July 2010 Volume XL Number 7 The consumer resource for pilots and aircraft owners LSAs for Training Why is this wheel in the middle of a runway? Hint: It relates to student pilots and LSAs … page 14. Engines of change … page 4 Still a useful tool … page 22 iPad flight trial … page 8 4 FUEL CRISIS 11 GEAR OF THE YEAR 22 HANDHELD RADIOS We’re there already, say Aspen takes this year’s top We like Sporty’s new Nav/Com Continental and Lycoming award that can even fly an ILS 8 iPAD FOR AVIATION 18 CIRRUS’S NEW TURBO 26 AERONCA CHAMP Definitely some cool apps, but It’s offering both normalized Not fast or flashy, but it gives mostly hype and groundboosted options Cub-like fun for less cash FIRST WORD EDITOR Paul Bertorelli Are We At the 100LL Tipping Point? MANAGING EDITOR It sure seems like it to me. Just in the past couple of months, I ‘m seeing a scram- Jeff Van West ble of activity, including major initiatives from both Continental and Lycoming, a new engine idea from South Africa, a new model from Cirrus pitched to burn CONTRIBUTING EDITORS low-octane fuel and a rising fish-or-cut-bait sense from aircraft owners and pilots. Jeb Burnside At Continental, Johnny Doo, the new VP for engineering, told the visiting press Jonathan Doolittle last month that the EPA’s initiatives to remove lead from aviation gasoline may Rick Durden seem like a long way off—2015 to 2017—but as the fuel research effort continues Larry Anglisano to drift, time is shorter than anyone thinks. The manufacturers are trying SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT to rapidly line up their options to P.O. Box 420235 deal with a future fuel situation that Palm Coast, FL 34142-0235 they simply can’t predict. 800-829-9081 Every time I visit Continental www.aviationconsumer.com/cs or Lycoming—and I did both last month—I’m struck by one thing: FOR CANADA Subscription Services These are tiny businesses. They’re Box 7820 STN Main not Mom and Pop groceries, to be London, ON 5W1 sure, but they’re hardly Intel or Ford Canada or even Sam Adams brewery, whose annual revenues outstrip Continen- Back Issues, Used Aircraft Guides tal threefold. So despite being part of larger conglomerates, they aren’t swimming 203-857-3100 in capital, which explains why major developmental projects are rare and why they tend to telescope over long periods, running on a cheaper low boil rather REPRINTS: Aviation Consumer can than the high-budget speed of heat. provide you or your organization with reprints. Minimum order is 1000 I am not encouraged. Increasingly, I think the future fuel challenge defies copies. Contact Jennifer Jimolka, solution not for technical reasons, but for political and internecine, interorgani- 203-857-3144 zational squabbling. It’s almost as if the quest has become an end in itself and the solution has become untouchable because it will leave a big vacuum with AVIATION CONSUMER nothing to do. (ISSN #0147-9911) is pub- Against this backdrop, both Lycoming and Continental are moving forward lished monthly by Belvoir with (relatively) big dollar developmental work—Lycoming with its IE2 engine Aviation Group LLC, an and Continental with a diesel project—intended to ready them for whatever fuel affiliate of Belvoir Media emerges as The One. Although the timing for both looks good, they are risky Group, 800 Connecti- projects because no one knows if customers will resonate with these ideas. And cut Avenue, Norwalk, CT therein lies the core of the problem. Pilots love to bash “Lycosaurus” for their lack 06854-1631. Robert Englander, Chairman of innovation but the record suggests otherwise. and CEO; Timothy H. Cole, Executive Vice More than 20 years ago, Lycoming flirted with John Deere to develop a heavy President, Editorial Director; Philip L. fuel rotary and it did again with Detroit Diesel more recently. Both projects were Penny, Chief Operating Officer; Greg King, dropped. Continental is no stranger to technological risk. Remember the Voyager Executive Vice President, Marketing Direc- engine? If you think the Voyager wasn’t innovative, consider this: It was water- tor; Ron Goldberg, Chief Financial Officer; cooled, had high turbulence combustion chambers and a compression ratio of Tom Canfield, Vice President, Circulation. 