. A shop can lobby an FAA field approval as an alternate means of certification and you’ll pay for the ad- ditional effort, but with no guarantee that it will be approved. In our view, it’s worth getting a proposal comparing that option with an Aspen Evo- lution EFIS, which has the air data outputs for the Avidyne. WHEN SIZE MATTERS As a longtime subscriber to Aviation Consumer, I would like to bring to your attention the common practice of mis- representing the actual diameter sizes of the two common round mounting holes in standard aircraft instrument panels. The 2-inch instrument panel hole referenced in the September 2018 low-cost EFIS article in Aviation Con- sumer is actually 2.25 inches, and the 3-inch hole is actually 3.125 inches. The problem with mistaking the ac- tual size of the instrument hole is that some might assume the instrument won’t fit properly in the panel. Bill Hemme Spencer, Indiana That’s precisely correct. Find us on Facebook Badge CMYK / .ai October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 3 4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com Anerdy parlor game for aviation obsessives is to ponder how much further Mooney can stretch its decades old tube-and-sheet design into yet another new product. In this report, we’re looking at the M20V Acclaim Ultra, and that leaves four more alpha designators for something new. Although it’s really an incremen- tal upgrade to the long-body M20 series, the Acclaim Ultra was a major C H E C K L I S T You’re not going to go faster in any other certified piston airplane. Pilot-side door, G1000 NXi and improved interior are big plusses... ...but the wide, rotund and tall among us will still find the cabin tight. AIRCRAFT FLIGHT TRIAL Both the Acclaim (foreground, top photo) and Ovation share the re- designed cage and cabin that now has a pilot-side door, lower photo. certification project for Mooney at a time when we’re not seeing many of those—from anyone. The results inarguably make the Acclaim Ultra the fastest four-place certified single- engine piston airplane and not just by a little. The Acclaim goes head to head with both its normally aspirated sibling, the Ovation Ultra (see Febru- ary 2018 Aviation Consumer) and both Cirrus models, the SR22 and SR22T which, together, constitute the current market leaders. That puts the Acclaim into a niche within a niche—a slice of buyers who want speed, but care less about cabin size or payload. Pricewise, at $789,000 base, the Acclaim invoices below the typical Cirrus models. LONG BODIES The M20V traces its DNA to Mooney’s first all-metal models that then and now combined a hell-for-strong welded-steel cabin cage with a traditional riveted monocoque after section. The Ultra twins owe their stretched cabins to one of Mooney’s ill-starred dead ends: the Porsche-powered PFM. Al- though the engine was disastrous, the airframe endured and became what’s known as the long-body airframe. That design matured into the Ly- coming-powered Bravo and, in 1994, the more successful M20R Ovation. A combination of market timing, a good economy and credible perfor- mance made the Ovation a hit for Mooney. But the company’s 1997 at- tempt to follow that with a revival of the turbocharged short-body M20K, the Encore, was another anemic seller. In 2006, Mooney addressed that by essentially turbocharging the Ovation with Continental’s 280-HP TSIO- 550-G. This became the Acclaim and a couple of years later, with drag cleanups, it morphed into the Type S, which Mooney rightfully claimed was the fastest piston single. The 2008 downturn ended Mooney production and, except for parts sup- port, the company once again went into stasis until the China-based Meijing Group bought it in 2013. An infusion of cash funded another soon-to-be stalled project, the M10 trainer, a major redo of the long body and modernization of the factory. Cosmetically, the airframe doesn’t look much different, save for the new door on the pilot’s side. But this proved a major certification project for Mooney, requiring two years to massively rejigger the welded cage Mooney Acclaim Ultra: Tops in Raw Speed Mooney found a few more knots in the Ultra and gussied up the long body with a second door, NXi avionics and a posh interior. by Paul Bertorell 4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 Both Ultra models offer the Garmin G1000 NXi, top. Displays are bright- er and refresh faster. The interior reeks of expensive leather, including tasty yoke coverings. Carbon fiber cowl, bottom, is light enough to install unassisted. to carry flight loads around the new door opening. And thanks to the composite experience gained through the M10 project, the forward cabin is now skinned with a fiberglass composite shell that may eventually evolve to carbon fiber. The shell, which is clipped to the steel cage, has implications for assem- bly efficiency because it allows techni- cians unrestricted access to install wiring, hardware and fixtures before the cabin is enclosed. That squeezes hours out of the build time and chips away at production costs. For pilots, the new cage and shell offer stiffer composite doors whose openings are four inches wider and an inch-and-half taller. The doors also get new latching mechanisms and tasty brushed aluminum handles. THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT The airplane sports dozens of less obvious improvements, including a carbon fiber cowl, gear doors and wingtips and drag cleanups, includ- ing a gap seal for the flaps. Mooney has always been obsessive about flush riveting and still is. Lee Drumheller, who sells Mooneys for Fort Lauder- dale’s Premier Aircraft Sales, likes to point out the flush-riveted aerody- namic housing around the fuel vents. “No one else does that,” he says. Mooney’s production chief, Rob Dutton, says the company has nicked hundreds of hours out of production time, but the airplanes are still a com- plex build. The wing is a giant, single- piece assembly with a riveted spar that would do a suspension bridge proud. The M20s still have wet-wing fuel tanks, but now they’re sealed with improved compounds intended to last longer before resealing. The control circuitry is the same steel tubes Mooney has always used, yielding a precise if occasionally stiff control feel. The gear system is similarly tube driven via an electric motor in the cabin center section. Along with the Beechcraft design, this system has proved to be the most reli- able in general aviation and is toler- ant of less-than-perfect maintenance. Same for the flaps. They’re electrically activated with a ready-to-the-hand flap-shaped toggle on the panel with presets for takeoff and landing. And while we’re on the panel, both Ultras have a new version of it that includes reorganized switchol- ogy with rockers rather than toggles. Critical items—master, alternator field and emergency bus—have red rockers on the far left, while every- thing else is black. Exterior lights are on the overhead; not my favorite. The panel is well organized, but because of its limited size, some switches are obscured by the yoke. As does about every other new airplane, the Acclaim Ultra has Gar- min’s G1000 NXi. (See February 2017 Aviation Consumer for a full review.) This system has faster processing for a quicker startup and almost instant graphics refreshing. The displays are brighter and crisper and Garmin seems to have simplified the operat- ing logic. The NXi is fully coupled to the GFC700 autopilot, with a vertical control panel situated between the two display screens. The autopilot has envelope protection for overbanking and overspeed, but it doesn’t have the blue bail-me-out righting button pioneered in the Cirrus Perspective version of the G1000. The GFC700 has a reputation as the best new auto- pilot in GA and it’s deserved. It allows flexible aircraft control and the ride is silky smooth. The Ultras are so loaded up that there aren’t many options, avionics wise or otherwise. For ADS-B In and Out, the airplane has the GTX345R October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 5 150 160 170 190 230 180 200 210 220 2000 6000 10,000 14,000 18,000 22,000 25,000 CIRRUS SR22T MOONEY ACCLAIM CESSNA TTx* MOONEY OVATION CIRRUS SR22 PERFORMANCE DATA FOR 65 PERCENT CRUISE POWER, BEST POWER MIXTURE * Discontinued in 2018 ACCLAIM: FASTER AT ALL ALTITUDES USEFUL LOAD 940 LBS WITH AC OR TKS 875-900 LBS 1025 NM FULL TANKS RANGE PAYLOAD TANKS FULL ACCLAIM USEFUL LOAD AND RANGE 406 LBS RANGE THREE-SEATS RANGE 720 NM The Acclaim’s performance pro- file, top chart, is nothing if not flexible. It’s faster at all altitudes than anything in the four-seat high-performance class, although it gives up some climb perfor- mance to the Ovation at lower altitudes. With tanks full, it’s a two-place airplane with a moderate bag- gage load. Three people will be a push, leaving payload enough for about 720 miles of still-air fly- ing with a 45-minute reserve, as shown in the chart below. Those numbers assume best economy cruise below the oxygen altitudes. For owners who don’t mind using a cannula or mask, the Acclaim’s per- formance reward is 230 knots-plus in the flight levels, where it leaves the competition far behind. along with the GDL69A for XM data. For $16,720, a buyer can add the GTS800 active traffic system, but Drumheller says few buyers do be- cause ADS-B traffic performs so well. Also on the option menu is FIKI- approved TKS and air conditioning. But because of the weight hit, that’s an either/or, not both. The AC is a $28,900 option with a 66-pound penalty. TKS weighs 95 pounds fully charged and adds $64,990 to the invoice. Surprisingly, Drumheller says neither option is particularly popular, especially in his southeastern terri- tory where icing is less of a concern. And with the second door, holding it open for a cooling breeze during taxi may be a suitable alternative to AC. For an additional $10,000, Mooney offers what it calls Fill and Fly. It covers all the maintenance and con- sumables except fuel for three years or 300 hours, whichever comes first. That includes annuals and adding up the numbers, it strikes me as a good value. Even a new airplane can easily have a $3000 annual. NO HEAVY HAULER Mooney’s turbocharged models have never been payload workhorses and neither is the Acclaim Ultra. With AC, the demonstrator I flew had an empty weight of 2511 pounds for a useful load of just 857 pounds on a max weight of 3380 pounds. Fill it with 89 gallons and the airplane has a payload of 323 pounds. Without the AC, it would be 389 pounds. That makes it a two-people-with-baggage airplane. Down fueled to, say, 50 gallons, you can put three people into the airplane, with moderate baggage. That’s three hours at middling power settings or four at economy speeds. Obviously, this is a significant com- promise against the Cirrus SR22T, which claims best-case useful loads of 1248 pounds. In the real world, it’s less than that. But with three hours of fuel, plus a reserve, the Cirrus can carry four people. The tradeoff is the Acclaim gets there a