Table of contents for June 2015 in Flying

One of the top backcountry airplanes on the market has become even better. With its experimental certificate allowing for modifications without the series of hoops a Part 23 certified airplane would have to endure, CubCrafters’ Carbon Cub EX-2 has seen several changes, including major modifications to the control surfaces, resulting in even greater performance. A reduction in the stall speed and improved handling characteristics were achieved through what CubCrafters has called the G-Series ailerons, tail feathers and flaps. “Together, the G-Series control surfaces improve the overall responsiveness of the aircraft and provide an appreciable improvement in control harmony,” says CubCrafters CEO Jim Richmond. “Experienced Cub pilots will be impressed.” The roll authority of the EX-2 was improved by completely redesigning the ailerons and relocating their attachment points. The G-Series flaps…

If your panel is outdated and you, like so many pilots, are looking for an affordable solution to meet the upcoming ADS-B Out requirements: a 1090 MHz extended squitter transponder (or 978 MHz for the United States below 18,000 feet) and WAAS GPS capabilities, this new system may be the best option yet. Appareo recently announced the availability of the Stratus ESG, a standard transponder-size box that includes it all. Not only should the Stratus ESG slot right into the space in your panel previously occupied by an analog transponder, but the all-inclusive box costs all of $3,400 as well. You will, however, need to install the external GPS antenna for the system to work. Availability is subject to FAA certification, and Appareo expects to submit the final paperwork for…

Superior Air Parts introduced a fascinating 100 horsepower diesel engine at Sun ’n Fun that takes direct aim at the market turf dominated by the Rotax 912-series gasoline piston engine for experimental and light-sport airplanes. Superior’s Gemini 100 compression ignition engine is an unusual design adopted from a British-born aero diesel that’s been in development for more than a decade by a now-defunct company called Powerplant Developments. The ultrasimplistic conf guration features six horizontally opposed pistons housed in three cylinders, each sharing a common fuel injector and glow plug. Intended as a bolt-on replacement for the Rotax 912, the two-stroke, supercharged, liquid-cooled engine weighs about 200 pounds (20 pounds heavier than the Rotax) with a projected 4.5-gallon-an-hour fuel burn at 75 percent power. The engine runs at 4,000 rpm in…

FLYING READERS SHARE LASTING LESSONS FROM CLOSE CALLS AND NEAR DISASTERS. Relationships are often defined by shared experiences. So was the case with Loretta and me. When the tower asked if we wanted to declare an emergency, my date’s panicked expression suggested that our future together might require more than a safe landing. The Cessna 182 ferry mission was to be routine. N15AP had just been returned to service following an annual and needed to be repositioned from Burlington, Vermont, to Warren-Sugarbush Airport. Like many newer pilots seeking fight time, I had made my interest in ferrying airplanes known to the local maintenance shops. The pay was terrible, but ferrying did give me the opportunity to fly a lot of different models. And, to the point, my logbook totals were…

So when the Wichita, Kansas, icon tooled up to build a couple of next-generation larger cabin models, the question I had was this: How does this paragon of plain-sense manufacturing build new Citations that embody the best of the company’s traditional strengths in addition to the latest innovations in propulsion, avionics, aerodynamics and cabin design? How they did it is kind of a long story. What they came up with isn’t. It’s called the Latitude. LAUNCHING For the last few months I’d been itching to go flying in the Latitude, the first of a new generation of Cessnas that at this point includes just one other member, the emerging Citation Longitude. (To keep them straight, I just remember that the “Long”itude has a “long”er range.) Cessna’s flight test program was…

PIPER’S NEW M600 IS THE LATEST AND GREATEST ADDITION TO THE COMPANY’S M-CLASS LINE, WHICH HAS BECOME A MAINSTAY OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DECADES. Piper added two additions to its line of M-Class airplanes in April, bringing new technology and capabilities to a fleet that has continued to grow since the original PA-46 launched more than three decades ago. The M600 brings a clean-sheet wing design to the Meridian airframe, along with a 600 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A up front. The new features boost the airplane’s range to 1,300 nm over the Meridian’s 1,000 nm, while also providing a substantial increase in payload, which maxes out on the new airplane at 1,200 pounds. “Our customers and dealers asked for additional payload and exceptional range,” said Piper President and CEO…

Nearly one year to the day from when Glasair announced at the Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In and Expo in 2014 its intent to build a new light-sport airplane, the Merlin LSA has taken to the skies from the company’s headquarters at the Arlington Municipal Airport in Arlington, Washington. “Seeing the joy and exhilaration on everyone’s faces was as satisfying as hearing the test pilot Grant Smith’s positive comments as he emerged from the cockpit,” Glasair’s development manager, Ted Setzer, said after the fight. Smith’s first fight in the Merlin lasted just under an hour, and he evaluated the handling characteristics of the airplane and the operation of the Rotax 912 iS engine. The two-seat high wing will have an optional BRS parachute. The Merlin LSA is Glasair’s first airplane…