11.4 to 1. In the 300-cubic-inch version, it demonstrated a BSFC of .345, which is better than the diesel technology Continental has acquired from SMA. Periodicals postage paid at Norwalk, CT, There are other cratered engine projects, not the least of which is the Thielert and at additional mailing offices. Rev- diesel. A good idea badly managed, maybe, but it basically tanked anyway. Let’s enue Canada GST Account #128044658. not forget Rotax’s aborted project on V-6 engines that weren’t lighter than the Subscriptions: $84 annually; single cop- existing competition, didn’t produce more power and were complex. Other than ies, $10.00. Bulk rate subscriptions for the fact that nobody wanted these engines, they were smash hits. organizations are available. Copyright © Mature aircraft engines are in the sweet spot of cost, efficiency and power den- 2010 Belvoir Aviation Group LLC. All rights sity. It’s unfair and inaccurate to say neither Continental nor Lycoming haven’t tried to better these designs. They have. You could argue that the companies reserved. Reproduction in whole or in haven’t done the right kind of innovation, but if that’s true, where’s the competi- part is prohibited. Printed in the USA. tion that has? (See above, Rotax, Thielert. See the report on page 4…) Customers—mainly end users, but also OEMs—have decried the lack of in- Postmaster: Send address corrections to novative products. Yet when the engine makers have pitched new stuff, the very AVIATION CONSUMER, Box 420234, Palm same customers have demurred, preferring to stick with the proven, the familiar, Coast, Fl 32142. In Canada, P.O. Box 39 the reliable. Whether we’re in for a sea change due to threatened fuel supplies is Norwich, ON NOJ1PO, Canada. Publishing unknown at this point. But it sure looks real to me. –Paul Bertorelli Agreement Number #40016479 2 • The Aviation Consumer www.aviationconsumer.com2 • www.aviationconsumer.com July 2010 LETTERS Who Made Them King? avionics in LSAs?” I don’t think a it’s not meeting any of the criteria of When the specifications for LSAs weight limit is going to keep them what we want—save one, it’s a diesel. were first announced, I was disap- from getting too complicated. Is it possible that SMA could not pointed that there was a maximum Until we see a truly inexpensive sell their engine to anyone who still gross weight limit. This limit is so way to learn to fly, there won’t be the has a choice, just because of its basic restrictive that few LSAs have reason- numbers of new pilots necessary to design? And is it possible that TCM able useful loads. To be functional, turn the tide on the dwindling pilot just made a big mistake? I think a two-seat airplane should population. Those of us with a basic mechani- have enough carrying capacity to put cal knowledge agree that we will not two adult males and enough fuel for Ed Fogle be readily accepting of the SMA type three or four hours flying in them. Claremore, Oklahoma engine, especially when there are a More important, for the growth of couple of alternatives available that the pilot population, the weight limit Avidyne Replies do not have a valve train to wear eliminated two of the most popular We thought the review of the Avi- out, nor require a massive unappeal- aircraft that should be in the catego- dyne EX600 was a fair and accurate ing front cowling with all of its air ry, the Cessna 150 and Citabria. assessment and you clearly conveyed scoops, plus it has hardware hang- Until I read your article in the May all the features and benefits that ing underneath that blocks nosegear 2010 issue make this a great from retracting. If TCM proceeds of Aviation product. with a 350-HP version, it doesn’t Consumer, I We think a appear to me that it will work in my didn’t know couple of items Malibu, unless the hardware un- the reason for are worthy of derneath is relocated.We all did the this limit. comment. Re- math and converting to any diesel Well, my garding the issue does save money to pay for all of the disappoint- you mentioned extra costs for a retrofit, including ment turned about “repeat- the cost of the engine, all within one to anger edly pounding TBO or TBR, and then after that, it when I read the left pan really starts paying for itself many the quote of button” and it times over. But wouldn’t it be better Earl Lawrence panning slower to wait for the DeltaHawk or at least of the EAA, than expected, something like it? “We specifi- the panning cally excluded some of the heavier works best if you just push and hold. Name withheld legacy airplanes because we wanted You will get a smooth pan that stops to encourage the development of immediately when you let up, as I was very glad to see the detailed new airplanes and new products.” described in the Pilot’s Guide. As you article in the May issue about getting So, who is this “we” and who died saw, it doesn’t work as well when you and made them king? To take this repeatedly push the pan button.