little faster and/ or goes a little farther because of its higher cruise speed. Oxygen—a 77 cu. ft. system from Precise Flight—is standard equipment on the Acclaim, while it’s an option in the Ovation. That assumes owners will want to climb into the high teens or even up to the airplane’s maxi- mum certificated altitude of 25,000 feet. Some owners clearly do that, but on our trial flight, Drumheller pointed out that the Acclaim speeds along handily at 12,000 feet, sans sticking a plastic tube up your nose. There’s something to be said for that. The M20V gets that performance the same way the Ovation does, with Continental’s IO-550 engine, the de facto standard these days for high- performance aircraft. The Acclaim’s TSIO-550-G has two intercooled Kelly Aerospace turbochargers. The specs claim the engine is turbonormalized, but I’d call it ground-boosted, deliver- ing up to 34 inches of boost. While the Ovation gets 310 HP from the IO-550, the Acclaim’s ver- sion is derated to 280 HP. If that sounds like the Ovation will out- climb the Acclaim, it will at sea level on a standard day, by a couple of hun- dred feet a minute. That advantage fades when the density altitude gets to about 7000 feet. The Acclaim main- tains its rate; the Ovation doesn’t. FLIGHT IMPRESSIONS Lee Drumheller says the Ultra’s pilot- side door is a potent sales tool and it’s easy to see why. It eases ingress and when both doors are open, the cabin is airier and more comfortable, even if a little contortion is still necessary. The back seats are tight until the front seats are slid forward to the normal 6 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 See a video of the Acclaim at http://tinyurl.com/j95ht2a. Given Mooney’s string of bankrupt- cies, fire sales and musical CEOs, a buyer about to write a check for most of a megabuck for a new air- plane might logically ask: Are these guys gonna survive? The answer may reside in an un- likely place: A fenced-in cage at the back of Mooney’s main assembly hangar in Kerrville. From within comes the parts support for a fleet of more than 11,000 Mooneys, back to nearly day one. Although that parts flow has been better in some years than others, support for the fleet has never dried up entirely and Mooney sales manager Jeff Mag- nus says the Meijing Group wants to keep it that way. Meijing, a China-based real estate developer, along with other investors, bought Mooney in 2013, renaming the company Mooney International. The company admits to a capital infusion of at least $150 million, to include development of the now-shelved M10 project, factory improvements and the certification of the M20U and V models. It also funded a Chino, California-based design and development shop, which has since been shut down. Magnus says the company is in the aviation business for the long haul and sees a profitable future when the long-awaited Chinese general aviation market potenti- ates. This remains an aspirational goal. A couple of M20s prepped for shipment to China were turned back into the U.S. market simply because China couldn’t readily process the certifications. For the time being, the com- pany is sustained by multiple revenue streams from spare parts and support, outside con- tract manufacturing for other aerospace companies and its own aircraft manufacturing. In the current flat market, pro- duction at Mooney is about one airplane a month, but it hopes to reach as many as 30 a year within a year or two. “We think 50 a year is doable. The market can absorb that and that’s a sweet spot for us,” Magnus says. The longer view sees demand in China, if not for the M20 then for something else. One something else was sup- posed to be the clean-sheet composite M10, a program that envisioned a fixed-gear trainer and a retractable cruiser. Mooney has indefinitely shelved that project in the face of weak potential demand. The positive offshoot was that composite capability was moved to Kerrville and leveraged into build- ing the composite cabin shell for the M20U and V. And Magnus says work done at Chino may yet find applications. “From the Meijing Group’s point of view, it just didn’t make sense to introduce three new airplanes. In a couple of years, you may see something similar to the M10 coming back,” Magnus said. Meanwhile, he says the factory will begin supporting upgrades of older models with glass panels— Dynon is under consideration— and modern interiors provided as kits. Such packages, he says, would be provided to Mooney service centers for field installation. MORE INVESTMENT IN KERRVILLE flying position. The new seats—built and upholstered in-house—are done up in leather similar to luxury sedans. Flight handling of Mooneys hasn’t changed much since the Bravo days. Compared to a 201, the long bodies are stiffer in pitch due to the engine hanging so far forward. It takes a tug to pop the airplane loose on takeoff and a touch to keep the stall lady from squawking. For landings, Drumheller re- minded me that the way to land a long body is to neutralize the heavy forward pitch moment by running the electric trim full up during the flare. That produces near-perfect touchdowns every time. The Acclaim climbs briskly at about 1100 to 1200 FPM to as high you want, with good visibility over the nose at 120 knots cruise climb speed. Although Mooney lowered the glareshield in the new models, the view forward isn’t as expansive as a Cirrus or a Diamond. That’s a conse- quence of the small frontal area that gives the airplane its speed. And the speed is impressive. We climbed to 13,500 for a speed check—about 10 minutes—and noted 206 KTAS, leaned 50 rich of peak at 21.9 GPH. That’s a little slower than the POH numbers, but also not a practical fuel burn. On the economy side, at 50 degrees lean, the Acclaim trued at 172 knots on 11.1 gallons. That equates to seven hours of endur- ance and nearly 1200 miles of still-air range, with reserve. If you want speed and economy, you’ll have to take the Acclaim high. At 25,000, it can do 216 knots on 16 GPH, for a still-air range of 1000 miles-plus. But only with two people and light bags. That’s probably the buyer Mooney will have to find for this airplane and/or people who just don’t like the Cirrus for whatever rea- sons. The Mooney offers a $100,000 lower price tag for comparably equipped airframes, but for someone who can afford to write a check for these aircraft, I’m not sure if price sen- sitivity is an issue. Drumheller says it is not between the Ovation and the Acclaim. Buyers who want to go fast just want to go fast and they’ll pay for the hardware to do that. October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 7 AVIONICS FLIGHT TEST BendixKing AeroVue: Cursor-Driven EFIS The AeroVue EFIS retrofit is an automation injection for aging King Airs. More STC approvals could give it a competitive edge in the turboprop refurb market. by Larry Anglisano C H E C K L I S T A well-executed, weight- saving integrated flight deck that excels in autopilot automation. Trackball and cursor inputs make data entry seamless. But it’s a touch world and some buyers might want a hybrid touchscreen interface. It took a few years for Bendix- King to earn an STC for its AeroVue retrofit glass cockpit for B200 King Airs, but that’s no surprise. Without question, the STC work was a major effort. The AeroVue is a complex sys- tem with a three-axis autopilot/flight control system and automation that’s well-suited for business jets—which is where the system was born. But the challenges aren’t over. The King Air avionics retrofit market is dominated by Garmin, which has been populating the G1000 system in the older King Air fleet, in impressive numbers, for a number of years. For a taste of the AeroVue’s feature set and overall airframe interface, I flew with the system in Honeywell’s STC airplane, a mid-1980s vintage King Air B200. Here’s a flight report. BIG SCREENS, NON TOUCH The AeroVue IFD (integrated flight deck) looks and functions a lot like the four-screen Honeywell Apex integrated avionics suite used on the Pilatus PC-12NG turboprop. Both systems have architecture that trickles down from Honeywell’s Primus Epic avionics. The suite for the King Air has three high-resolution 12-inch color LCD screens. There’s pilot and co- pilot primary flight displays and a multifunction display. The displays are instant-on and the whole system comes up ready in roughly 20 sec- onds. The screens have multilayer anti-reflective coating that permits a pretty wide viewing angle—as much as 80 degrees. They simply have to be high performers for big cockpits and the are. There’s a dedicated autopilot controller directly above the MFD, plus two PFD controllers. While the AeroVue has its own CAS (crew alerting system) for visual and aural notifications, the King Air’s various system warning annunciators are left alone (as is the environmental system) to minimize installation com- plexity. In the B200 I flew, the exter- nal annunciators were nicely located in an area of the panel that’s forward of the power levers, plus there’s an annunciator panel in the center of the glareshield. Engine and fuel system data is displayed on both PFDs. Like the Apex in the Pilatus, the AeroVue isn’t touchscreen. Instead, it uses a combination of bezel keys, knobs and joystick commands for en- tering data and navigating the menus. But the best way to move around the system is with the trackball cursor control device (CCD). In the King Air it’s mounted in the center pedestal below the multifunction controller, which has an alphanumeric keypad and various buttons and knobs used for FMS data entry and for controlling the weather radar, terrain system and a variety of other systems. BendixKing told me it avoided a touchscreen interface on the AeroVue because the trackball and CCD is proven on the Apex/Epic, resistant to the challenges of inputting data in turbulence. It works. But if you’re used to flying with touch avionics, you’ll initially reach up to finger the AeroVue screens. You’ll get nothing other than fingerprints on the glass. Garmin’s G1000 NXi for the King Air (or for anything) doesn’t have a touch interface, either. The onscreen cursor is initially dis- played with a circle around it when it’s moved among displays or when reac- tivated on the map after having timed out. The circle begins to fade away im- mediately and completely fades away after five seconds until only the cursor 8 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 remains. The logic behind the circle is so the operator can quickly identify it on a screen. If you’ve worked with multiple computer screens, you un- derstand. It vanishes from the screen after 60 seconds of inactivity and it’s displayed the same using the CCD or the system’s joystick. The bezel of each identical display has four groups of six buttons (12 per side) and their functions change depending on what is being displayed. White lines are located adjacent to each softkey that match each be- zel button with the corresponding softkey. I flew with the system on a bright summer day and