The airplane we few for this report was a production conforming Latitude complete with production interior and avionics. The Latitude is certified under an amendment to the Citation model 680 Sovereign+ type certificate but features numerous updates, including a wider and taller fuselage. Also standard is the Garmin G5000 touch-screen avionics suite with autothrottles. The numerous G5000 features include fight and taxi charts, extensive 3-D FMS capabilities, display windowing and more. Unless noted, all these specifications are from the manufacturer and are for standard conditions.…

Summer is upon us and so is the best flying season for most. While flying to a nice resort with all the creature comforts you could dream of is by all means a terrific experience, fying into a remote area will get you far away from the hustle and bustle. If you want to get far away from it all on your next vacation, take your airplane on a camping adventure. You will find peace and quiet where you can enjoy the wilderness in solitude or together with good friends. If you want to really rough it, you can simply roll out your sleeping bag underneath the wing and bring some prepackaged camping food. On the other end of the spectrum you can have an extravagant experience with top of…

UNLIKE THE EXTERNAL SENSORS OF TRADITIONAL AOA SYSTEMS, ASPEN’S TECHNOLOGY FOR LIGHT AIRPLANES BLENDS ACCELERATION, AIRSPEED AND PITCH INFORMATION TO “DERIVE” A CRITICAL ANGLE OF ATTACK. Aspen Avionics is raising eyebrows with the introduction of an angle of attack indicator for its Evolution primary and multifunction displays that relies on a software update to the avionics without the need to install a lift sensor and wiring in the wing. In light airplanes we’ve traditionally relied on airspeed and the stall warning indicator to tell us how close we are to the critical angle of attack, when the wing no longer produces lift and we fall off in a stall or, worse, a spin. Airspeed is an imprecise measure of AOA because stall speed can vary depending on factors such as…

Three student pilots had the chance to go from zero fight time to a unique kind of solo experience within just a week’s time, thanks to a program called One Week Ready to Solo, launched at Sun ’n Fun in Florida in April by Redbird Flight Simulations and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association in an effort to show nonpilots that learning to fy isn’t so hard after all. The program took three aspiring pilots — Chris Graves, a Harley-Davidson engineer; former Navy corpsman Nik Oekerman; and GM advertising manager Sherry Rosenkranz — and gave them nine simulator sessions along with nine fight lessons, all of which led up to their ultimate “solo” in which they few unassisted with an instructor in the airplane. For the milestone fight, the trio…

The Flight Design C4 has entered the flight test phase after the prototype made its first flight in April in Germany. Flight Design says it is accelerating the timeline of the four-seat C4 despite the FAA’s decision to push back the so-called Part 23 Rewrite, an endeavor to introduce new certification standards for light airplanes that are intended to cut development costs in half while making it easier for aircraft manufacturers to incorporate new technology. Flight Design says it will certify the C4 under the new rules in Europe first, and then in the United States once the regulations are adopted here. The C4 will take full advantage of the new regulations. It flies with non-TSO’d Garmin G3X flight displays linked through certified gear, allowing Flight Design to keep the…

There’s a new option for light-twin buyers to consider after the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) in April certified Diamond Aircraft’s DA62 diesel piston twin, allowing the model to go on sale in Europe immediately. FAA validation is expected to follow late this year, with the DA62 going on sale in North America as a 2016 model. The certification, which was handed over at AERO Friedrichshafen, comes three and a half years after Diamond launched the program. A larger version of the DA42 twin, the DA62 is powered by two 180 horsepower Austro AE330 diesel engines burning jet-A fuel. It will be offered in two versions, a five-seater with a maximum takeoff weight of 4,400 pounds for the European market and a seven-seater with an MTOW of 5,070 pounds targeted…

A LOOK BACK AT FLYING MAGAZINE 25 AND 50 YEARS AGO 25 YEARS AGO OUR COVER FEATURED A CESSNA P210 ZIPPING AROUND THE CLOUDS ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR PLAYING IN THE SKY. THE IMAGE, SHOT BY RENOWNED PHOTOGRAPHER RUSSELL MUNSON, ACCOMPANIED HIS ARTICLE ON THE DRAW OF FLIGHT AND WHY WE “GOOD-FOR-NOTHING-DEADBEATDREAMERS” SIMPLY CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT. We reported on the new availability of DUAT online. Thanks to the system, pilots could bypass a call to flight service for the first time and instead obtain vital weather information and file a flight plan through the Internet. We reported on the unveiling of Burt Rutan’s military creation known as Ares, and in true Rutan fashion it was not your typical warbird. The plane, approximately the same size as a P-51,…