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General Aviation Modifications

Modifications for general aviation allow you to increase your plane's speed and trim weight, and make other changes to truly personalize your flying experience. Customize your aircraft with the professional modifications from Plane & Pilot and Pilot Journal Magazines.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Power Trip


King Air Upgrades Spur Aftermarket Action



Power TripWith heavy in- and outbound Philadelphia and New York traffic passing overhead, it’s a challenge getting cleared to climb directly to FL280 from Queen City Municipal Airport (KXLL) in Allentown, Pa.
Monday, September 1, 2008

Project 182, Part III


Exterior Makeover!



project 182Renovation on N9771H is complete! In “Project 182, Part I” [April 2008], we covered the modernization of the aircraft’s avionics panel. We took care of the interior in “Project 182, Part II: Redressing A Skylane” [June 2008], and in this final edition, we address the exterior.
Sunday, June 1, 2008

Redressing A Skylane: Project 182, Part II


Flying by the seat of your pants is more comfortable and fun when you’re nestled into a supercomfortable seat surrounded by first-class furnishings



project 182Someone in the aircraft refurbishment business once said (or should have said), “The paint may be what you see, but the interior is where you live.” So it is with Plane & Pilot’s Project Skylane. Since buying the 1981 Cessna 182 on the East Coast three years ago as a fixer-upper, we’ve done equal shares of research, hand-wringing and procrastination. Eventually, we had no choice but to actually give birth to the project. As a result, we’ve finally managed to finish the panel, paint and interior.
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Flying With Speed Brakes


Speed brakes can ease the process of descent and landing, and they can even decrease engine wear and tear on piston aircraft



speed brakesI was flying with a buddy in my Mooney, returning from a Saturday hamburger flight. We’d come home from the desert via the tall road, high-jumping to 10,500 feet to clear the San Jacinto mountains on the short 120 nm hop back to Long Beach, Calif.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Project 182, Part I


Let’s say you own a 1981 Cessna Skylane with adequate avionics, an old paint job and a pedestrian interior, but want to increase capability and safety. What would you do first?



project 182Here at Plane & Pilot, we seem to enjoy lavishing full rebuilds on old Skylanes. Back in the late ’70s, I found and negotiated the purchase of a 1963 Skylane for the magazine as a reader project airplane. A few years ago, ex-editor Lyn Freeman purchased our current project airplane, yet another C182.
Friday, December 1, 2006

Accelerating A Mooney


Power Flow’s tuned exhaust system works



Accelerating A MooneyOkay, I admit it. I was a hot-rodder as a kid. Shortly after I was old enough to drive, a buddy and I began campaigning an old Ford on the second-gear, stock-car circuit around Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. Later, I raced a Triumph TR3B and an Austin Healey 3000 in Sports Car Club of America gymkhana events around New Mexico. I didn’t win very often, but I had great fun in the process (until I realized how much money it was costing me).

Saturday, July 1, 2006

Compress Your Power


Turbocharging. Is it worth its weight and heat?



Let’s say you live in Wichita, Kan., where the highest terrain is about 1,600 feet. Normal aspiration should be adequate to cover virtually any situation, right?

Thursday, December 1, 2005

What Makes Airplane Tires So Special?


We went to Michelin for a short course



What Makes Airplane Tires So SpecialAirplane tires are a breed unto themselves. A tire on your car has it easy compared to one on an aircraft. Your car doesn’t drive along a sun-baked, 120-degree F taxiway, then climb into sub-zero temps several miles above the Earth, hanging in a 100-mph wind, then come down and smash onto the ground at 80 miles an hour, maybe even bouncing a few times. Not just any tire is up to the mission.

 

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Straight Talk From Thielert Aircraft Engines


Its new diesel aircraft powerplants are bringing Jet A to GA



Straight Talk From Thielert Aircraft EnginesThe diesels are coming…the diesels are coming—to general aviation, that is. And the company that’s leading the charge isn’t one of general-aviation engines’ “big two.” No, it’s a relatively small company that has its sights clearly set on relieving your dependence on avgas.

Thursday, September 1, 2005

The Need For Speed!


The narcotic that pilots will pay almost anything for



The Need For Speed!Go ahead, admit it. When you read all of those pilot reports, you skim them, looking for the cruise speed, then go back and read the rest. It’s a natural thing. We all love the idea of going fast. But how fast is fast? And is there such a thing as fast enough?