found the LCD screens easy to read when sun- splashed. Each PFD controller is split into two sections. The upper portion has a dual concentric knob for setting the baro, setting up bearing pointers and setting the nav/GPS course and map display range, to name a few, while the bot- tom part of the controller has a vol- ume knob for the VHF radios. There’s also a transponder Ident button, a tuning knob and a nav source select key for cycling through the navigation sources displayed on each PFD. In addition to dual WAAS GPS systems, a core component of the AeroVue is the KSG-7200 dual-chan- nel ADAHRS. For old King Airs, this is a major step up from their ancient remote gyros and air data computers. The AeroVue saves a lot of weight— as much as 150 pounds—thanks to more solid-state magnetometers, MEMS-based (micro-electro-me- chanical sensor) accelerometers and solid-state air data transducers. In addition to supplying flight instrumentation to the PFDs, the ADAHRS is used by other subsystems We give the AeroVue high marks for ergonomics. The backup EFIS is logically positioned to the left of the pilot’s PFD, the PFD control- ler to the right and the audio panel at the top. That’s the MFD in the center image with INAV map, flight management and CAS windows. The photo at the bottom is the pedestal-mounted multi- function controller with trackball and cursor control device. in the AeroVue suite, includ- ing the ADS-B transpon- ders (there’s no ADS-B In), the autopilot, the aircraft’s cabin pressurization system, plus the terrain and traffic systems. It’s really a deep interface with plenty of redundancy, as you’d expect for a King Air. The primary ADAHRS channel supplies pitot and static data to the left PFD while the secondary channel supplies the data to the right one. If one ADAHRS chan- nel fails, simply press the ADHRS button for the failed PFD and the system con- nects the working channel. Each display is backed up with its own SAM stand- alone EFIS, made by Mid- Continent Instruments and Avionics. As for VHF radios, it’s October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 9 out with the old two-piece (control head and remote transceiver) and in with the KTR-2280 multi-mode, software-driven radio system called the MMDR. It handles all non-GPS- based functions, including transpon- der, comm, nav radios and a DME. These are all operated using the PFD controller, the cursor control device and the Bluetooth audio panels made by PS Engineering. SMARTVIEW SYN VIS BendixKing’s version of 3D synthetic vision is called Smart- View and it has a deep feature set. It starts with a traditional blue over brown flight display and then builds upon it by overlaying the EGPWS (enhanced ground proximity warning system) database for a synthetic terrain and obstacle background on each PFD. The system also adds HUD-like symbology to the display, a feature used on the other Honeywell suites in jets. There’s a lot of data displayed on the PFD, and where other manufacturers’ syn vis displays can be cluttered, I think the Honeywell engineers did a good job with the AeroVue’s presentation. Make no mistake, there’s a lot of data thrown at you, but it’s configurable and some data is shared on the MFD. For example, the field of view displayed on the PFD is also depicted on what is called the INAV (interac- tive navigation) display over on the MFD’s map page. On the PFD when syn vis is turned on (and in addition to familiar flight director command bars), there’s a flight path symbol, track and heading reference symbols and an acceleration chevron that aids in energy management. In addition to (and in unison with) the flight director command bars, there’s the option of displaying path-based and pitch-based symbology. In the path-based mode, the pri- mary reference for flying is the flight path symbol, or FPS. In this mode the flight director command bars are displayed with reference to the FPS—which is the primary guidance symbol on the PFD and is highlighted in green. It’s the opposite in the pitch- based mode, where either the flying wedge (a single-cue aircraft symbol) or gull wings (crosspointer symbol) are the primary and dominant refer- ence cues and displayed in green. In the pitch-based mode, the FPS is still displayed, but it’s de-emphasized with a smaller size and gray color. In a flying world where many have transitioned to synthetic vision cues, I think most will fly the AeroVue in the The screen grab at the top cap- tured on an autopilot-coupled approach shows the flight path symbol (FPS) with the Smart- View in path-based mode. The red arrows point to it, and the V and T labels, showing where the aircraft is going in relation to the heading and track. The photo in the middle shows a loaded Jeppesen chart, plus ac- tive approach segment data on the MFD. At the bottom, notice the engine data and radio status logically arranged on the PFD. 1 0 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 The AeroVue retrofit can ulti- mately shave as much as 150 pounds from older King Airs like the B200 shown in the top photo. It also enables removing the complex AC inverter system used in some models, in favor of a more traditional DC avionics bus, bottom. path-based mode using the flight path symbol as the primary guidance. The FPS is the circular symbol with horizontal bars that indicates the current flight path angle. It’s pretty intuitive, moving up on the pitch tape for increasing flight path angles (relative to the horizon) and down for decreasing flight path angles. And, the FPS can be displayed in conjunction with the command bars. If the com- mand bars are turned off, the FPS has a green dot in its center and when the bars are turned on, the dot is removed so the symbol can better align with the flight director. The FPS also includes an accelera- tion chevron, displayed as a green greater-than symbol to the left of the FPS. Its position with respect to the flight path symbol indicates the acceleration or deceleration of the air- craft, corresponding with the current indicated airspeed. In the real world, this is useful for setting the power for hand-flown climbs, descents and whenever you want to maintain a constant airspeed, in which case keep the chevron aligned with the FPS. Descending out of 9000 feet for 5000 feet, the acceleration chevron positioned itself above the flight path marker, indicating an excess in energy and resulting speed increase. Pulling the power levers to idle put the chev- ron below the marker, offering at-a- glance cues of the aircraft’s decreasing energy state. Since the SmartView sys- tem is based on the aircraft track, the PFD displays an onscreen “V,” which depicts the current heading, and a “T” for the current track. When the autopilot is flying (which in the King Air is probably the major- ity of the time when flying instru- ment approaches), the AeroVue’s automation is impressive and has some built-in failsafe functionality for avoiding altitude busts. Honeywell calls it VNAV technology. On my demo we flew the RNAV approach to Stevens Point Airport in Wisconsin, and with the decision altitude set in the autopilot preselector window and the approach loaded, the system au- tomatically stepped the aircraft down to the published altitudes in the ap- proach procedure. For example, input 1300 feet in the preselector and the autopilot will level the aircraft at 3000 feet until reaching the next point in the stepdown, where it descends. King Airs are often flown single pilot and I think the AeroVue makes that chore easier, but like any integrated avionics suite, you absolutely must have a firm grasp on system architecture. No, Garmin logic won’t work—not close. BendixKing offers one-on-one, real-world AeroView transition training, plus use-case train- ing videos. MOVING FORWARD BendixKing launches the AeroVue for the King Air B200 into a crowded market, and a space Garmin clearly owns with the G1000 NXi retrofit. To date, Garmin says there have been over 500 G1000 King Air systems installed. Rockwell Collins also developed the Pro Line Fusion, which has three 14.1- inch widescreen displays that have both touch and cursor-control func- tionality. The market still waits for Sandel Avionics to bring its modular- design Avilon flight deck for King Airs. While that project seems to have gone quiet, Sandel says it’s still working on it and maintains that the installa- tion effort (and costs) will be sizably curtailed compared to anything the market has seen to date. While Sandel is hardly a stranger to the EFIS market, it will depend on shops to embrace it, and the same goes for the AeroVue. BendixKing is currently building a dealer network that’s qualified to tackle the major installation required of the AeroVue. There are eight ap- proved dealers in the U.S. as we go to press and BendixKing is targeting a four-week install time for a typical B200 retrofit. It’s impossible to nail project pricing, since there are options for See a video of the AeroVue at http://tinyurl.com/j95ht2a weather radar, TCAS, the AeroWave cabin Wi-Fi system and XM Weather, but typical fly-away prices might be in the $450,000 range. BendixKing says it’s working on more STC approvals, but it is not saying for which aircraft. There are plenty of TBM, Pilatus and other first-gen turboprops equipped with BendixKing EFIS 40/50 systems and based on the system I flew in the King Air, I think the AeroVue could be a good fit. Contact www.bendixking.com. October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 1 1 AIRCRAFT REFURBISHMENT Replacement Plastic: Lower Prices, More PMAs It’s finally a buyer’s market for aftermarket interior and exterior plastic parts. Vantage Plane Plastics has the largest selection, but there are plenty of others. by Jim Cavanagh When we looked at the market for replacement interior plas- tic components nearly five years ago, prices were inordinately ex- pensive. But recent research (including visits to several suppliers) proved that prices are falling and it’s easier than ever to get high-quality replacements for worn and broken plastic parts. The reason for the shift is partly be- cause suppliers are earning more FAA PMAs (parts manufacturer approval), while pricing is based more on actual cost rather than inflated OEM pricing. But shopping for replacement plastic— especially for an aging interior—can be a complicated task. Here’s what to expect and how you might choose a supplier. A HARD LIFE The common thread in the aftermar- ket plastic business is the dwindling OEM support for replacement plastic parts for legacy aircraft. One exception is Piper, which has made an effort to get tooling to aftermarket shops for proprietary parts manufacturing. And since these airplanes are still active, that’s good news for the aftermarket suppliers and for competition. Thanks to the handful of compa- nies doing this, there are plenty of available replacement parts. Moreover, all of the companies we researched focus on building the parts that are most prone to breakage and unusual wear and those that get replaced most often. Yes, aircraft plastic lives a hard life and a quick look around your own aircraft—inside and out—will reveal problem components. Plastic has been used by OEMs for interior and exterior components for decades because of its cost, weight and ease of fabrication. Fiberglass gained popularity as some parts are intended to handle structural/aerodynamic loads. Jim Bede used fiberglass for wing root and tips to compensate for passenger weight, and because he saw Cessna and Piper wingtips getting trashed by hitting airport fences and other ground obstacles. The problem with all plastic parts— interior and exterior—is they eventu- ally become brittle due to UV light. Some older plastics used in legacy aircraft have the consistency of tortilla chips and some had been pulled so thin in forming that you could almost read through them. Others just wear out naturally or by human handling. Elevator tips, window trims, door panels and plastic parts that need to be removed for annual inspections might live the hardest lives, while oth- ers wear prematurely because they are prone to vibration. Parts that stick out might get hurt the most, and land- ing legs and fairings take a beating. Luckily, plastic parts can be repaired and some damage can be hidden, but eventually you run out of washers big enough to hide cracked or oversized holes. There’s no set lifespan for a given piece of aircraft plastic, but in general about every 20 years or so most plastic has degraded enough to require replacement. On the other hand, we’ve seen 40-year-old aircraft with original plastic components that look they just rolled off the factory floor. For preserving interior plastic, C H E C K L I S T The quality of aftermarket plastic will likely exceed what was offered by the OEM. Cooperating competition is keeping prices within reason and inventories well stocked. Some components will require trimming, drilling and painting. Know what you are buying. That’s a plastic overhead panel on a CNC cutting machine in the photo to the left. 1 2 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 The precisely manufactured instrument panel overlays in the top photo are from Plane Parts. That’s a flap handle trim cover for a Piper in the middle, and one of the larger molding tools for an overhead panel, bottom. using cabin sun shields and covers is a huge help. So while many plastic components aren’t structural by design, can you remove and still operate the aircraft without them, as many do when a broken plastic part breaks? Legally speaking, not always. Every certified aircraft has a type certificate data sheet and if a part is installed on the airplane when this sheet is generated, then legally that part has to be on the airplane. Does it make a difference aerodynamically or with regard to safety? Not always. A missing upper strut fairing isn’t going to hurt much, but it does open the attaching hardware to the ele- ments and contact, plus it was likely on the aircraft during its final certi- fication. Sure, there is nothing in the regs about how the parts look cosmet- ically, so some field repairs and touch- ing up is perfectly legal. Break out the epoxy. Replacing plastic parts that are non-structural and that do not require the disassembly of a critical or struc- tural component is perfectly legal un- der the approved owner maintenance list prescribed by the FAA, as long as simple requirements are met. Do the research before getting involved in the repair. A CROWDED AND COMPETITVE FIELD There are over a half-dozen major suppliers of aircraft plastic compo- nents (some specialize in interior parts), and that doesn’t include the smaller shops that dabble in specialty plastic parts and mods. When you do a web search for airplane parts—in- terior or exterior—prepare for a lot of comparison shopping. It’s an interest- ing and competitive industry. From our experience, most of the competition know one another and have worked together at some point. Competition is keen, though, and the major players have spent years and millions of dollars to build manufac- turing capabilities, earn PMA approv- als and in our sense try hard to offer parts at reasonable costs, compared to OEM offerings. In reality, from a quality and price standpoint, they are actually the best watchdogs for the industry. As mentioned earlier, the pricing structure of plastic parts is not always based on how much plastic is in the part or, as was the case decades ago, what the OEM charged for the part. The after- market companies have (based on our research) developed pricing structures that reflect the actual development and manufactur- ing costs for a part, and tossed in the certification costs based on a potential number of unit sales anticipated. This benefits the customer to no end. A couple of the businesses we visited build parts for the OEMs using their proprietary tooling and materi- als, and just looking at the tooling would explain why OEM prices are so high. It is quite well-engineered and built for a long life. How? Some molds are cast aluminum and most are a mix of resins that stabilize over time. Describing them as heavy is an understatement. The shops that use OEM tooling are forbidden by contract to use the tooling to make parts they sell to the aftermarket. On the other hand, if you consider that most aftermarket parts tools are made from OEM parts, suppliers certainly have access to accurate parts that they October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 1 3 can reverse engineer. There are also a number of tools that have been purchased from the OEMs. When the decision is made to cease supporting a certain part, they sell the molds. This works for the OEM, the customer with a legacy plane and the shop. It also virtually guarantees the exact fit of the parts. From a materials standpoint, the new plastic part has to be made of the latest fire-rated materials avail- able, which has been the case since the 1990s. Most parts are pulled from .090 ABS plastic and some, as required by the original aircraft type certificate, Kydex, which has enhanced fabrica- tion qualities and flame retardancy. SOURCING YOUR PARTS There are essentially seven major play- ers in the replacement plastic parts business, including Vantage Plane Plastics (www.planeplastics.com), Knots 2U (www.knots2u.net), Texas Aeroplastics (www.buyplaneparts. com), Premier Aerospace Services and Technology or P.A.S.T. (www.premier- aerostore.com), Plane Parts Company (www.planeparts.com), Stene Aviation (www.steneaviation.com) and Maple- leaf (www.aircraftspeedmods.ca). In our prior research we found two more, but Globe Fiberglass was purchased by Knots 2U, while Heinol and Com- pany was purchased by P.A.S.T. We found that Vantage Plane Plastics has the largest inventory. It is part of Vantage Associates, a California aerospace conglomerate SAMPLE AFTERMARKET PARTS DESCRIPTION PRICE SOURCE CESSNA CARDINAL WINGTIP $812 TEXAS AEROPLASTICS PIPER PA28-SERIES OVER- HEAD CONSOLE $242.54 TEXAS AEROPLASTICS PIPER PA32 INTERIOR WIN- DOW TRIM ASSEMBLY $61.12 PLANE PLASTICS MOONEY M20J REAR HAT RACK PANEL $89.64 PLANE PLASTICS CESSNA 150 LANDING GEAR FAIRINGS $128.92 PREMIER AEROSPACE (P.A.S.T.) CESSNA 182K INTERIOR DOORPOST $99.99 PREMIER AEROSPACE (P.A.S.T.) BEECH BONANZA DORSAL FIN FAIRING $421 KNOTS2U CESSNA 172P NOSEWHEEL PANT $469.80 STENE AVIATION CESSNA 206 STRUT CUFF $118.12 STENE AVIATION that does vacuum forming, among other things, and the general aviation division is in Alva, Oklahoma. Plane Plastics was once Kinzie Industries, a small company that built parts for Schweitzer Helicopters. When the company purchased a Cessna that needed replacement plastic it built it and eventually began pursuing this business. The plastic forming portion of the business was sold to Vantage Inc., which changed the name to Plane Plastics. The company houses over 4000 tools, has over 3000 PMAs and the company builds a number of parts for Cessna. Dale Logsden hosted us on a visit to the huge Plane Plastics facility and admitted that the company had fit- ment problems in its early days. A longtime pilot and mechanic, Logs- don explained that originally the management was more interested in having the largest catalog and put more effort into finding parts to use as models for tooling than ensuring proper fit. Eventually it realized that once you build a part, it needed to be trial fitted, modified, rebuilt and trial fitted again until it was right. Toward the end of the Kinzie reign, this practice was started and has continued through the Vantage years. Building a plastics tool is no easy chore. We watched the tool guys at Plane Plastics for a while and can attest that it’s time-consuming work. Some of the tooling can weigh well over a thousand pounds. The build process has to allow for thinning of the material as it is stretched over the tool, plus the shrinkage that comes as the newly formed part cools. (Science 101: Things expand when heated and shrink when they cool.) Plane Plastics and most of the other shops use new materials that have minimal if any shrinkage over time. Over the last few years, Plane Plastics reduced the price on most of its parts. We were told that it took a good look at aftermarket plastic parts throughout the industry and realized they were just too expensive. Having based their prices on the old Kinzie catalog, they reviewed the actual pro- duction costs and re-priced the parts accordingly. This price reduction—and a continued effort to ensure quality and fit—makes Plane Plastics perhaps a volume leader that focuses on one- stop shopping. It sells parts, materials and paint, plus it offers cabin noise reduction kits and carpeting. Across town is Premier Aerospace Services and Technology Inc. or P.A.S.T. Scott Brown is the president and co-owner of this youngest of plastics companies. Brown and his colleague, Bryan Powers, originally worked with Kinzie, then Plane Parts, and finally started off on their own to focus on OEM contracting. They did this for a while before expanding to build their own PMA parts. P.A.S.T. purchased Heinol and Company, which built parts for Piper. Al Heinol honed skills in the auto industry and was responsible for submitting nearly all of the Heinol parts for FAA certification. The company still does contract work for Cessna and Cirrus. P.A.S.T. gets by with just a handful of workers. We saw its large vacuum tables that make parts from full sheets, and a small table to save time and space and for low-volume parts. Being efficient with raw materials is an important aspect of its pricing structure. The company tries to keep a six-month supply of parts in stock. Brown told us the goal is to certify 10 new parts per month, adding to its already impressive inventory. In our research we found that its parts qual- ity and pricing structure is right in line with other shops. KNOTS 2U, PLANE PARTS, TEXAS AEROPLASTICS For years, Wisconsin-based Knots 2U was known as a high-quality speed mods shop. When the company was 1 4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 Fiberglass com- ponents require more man-hours, top photo, which means higher costs. The inte- rior components shown in the bottom photo are ready to ship, but notice they’ll need to be paint- ed before you install them. sold to John Bailey, he realized that if the company was to grow it had to expand its business. Since it already made PMA mod parts for a number of Piper models and some Cessnas, Bai- ley began to make and certify some of the more popular replacement parts needed by Cessnas and Pipers and eventually added other brands. The company created a catalog, fat- tened the inventory and as business increased, it began buying smaller companies (including Metco for stain- less steel cowl fittings), plus a door seal company. Bailey told us that between its own development and the purchase of other companies it has allowed for nearly 50 new PMA approvals every year, and there were 30 in progress as we prepared this report. Worth mentioning is that Knots 2U is fortunate in being close to a big city ACO (Chicago), which also has a track record for setting records in approv- ing PMA applications. Still, in our experience the company is diligent in sustaining a high standard of manu- facturing, materials, workmanship and fit. Bailey’s own parts are just a portion of the catalog, but with the purchase of Globe Fiberglass, plus her- culean efforts to redo the tooling for reduced weight and better fit, his own brand of composite parts is of unques- tionable quality, in our view. Roanoke, Texas-based Texas Aero- plastics has been around since 1981 and has an extensive inventory of Cessna and Piper replacement ABS plastic parts, which are thicker and generally more durable than many OEM components. For a fee, the company will paint exterior pieces to match your current paint work— something to consider when replac- ing any plastic part. The company provides parts for Beech, Grumman, Cirrus and Rockwell airplanes, as well as many Van’s RV models. All parts for certified aircraft are FAA PMA approved, plus the com- pany keeps a good inventory and is ready to ship same day. Its prices have remained the same over the past few years. Texas Aeroplastics employs only six people and is in the process of moving to a large, off-airport facility. Los Angeles, California-based Plane Parts Company specializes in Piper interior plastic parts. Owned and run by Bob Adkins and his wife, the com- pany was started in 1992 after Adkins needed replacement plastic parts for his own Piper Chero- kee. He was ap- palled by the prices he paid. Plane Parts is different from the competition in that it subcontracts man- ufacturing to a local company that uses CNC technology to make and trim the parts. The company focuses on selling parts that suffer the most attrition and has a bit over 100 PMA’d parts in its catalog. Plane Parts can ship many parts the same day if the order is in early enough. Atkins told us that the return rate on parts has been less than 1 per- cent in over 25 years of doing business and the pricing has remained stable for quite a while now. Some (but not all) of the parts are pre-drilled or dimpled because many OEM parts that had holes or dimples did not match the structure. He tells us that very few Piper original parts actually have precisely jigged holes and that all OEMs’ window and upholstery trim pieces are installed individually as they went down the line. Installing them yourself? His sug- gestion is to use a #4 stainless steel truss head screw and a nylon washer and simply shoot through the plas- tic into the flange, careful to avoid structure, electrical wiring and static system plumbing. It isn’t necessary to pre-drill the piece because according to him, the new plastic will not crack. From what we saw, the engineering and attention to detail is evident in the product’s fit. None of the parts are copied from damaged or new surplus ones due to the shrinkage of plastic over the years. It uses newly manufac- tured parts as templates and test fits them to multiple aircraft. If neces- sary, the new part is refined until an exact fit is accomplished before October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 1 5 building the tooling. While the com- pany’s pre-drilled and trimmed parts might seem higher priced than others, there’s a definite value in installation time savings, in our view. Stene Aviation in Polson, Montana, specializes in composite exterior Cessna parts. It has over 300 PMA’d components for Cessna models (the 150 through the 337) made from lightweight, flexible “E” glass mate- rial that conforms well if there are dimensional vagaries. Stene recently received FAA approval on a line of parts for Piper models. Owner Will Stene told us the company will be roll- ing out composite landing gear doors and new nose bowls for Cessnas. It has worked closely with AeroLEDs to produce the Quasar LED CX wing- tips with integrated landing, taxi and recognition lighting. Last is Mapleleaf Aviation in Can- ada, which specializes in fiberglass parts for Cessna models. We mention them mainly because their parts aren’t exactly like OEM parts—they’re modi- fied and considered speed mods—so be sure there is an STC in place and the parts come with FAA paperwork. THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT An interesting development in the aftermarket plastic parts business is a handshake agreement between three of the major players to work together. There is nothing formal and they are not partners, per se, but Knots 2U, which is growing hand-over-foot and is thickening its catalog by the month, along with Texas Aeroplastics and P.A.S.T., have joined together to carry at least a portion of each other’s product line. This helps to create a one-stop shopping store. If one of them doesn’t carry the part needed, they will send the customer to one of the other companies. They still compete, of course, and they still run their businesses inde- pendently and have different philoso- phies, but to see this kind of coopera- tion in the midst of competing and growing their own businesses gives a sort of neighborly feel to the industry. From a tech standpoint, we’re glad to see these firms using more robust materials than the OEMs did. They understand the processes, shrinkage and the vagaries of vacuum forming. Better yet is lower prices and shorter lead times—proof that competition works for the buyer. PRICE SHOPPING? CAVEAT EMPTOR When it comes to pricing, we have found that the buyer needs to be aware of what he or she is getting. For example, if a part is available in plastic from one vendor and fiber- glass from another, the fiberglass will be more expensive. In some cases, it is quite a bit more expensive, and in others not so much. It’s really the amount of labor that makes the dif- ference, and of course, the fiberglass part will likely last a lot longer and should be considered if the part is a much used or abused item. Considering that there are a kazillion parts out there for most all aircraft, a buyer can expect that dif- ferent companies will make different parts and all prices come from God- knows-where, so a good deal of re- search time online or on the phone is in order. Doing an across-the-board comparison of all fabricators is diffi- cult. We had fits doing so and finally gave up our search for a hands-down price winner. But specialty shops might seem to charge a premium. When looking for interior parts, Plane Parts Company in California only does interior parts, manufac- tured using a CNC process. Based on our research, its prices averaged out to being a few dollars more per piece, but their promise of having a more accurate fit might be worth the extra money for some. Along those same lines, you should understand that not all shops will have the same inventory. For ex- ample, Vantage Plane Plastics is big on interior parts and is in the process of expanding its exterior parts inven- tory and simply may not have what you need. In an effort to get a true price comparison, we tried to choose some random parts that should be available for certain models, but found that this isn’t always the case. When you factor in that Knots 2U, P.A.S.T. and Texas Aero Plastics have combined to ensure that a customer gets a part, there is duplication of a number of parts in all three catalogs and in many cases, the prices are the same. For example, the later style overhead console for a Piper Archer is $242.54 from all three companies, and it’s likely that just one of them makes the component. This works for their catalogs and all three com- panies have gaps in their inventories that the others can probably fill, so in the end the customer really is taken care of. This might help a buyer who’s sourcing a number of parts at the same time. He can determine which company has the most parts avail- able and can price out all of them. If one company is more efficient—per- haps in infrastructure and labor— the total package would reflect a greater economy. During our research we did find a number of random parts that were priced pretty close across the board. A lower strut fairing for a 1974 Cess- na 172 is $66.05 at Vantage Plane Plastics, $72.91 at Texas Aero Plastics and $72.91 at P.A.S.T. The passenger door window trim for a 1980 Skylane is $138.27 at Vantage and $136.54 at Texas Aeroplastics, but wasn’t avail- able from P.A.S.T. Still, it pays to price shop. The cen- ter floor console for a 1975 Skylane was $213.94 at Vantage and $163.39 at Knots 2U. That kind of savings pays for the freight—and then some. 1 6 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 The SpotX, right, has a rugged build quality and QWERTY keys that are large enough for efficient typing. SpotX Messenger: Robust, Sized Right Spot’s latest-gen personal satellite communicator has a logical feature set, a sunlight-readable display and a customizable SOS function. by Phil Lightstone SURVIVAL SYSTEMS C H E C K L I S T Using the SpotX for SMS texting and short emails is reliable enough to be useful in flight. Designed for stashing in a pocket, it has a good keyboard and the menu structure is shallow. We think the SpotX could be even better if it had a touchscreen interface. Thanks to the internet and cellu- lar telephone networks, ground communication services have become an expected component of preflight briefings, the filing of flight plans and for staying connected in the cabin. Within urban areas, telecommunications networks are as ubiquitous as water, although we accept that performance is limited by altitude. But the reality is entirely differ- ent when flying in remote regions of North America, where coverage is patchy and broadband networks are akin to drinking through a straw. Portable satellite communicators attempt to fill these gaps and the latest two-way comm is the $250 SpotX, positioned to compete with Garmin’s InReach Mini, which we reviewed in the July 2018 Aviation Consumer. Here’s a field report on the SpotX. THE NETWORK, HARDWARE Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations (Globalstar, for the Spot products) complement ground- based systems and in many locations provide the only available service. Ac- cessible from most parts of the planet, Globalstar’s LEO network provides ubiquitous communications—data, voice and internet services—although at much slower speeds than tradition- al terrestrial networks. GPS position- ing and a ground station network connect the signal to the device. The current-gen Globalstar LEO system typically provides for 1 Mbps connectivity, which works for voice calls (typically at 90 Kbps), plus text messaging and short emails without attachments. Don’t expect bandwidth-intensive apps, includ- ing weather graphics, to work well via satellite. But portable messengers can work well for search and rescue purposes, which includes SOS. Spot boasts that its communica- tors (first released in 2007) are re- sponsible for over 6000 saves—over 3000 in the U.S. Designed for the outdoors, the de- vice is waterproof, shockproof, sports a sunlight-readable 2.7-inch (non- touch) screen and weighs 7 ounces. The keyboard is backlit and I found it easy to type with—important in the airplane or anywhere. SpotX is powered by a recharge- able lithium polymer battery and includes a Micro-USB cable and AC/ DC charger. A full charge can be achieved overnight. The hardware is designed to operate in temperatures from -4F to +140F (-20C to +60C) and conforms to the IP67 ruggedized hardware specifications. It’s submers- ible up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. The device has sufficient storage to hold up to 70 contacts and/or contact groups. A rocker style cursor pad (called the Directional Pad) allows the user to navigate between menu pages and make selections. The key in the center of the Directional Pad serves as the select key. SpotX is assigned a telephone number for your appropriate coun- try during activation. This allows contacts in the same country to send SMS messages to your SpotX with- out incurring any additional fees. There are four key components to the SpotX product: the SpotX hardware, its activation and service plan, its configuration through the website and the SpotX Device Updater appli- cation used to synchronize account information and update firmware. As we’ve learned from other satcomms, setup and activation can be a chore. For the SpotX, it begins with setting up an account on the FindMeSpot website from a Mac or PC, requiring a credit card for payment and information about your hardware. October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 1 7 With your account set up or logged into, three steps are required. The first is setting the serial number and authorization code of the SpotX hardware and a device name. The second step—an important one—is selecting the country because that determines the mobile telephone number of the device. The nuance is additional charges may apply when texting from your SpotX to inter- national telephone numbers (like sending a message from your U.S.- registered SpotX to a French mobile device). Finally, select a service plan and payment informa- tion. Once the activation process is completed, the system will take you to the My Devices page on the website. The user’s and quick-start guides can be down- loaded from this page. This page will also indicate the last time the hardware was synchronized and whether there is a firmware update required for your hardware. It’s im- portant to keep it updated. Another important step is adding your con- tacts (and groups), SOS and Check In outgoing messages and contacts. SPOTX FEATURE SET The device’s menu structure is uncluttered and simple. At the top of the screen is a status bar where a number of icons are displayed, including the tracking mode, the current system time, the number of With a footprint that’s reminiscent of an older Blackberry device, we think the SpotX is sized right for the hand and for use in the cockpit. But, use caution in placing the device in close proximity to GPS receivers. messages waiting to be sent, satellite connection and a battery indicator. The status bar also is a handy way to determine if your message has been sent. The main screen includes the Mes- sage, Check In, Social (social network- ing), Fetching New Messages, Track- ing, Navigation, System Settings and SOS menu icons. The Check In selection sends an SMS text or email to a list of contacts. The contents of the message and the SMS/email lists are controlled through your web account. Once the email or SMS is received by the recipient, they can simply open the email and click a link to either the FindMeSpot map page (powered by Google Maps) or directly to Google Maps. When SpotX is powered up, tracking is disabled by default. The Tracking menu displays the current tracking interval, allows the interval to be changed and turns tracking on and off. A higher tracking interval (2.5 minutes versus 60 minutes, for example) will use more battery (and has a higher monthly fee). It will run for 10 days in the 10-minute tracking interval mode. I have found that placing my SpotX on the glareshield of the aircraft presents a clear view of the sky to the device. Spot recommends that the device be placed at least 12 inches from a GPS navigator and I have yet to experience adverse interference with the GPS navigators in my aircraft—a G1000-equipped Cessna Skylane. On a side note, another user reports that the SpotX was unusable in his Aviat Husky, which is a fabric airframe equipped with a Garmin navigator and an ADS-B transponder. After con- firming the SpotX was the source of the GPS signal problems, he replaced the SpotX with a Garmin InReach, which works fine in the Husky. To send a message, simply select the Messages icon (using the cursor) and press Enter. The page has five menu options: Message (to compose), Contacts, Predefined, Fetch Rate and Cancel Messages. Selecting Messages will display a list of all messages (both SMS and email) that were sent and received. To compose a new message, scroll down to the bottom right hand of the page and select the Pen icon. This will take you into the message composition page. “To” is highlighted and using the button in the middle 1 8 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 of the Directional Pad opens the Select Contact page or you can scroll over to the Contacts icon on the far right of the screen. Use the Direc- tional Pad to scroll down to select a contact and the press the middle key to select the contact. The contact’s email address or SMS address will be displayed as separate contacts in the list. Once contacts are selected, scroll down to Message, which will navi- gate you to the New Message screen, and begin typing your message. Vari- ous fonts can be selected, including bold and italics, to highlight your message. A message may be up to 140 characters. The Send Message icon (lower right of the screen) is used to send the typed message. Re- member, the display is not a touch- screen—all cursor movements are controlled by the Directional Pad. SMART SOS SpotX will drop electronic bread- crumbs (EB) along your route of flight with a drop resolution of 2.5, 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes, depending upon the service plan and when tracking is enabled. For pilots flying on a VFR flight plan or itinerary, EBs provide SPOTX AT A GLANCE Dimensions: 2.04 x 3.90 x 1.0 inches Sat antenna Power/backlight key Status bar Function menus SOS key QWERTY keyboard Directional Pad Track key Back key Micro-USB port a time-efficient technique for Search and Rescue (SAR) teams to execute a search in the event of an overdue air- craft. You can provide access to Leidos Flight Service (formerly Lockheed) through embedding the SpotX Share locations into your flight plan. The initiation of a rescue begins with pressing the SOS button, which is behind a protective cover promi- nently marked “SOS,” or through the SOS icon on the main screen. Once activated, the SOS icon will be displayed on the status bar and the SOS notification message will be sent every 2.5 minutes until it is acknowl- edged. SOS may be canceled one of three ways: powering off the device, pressing the SOS bezel key for three seconds and following the onscreen instructions or by selecting the Can- cel SOS command. The SpotX sends a notification with the device’s GPS coordinates to the GEOS worldwide monitoring center (www.geosworldwide.com). GEOS provides SOS monitoring and emergency dispatch through its dedi- cated International Emergency Re- sponse Coordination Centre (IERCC) based in Houston, Texas. The IERCC is staffed 24/7 with trained person- nel who have access to first respond- ers. The average response time from the receipt of your SOS message until referring an emergency responder is 11 minutes. You may be liable for additional charges if you send a false SOS message. In countries where search and rescue services are pro- vided on a fee basis, you can upgrade to the GEOS Member Benefit for reimbursement of up to $100,000 in SAR expenses at an annual cost of $24.99. Once an SOS message has been received, the IERCC calls your emer- gency contact(s) to determine if it is a false alarm. It locates and notifies an emergency responder and then maintains an open line of communi- cation, including providing updates of your location. The IERCC will also keep your emergency contact(s) informed. SAR leaders believe that when stranded in remote regions, two-way communications contribute to a positive state of mind, which improves survival outcomes. Tracking resolution is an impor- continued on page 32 October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 1 9 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE Those rushed preflight walk- arounds are all the same—the hand makes a quick pass over the prop’s leading edge and then it hits the starter switch—you not really knowing if the propeller is airworthy. We’ve been there. Want a better respect for propel- ler inspections? Read NTSB reports written about propellers coming off in flight—they aren’t pretty. To supplement shop-performed prop inspections and maintenance, there are plenty of things an owner can do during service to keep the blades turning safely for a long time. We’ll mainly concentrate on inspec- tion and repairs for metal props here, but offer tips for wood and composite props, when appropriate. BASIC INSPECTIONS A propeller and its systems are more complex (and critical) than you might realize, evident by the detailed inspec- tion procedures prescribed by the prop manufacturer. The good news is there is a lot of inspecting that can be done without even removing the blades from the aircraft. The FAA’s ad- visory circular AC 20- 37E is worth a read as it provides guidance for aircraft propel- ler maintenance. In particular, the AC pro- vides information and suggests procedures to both increase service life and to minimize failures of metal propellers. Wood and composite props gen- erally follow different repair guidance. If your tool collec- tion doesn’t include a high-quality magni- fier, get one and a good work light. In addition to pitting and corrosion, you’ll be checking for maintenance-induced problems like missing safety wire and cracks around the attachment bolts, which happens when the bolts were overtorqued. But start with the basics—the right way. At the very least, you should be per- forming a visual preflight inspection of the blades for nicks, scratches, dents, erosion, corrosion and cracks. Appar- ent damage should be referred to an appropriately rated mechanic because a crack or bend, as two examples, are cause for removal of the propeller. You can check the propeller spinner attaching screws for security and check the spinner for damage, as well as for evidence of oil or grease leakage. Don’t be afraid to clean the propeller blades periodically using fresh water, a non- alkaline cleaner and a soft cloth or soft brush. Dry with a soft cloth. If the aircraft (or prop) is new to you, this is also a good time make sure that the applicable installation, infor- mation and warning decals are on the propeller. These decals may include warnings against pushing or pulling on the prop, the model number, the correct bolt torque, dynamic balancing information and any other manufac- turer’s identification. While you’re at it, conduct a func- tional check including RPM control, RPM limits, idle setting, responsive- ness and vibration. Of course, you have to start with a calibrated tachom- eter. We added an optical tachometer to the flight bag years ago and it was one of the best investments we made. Sporty’s currently sells the battery-op- erated TruTach II optical tach for $225, which is accurate to within 1 RPM and works with up to five propeller blades. Simply hold it above the glareshield, point it at the prop and compare its reading to the aircraft’s tachometer. Ta- chometer inaccuracy could be a direct cause of propeller failure and excessive vibration. When parking the airplane, move two-blade metal propellers to the one o’clock position to minimize bird droppings and water retention in the spinner. Wood propellers should be stored in the horizontal to prevent moisture accumulation in one blade, which would cause unbalance. Last, be mindful of the surround- ing area and surface conditions. Do not run up engines in areas containing loose rocks, gravel or debris. Avoid quartering rear winds during ground Prop Inspections: More Than Surface Flaws There are good reasons why the FAA is serious about propeller maintenance. Performing the right inspections and repairs is key to long service life. Staff report That’s the rear pusher prop on a Cessna Skymaster pictured to the left. There’s plenty to inspect. 2 0 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 runups because this can cause damag- ing stresses. Do not push or pull on propeller blades when moving the aircraft by hand. If you must, grab on to the blades as close to the hub as possible. Wood and composite propellers are susceptible to internal damage from small stone strikes that can create delamination or micro cracks and permit intrusion of moisture or damage to metal protection. When inspecting wood or composite pro- peller blades, look for cracks or de- lamination on the blade surface and at the edges of the blade. On wooden propellers, check the glue lines for debonding and look for warping and loss of protective coating or protec- tive metal edge damage. UNAPPROVED REPAIRS If your preflight inspection of the pro- peller does reveal questionable dam- age, resist the temptation to fly the aircraft—even to bring it to the shop. Simply have a mechanic put his or her eyes on it to determine if it might need to come off the airplane. And if you hit something—even a rubber parking cone—don’t fly the aircraft without having the prop inspected by a mechanic. We know one pilot who admitted to hitting a cone, but still flew the airplane on a 400-mile trip— at night, in the weather—to find out one of the three blades was loose in the hub. He wins the Darwin award. We also know pilots who attempted to straighten a bent propeller. This is a setup for doing more (often hidden) damage. There are some pretty crude unapproved repairs made. Never repair any blade defect by welding, heating or peening. Propeller manu- facturers do not permit this because it can induce premature blade failure. Do not fill any damaged areas of metal blades with bulk filler materi- als such as epoxy or auto body fillers. This prevents areas of potential crack- ing from being inspected. Consider that filling a damaged area will not correct the stress risers caused by the dent or those caused by the loading that introduced the dent. Also, do not paint over areas of corrosion on blades—even with rustproof paint. Corroded areas should be removed in accordance with approved procedures prior to applying the approved protec- tive finish. When it comes to cracks, they may Don’t underestimate the importance of inspecting the spinner, top photo. It can come off in flight, with ugly results. The four-blade composite prop on the Cir- rus shown at the bottom has an STC for retrofit. Notice the erosion strips on the leading edges of each blade. Don’t install any prop modifications that aren’t approved for your airplane. be present in the hub area be- tween or adjacent to bolt holes and along the hub pilot bore. Cracks in these areas cannot be repaired and require immediate removal of the propeller. Since propellers create stress to the surrounding structure, look past the prop for cracks and missing hard- ware—especially on the cowling. COMMON DAMAGE: TIPS Blade tip damage is perhaps the most common and the manufacturer’s maintenance documents generally have instructions for repairing it. But if the prop manufacturer doesn’t publish the repair information, there are specific procedures to follow for repairing nicks, dents, pits and cuts in the propeller’s tip. But you still need to consult manufacturer’s data. For example, any removal of the blade tip material that reduces the blade radius below the minimum specified for the propeller manu- facturer’s model designation and specific installation criteria is not permitted. Other damage, including cracks in the blade, might be spotted during the repair. Keep in mind that cracks can’t be repaired. Moreover, the presence of a crack pretty much indicates that blade failure is immi- nent and cracks on the leading and trailing edges are especially prone to propagation. Blend-outs or repairs should never be attempted on these cracks. The October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 2 1 FAA PLAYS HARDBALL WITH SENSENICH PROP SERVICE prop must be removed from service and identified as unairworthy. If the manufacturer did not publish guidance, any authorized repair to the propeller tip should be inspected with a minimum 10X lens to ensure that any sharp notches at the bottom of the damage have been removed. For leading/trailing edge damage, if the manufacturer did not publish information to the contrary, some repairs can still be made. For nicks, dents, pits and cuts in the leading or trailing edges of blades, ensure that the bottom of the damage is removed first by rounding out and fairing in the repair only slightly deeper than the damage. Initial removal of mate- rial should be done using a fine cut file. All traces of file marks in the re- paired area should be removed with #240 emery cloth followed by polish- ing with #320 emery cloth and then finished with crocus cloth or 600-grit emery cloth and then visually inspect- ed. An individual edge repair should not exceed a depth of 3/16 inches. We’ve seen far too many amateur repairs done with coarse metal filing, which leads to stress risers and even- tual failure. For gouges, cuts and small dents on blade faces, ensure that the bottom of the damage is removed first by round- ing out and fairing in the repair to form a saucer-shaped depression only slightly deeper than the damage. The initial repair should be accomplished by filing with a fine cut file parallel to the damage and finishing with #240 and #320 emery cloth, as in the man- ner of damage removal from blade- leading edges. Even more substantial damage might not render the prop a total loss. Limited repairs may be made on propellers by appropriately rated maintenance technicians either on the aircraft or when the propeller is removed. Minor dents, cuts, scars, scratches and nicks may be removed providing their removal does not weaken the blade, substantially change weight or balance or otherwise impair performance. In the end, it’s best to leave the inspection and repair of more substantial damage to a certi- fied and respected propeller shop. PROP BALANCING Props can become unbalanced for a variety of reasons, including mis- handling. Unauthorized or improper repair of spinners has also been identified as a cause of propeller imbalance. It’s not rocket science; an unbalanced condition occurs when the mass of the propeller is not sym- metrical around the center of rota- tion. When the mass is unsymmetri- cal, a radial force and/or out-of-plane moment couple is formed. Static and common dynamic bal- ance procedures only correct the radial force unbalance by adding an equal force in the opposite direction with balance weights. Only trained, special- ly equipped and authorized mainte- nance personnel should accomplish the dynamic balance procedures. There are two methods of propel- ler balancing—static balancing and dynamic balancing. Neither method can replace the other because they are used for different purposes. A propeller can be statically bal- anced only by removing it from the aircraft and evaluating the balance on a special fixture. Only appropri- ately certificated persons or shops may adjust propeller static balance. Static balance weights are added to or removed from the propeller to correct the measured imbalance, or material from the blades is removed by special grinding techniques. Dynamic balancing of a propeller is done to provide for the lowest level of vibration in its operating range. Although the propeller is the focal point of the balancing procedure, it is the combination of the engine mounting system and the propeller assembly that combine to provide the given level of vibration. There are a lot of variables. In the end, if you’ve replaced or had a propeller overhauled you know it’s a sizable investment. The only way to get long life from a prop is to operate it correctly and carefully, protect it from the elements (a prop cover isn’t a bad idea for outdoor storage) and en- sure that even the most minor repairs are done per the manufacturer’s and the FAA’s guidance. Proving that it takes propeller maintenance seriously, the FAA last month issued an Emergency Order revoking the repair station of Sensenich Propeller Service (the FAA order does not apply to Sensenich Propeller Company, although the two originally shared ownership). The FAA alleges that the popular propeller repair and overhaul shop, located in North Windham, Connecticut, knowingly and intentionally performed maintenance on 47 McCauley propellers for 45 separate aircraft that was contrary to instructions provided in the manufacturer’s overhaul manuals. The FAA further alleged that Sensenich and its accountability manager certified (signed off and returned to service) that the work was done in accordance with the manufacturer’s overhaul manuals and FAA regulations when company officials knew the props weren’t properly overhauled. In the Emergency Order, the FAA alleges that the work- ers overhauling the props failed to perform a spring-load test or replace the propeller return springs, as required by the manufacturer’s manual. The shop didn’t own the equipment necessary to test the spring loads, the FAA says, and managers told employees to reuse the springs without doing the test as long as they passed the re- quired limits on visual and nondestructive testing. The shop then approved the propellers for return to service, the FAA says. The FAA document also cites a number of instances when the shop failed to replace springs, retaining rings, studs and screws, as required, and nonetheless approved the props for return to service. If you’re concerned that your prop went through this shop, the FAA alleges the violations occurred between March 2015 and at least February 2017. The company didn’t respond to our request for com- ment, but the FAA says both the repair station certificate and the repairman certificate of the accountability man- ager have been surrendered without appeal. 2 2 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 In addition to an LED position light that meets TSO-C30c criteria, there’s also a built-in anti-collision strobe, which will likely require ad- ditional wiring. The tailBeacon has some smart, but controver- sial tech built in, including a pressure al- titude encoder that interacts with the exist- ing transponder through a patent- pending wireless inter- face that uAvionix calls a power transcoder reading pressure altitude and the current squawk code without additional hardware or wir- ing, although the power transcoder is not intended to replace the air- craft’s existing altitude digitizer for Mode C functions. Configuration and setup of the tailBeacon (and wingtip skyBeacon) are done through the uAvionix in- staller tablet app. Here you program the aircraft’s call sign, ICAO address and anonymous mode, plus the app has a performance monitoring utility so installers can verify the system is working before launching on a test flight in ADS-B airspace. uAvionix tailBeacon: ADS-B On The Tail The uAvionix tailBeacon is the latest certified low-cost ADS-B Out option, but a patent lawsuit from Garmin could have potential buyers watching and waiting. by Larry Anglisano ADS-B UPGRADES For almost two years the market has been dazzled as Montana- based uAvionix introduced smartly designed ADS-B mandate solutions that seriously curtail the installation effort and cost. As we’ve been reporting, the first product aimed at the masses is the skyBea- con, a wingtip LED position light with internal WAAS GPS, L-band antenna, an ADS-B transmitter and wireless Bluetooth. With a two-wire interface (power and ground) and a mounting footprint that’s the same as many existing incandescent position light housings, the $1849 bolt-on skyBeacon is about as simple as ADS-B Out installs get. uAvionix has been selling the skyBeacon to the experimental market while it sol- diered through the TSO certification process, which was awarded as we go to press. The follow-on product is the tail- Beacon, a product that’s essentially a repackaged skyBeacon and is de- signed to easily replace tail-mounted position lights. Like the skyBeacon (and unlike most other ADS-B Out products) the idea is to side-step a big teardown installation by utilizing the existing tail position light wiring, the existing circuit protection and the existing mounting holes for the original light. But like the skyBea- con (which can’t be mounted inside a wingtip fairing, for example), some installations will require more modifications when the light’s base doesn’t match the one on the tailBea- con’s mounting footprint, although there’s a good chance the existing wiring can be used. uAvionix says a typical tailBeacon installation might be accomplished in around 15 minutes. Weighing 2.9 ounces including the 6-inch wir- ing pigtail, rebalancing the aircraft’s rudder will depend on the weight difference between the existing light and the new tailBeacon, although in many cases the weight difference is less than 0.5 ounces, uAvionix said. BUZZKILL As we go to press, the black cloud parked over the uAvionix facility in Montana is a lawsuit filed by Garmin for patent infringement. In the legal document filed this past June, Garmin alleges that uAvionix has taken/copied its patented AutoSquawk technology—U.S. patent number 8,102,301 (the “301 Patent”)—without permission. Garmin’s AutoSquawk curtails the installation and reduces equipment costs of mandate-compliant ADS- B Out upgrades because it eliminates the need to install a dedicated ADS-B control head for keeping the existing transponder’s Mode 3/A and altitude data in sync with the ADS-B Out data. Other manufacturers’ ADS- B equipment—including FreeFlight Systems and L3, to name two—re- quire the use of a control panel and wiring for 978 UAT systems. In an official statement, uAvionix denies infringing on Garmin’s patent and says it has its own patent-pend- ing method for using the transpon- der’s Mode 3/A and altitude data that differs from Garmin’s 301 Patent. “We are disappointed and frus- trated we have to go through the expense, distraction and effort of de- fending ourselves, but also recognize that disruptive products often attract The $1849 tailBeacon shown in the center photo is a follow-on to the skyBeacon and has LED position and anti-collision light- ing, plus a full-up ADS-B Out transmitter and GPS. continued on page 32 October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 2 3 These days you don’t have to put your eyes on a model 112 or 114 Commander for long to see why these airplanes had perhaps more ramp appeal than the competi- tion. At the time (somewhere around 1972) North American Rockwell remained true to its military contract experience and built big airplane touches into the small Commanders. Even well before the Com- mander singles came along Rockwell had been trying to bring the right mix of ramp appeal, features and performance to the general aviation market. The Lark, Darter and efforts to revive the Meyers 200 didn’t exactly work out the way Rockwell had hoped. But it connected with the Com- mander 112, thanks to a cabin with dual doors that emphasized easy ingress and egress (more appealing than the single-door arrangement on Piper and Mooney models), ag- gressive styling and a price just shy of $25,000. It was a rocky road for the Commander singles. A series of model changes ensued and original Commander 112/114 Rockwell Commander piston singles are sturdy, comfortable travelers, but the 114 is the better performer. production ended in 1979. Since then, the design has been in and out of several hands, one pair of which actually produced some 200 updated models during the 1990s. Here’s a look at the Commander 112/114 and what to expect and consider when shopping for one. MODEL HISTORY The Commander single series began life as the Rockwell 112, a 200-HP retractable designed to compete against Cessna’s Cardinal RG, Piper’s Arrow and Beech’s Sierra. During its development, Rockwell conducted elaborate studies of pilot preferences and even aviation journalists (Avia- tion Consumer editors included) were invited to take a look at The Commander’s stability and predictability make it a perfect IFR platform. Gus Corujo filmed the Rockwell Commander 114 climbing out in the main photo. Notice the hefty trailing-link landing gear and custom paint work. preliminary designs and make suggestions. The result made its debut in 1972 and emphasized looks, cabin room and comfort over raw performance. It turned out that despite the big cabin, the Commander 112 was quite deficient in useful load, result- ing in the 112A model, which came out in 1974. The 112A featured an in- creased gross weight—from 2550 to 2650 pounds—at a nominal change in useful load. Owners tell us an early 112 can benefit from the 112A’s increased gross weight after applying a service bulletin and a few dollars. Squeezing even more load- carrying ability out of the airframe, Rockwell delivered the 112B in 1977, still powered by the same 200-HP Lycoming IO-360-C1D6 as earlier models. The 112B featured 16-inch 2 4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com October 2018 U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E 2 4 • The Aviation Consumer w w w.aviationconsumer.com Drawings courtesy www.schemedesigners.com December 2009 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 2 5 130 140 150 160 PAYLOAD/FULL FUEL 500 600 700 800 30k 40K 50K 60K PRICE COMPARISONS 1977 MOONEY 201 CRUISE SPEEDS COMMANDER RESALE VALUES 1976 112A 1978 114 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2018 350K – – 275K – – 200K – – 125K – – 50K – DATA: AIRCRAFT BLUEBOOK SELECT LATE-MODEL COMPARISONS COMMANDER MODEL HISTORY MODEL YEAR ENGINE TBO OVERHAUL FUEL USEFUL LOAD CRUISE TYPICAL RETAIL 1972-73 COMMANDER 112 LYCOMING IO-360-C1D6 2000 $28,000 60 1020 LBS 130 KTS ±$40,000 1974-76 COMMANDER 112A LYCOMING IO-360-C1D6 2000 $28,000 60 1020 LBS 140 KTS ±$47,000 1976 COMMANDER 112TC LYCOMING TO-360-C1A6D 1800 $40,000 60 1020 LBS 177 KTS ±$54,000 1777 COMMANDER 112TC-A LYCOMING TO-360-C1A6D 1800 $40,000 60 1020 LBS 157 KTS ±$59,000 1977 COMMANDER 112B LYCOMING IO-360-C1D6 2000 $28,000 68 1020 LBS 142 KTS ±$55,000 1977-78 COMMANDER 114 LYCOMING IO-540-T4B5D 2000 $35,000 68 1235 LBS 157 KTS ±$95,000 1979 COMMANDER 114A LYCOMING IO-540-T4B5D 2000 $35,000 68 1235 LBS 157 KTS ±$100,000 1992-99 COMMANDER 114B LYCOMING IO-540-T4B5 2000 $35,000 68 1235 LBS 157 KTS ±$140,000 1995-99 COMMANDER 114TC LYCOMING TIO-540-AG1A 2000 $50,000 68 1154 LBS 177 KTS ±$170,000 2000-02 COMMANDER 115 LYCOMING IO-540-T4B5 2000 $35,000 68 1153 LBS 149 KTS ±$210,000 ($68,000) 1978 CESSNA 177RG 1977 PIPER ARROW III 1977 MOONEY 201 1978 CESSNA 177RG 1977 PIPER ARROW III 1977 MOONEY 201 1978 CESSNA 177RG 1977 BEECH SIERRA 1977 PIPER ARROW III ($56,000) 1977 BEECH SIERRA ($33,000) ($62,000) SELECT RECENT ADs AD 2002-12-07 REPLACE OIL FILTER CONVERTER PLATE GASKET OR REPETITIVELY INSPECT AD 2003-14-03 REPLACE OR REPETITIVELY INSPECT CERTAIN ROTARY FUEL PUMPS AD 2006-20-09 REPLACE ENGINE CRANKSHAFT AT OVERHAUL OR AFTER 12 YEARS AD 2008-14-07 REPETITIVELY INSPECT EXTERNALLY MOUNTED FUEL INJECTOR LINES 1976 COMMANDER 112 1976 COMMANDER 112 1976 COMMANDER 112 ($51,000) 1977 BEECH SIERRA 35 ft. 8 in. 25 ft. 1 in. 8 ft. 5 in. COMMANDER 112/114 October 2018 w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 2 5 U S E D A I R C R A F T G U I D E w w w.aviationconsumer.com The Aviation Consumer • 2 5 A Commander has enough panel real estate for modern avionics upgrades. The 114 panel at the top sports a stack of Garmin ra- dios, S-TEC autopilot,