News

HondaJet Nears Production

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We have all been hearing about the HondaJet for quite a while now.  It’s been in testing for a number of years, but it sounds like certification and deliveries will commence early in 2015.  Honda says they expect FAA certification in the first part of 2015 and deliveries will commence soon thereafter.

For those of you in the San Antonio area, if you’d like to get a glimpse of the first production HondaJet, it will be at Landmark Aviation at KSAT on Wednesday, October 29th.  Cutter Aviation is hosting the event, as they will handle the regional sales for Honda.  No flights will be conducted, but folks are welcome to walk around the airplane, climb inside, and give it a good once over.

For those planning on attending, RSVP is required.  Contact Lisa Harris at Cutter to RSVP either by phone (602-267-4054) or by email (lharris@cutteraviation.com).  Drinks and snacks will be served.  The event runs from 5:30pm-8:00pm.

HondaJet

Fly Away Destination: Sedona, AZ (KSEZ)

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Looking for somewhere to take a trip this fall?  Sedona, Arizona should warrant strong consideration.  Just shy of 100 miles north of Phoenix, Sedona is one of the most beautiful areas in the southwest United States.  From Texas, depending on how fast your airplane travels, you could make it to Sedona in a day, with a couple of stops in between.  You’d definitely want to spend a few days to enjoy the scenery and maybe jump over to the Grand Canyon while you’re in the area.

The Airport

As you approach the Sedona Airport (KSEZ), you become somewhat distracted by the scenery around you.  Don’t be too distracted as the approach is a little tricky.  If you are landing north, on Runway 3, the calm wind runway, don’t let the surroundings fool you.  Stay on that PAPI and don’t be short, as the runway is on a 500 foot mesa.  In instrument conditions, the MDA for the RNAV approach to Runway 3 dumps you out about 1,300 feet above the airport elevation, giving you plenty of time to set up to land.

When using runway 21, don’t make your pattern too wide as there are some pretty tall rocks (around 7,000 feet) north of the field.  The Airport/Facilities Directory gives a warning to pilots in strong southwesterly wind conditions.  Be aware of strong downdrafts coming in on final for runway 21.

The runway itself is in excellent condition, and plenty long at just over 5,000 feet.  The FBO is a little dated, but the folks there are great.  They were redoing the ramp this summer, so beware of that.  Airplane parking is no problem, but actually getting to the FBO is a little tricky.  The Mesa Grill is a very nice good restaurant just a short walk from the FBO.  When I was there, I chowed down on a buffalo burger.  It definitely hit the spot.

What To Do

Sedona is the outdoorsman’s paradise.  Starting off, to get a great overview of the area, hop on the Red Rock Scenic Byway (SR 179) about an hour before dusk.  You’ll get to see some spectacular views while it’s still light, then you can’t beat the sunsets in Sedona.

For hiking, you have a myriad of options, from the Cathedral Rock, to the Oak Creek Canyon, to the Devil’s Bridge Trail, all are beautiful, though most are not for the faint of heart (especially the Devil’s Bridge).  Even though the fall is cooler, make sure you pack plenty of water for the hikes.

Sedona

Want something to do in the evening?  Go up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross to watch the sunset.  After the sun goes down, go do some stargazing.  You’ll get to take a tour of the stars at the Sedona Star Gazing location in Oak Creek.  You are shown all the constellations and stars by professional astronomers, and blankets and chairs are provided.

Art connoisseur?  You’ll find plenty of art galleries around town with a ton of beautiful, original artwork.  There are also several theaters and golf courses around Sedona, giving everyone a little bit of everything.

If you’re up for it, the Grand Canyon is about a 2 hour drive north of Sedona, or a quick flight up to the Grand Canyon Airport (KGCN).

In search of a good getaway?  Try Sedona.  You’ll be sore from lots of hiking and sight seeing, but it will definitely have been worth it.

Airspace Alert: Houston Executive Tower Opens

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For those of you who frequent the Houston area, make sure to check your NOTAMs.  The Houston Executive Airport (KTME) in Katy recently opened a control tower.  The Houston Executive tower information won’t show up on the sectional chart till the new chart comes out in the spring.  The only way to get the information about the tower and the airspace will be via NOTAMs or when the new Airport/Facilities Directory comes out on November 3rd.  The tower opened October 1st.

According to AOPA, the airspace will remain Class G around the airport, even though there is a control tower in place.  Since the Houston Executive tower is there, it will be mandatory to contact the tower when passing through the airspace.  KTME’s airspace stretches up to 2,000 feet MSL and goes out to a 4 sm radius around the airport.  It is a VFR Only tower, so the controllers do not have radar.

The tower is open from 6am-10pm, local time, 7 days a week.

Frequency Information

Houston Executive Tower:  126.975

Houston Executive Ground Control/Clearance Delivery:  132.075

Houston Executive ATIS:  119.525

 

Upgrading Avionics

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There are many different ways to upgrade an instrument panel.  Putting in a 696 here, a JPI engine monitoring system there, even an Electronic HSI.  But, if you want to swing for the fences and get a serious upgrade, you have to go for a complete glass instrument panel.  For good measure, you might as well throw in a touch screen GPS while you are at it.

Which panel to go with?  There are two mainstream options (Garmin and Aspen) and a handful of other companies that make glass panel replacements (Avidyne being one, King for a short period of time at the end of the last decade being another with the KFD 840).  Around 2010, there were a lot of companies trying to get into the glass panel retrofit game, but many of the products didn’t gain a whole lot of popularity, leaving Garmin and Aspen at the top of the heap.

What about the touch screen GPS market?  Garmin has this pretty much cornered as well, with Avidyne and King just getting into the game.  The gap between Garmin’s GTN series and Avidyne and King is pretty wide.

Garmin GTN Series

The answer is pretty easy when it comes to the GPS (go with Garmin!), but not so easy when it comes to the panel.  The G500 and the Aspen Evolution series are both excellent interfaces with strong reliability, so which one do you go with?  Feature-wise, both have a lot of the same features: traffic, weather, terrain, synthetic vision, to name a few.  The presentation for each feature is a little different between the two interfaces.  It just depends on what you like better.

The nice thing about the Aspen system is you can go glass, but you have options on how much glass you want:  1 screen, 2 screens, or 3 screens?  With the single screen PFD, you have all your instrumentation, traffic, weather, and optional synthetic vision.  You don’t need the synthetic vision for the traffic and weather, as it shows up behind your HSI.  It is an honest to goodness glass panel retrofit.

When you decide to upgrade to 2 screens, this is where Aspen has a leg up.  The second screen is a completely redundant PFD and, if you get the 2 hour emergency backup battery installed, acts as the backup instrumentation to the main PFD.  This means you can take out the old steam gauge standby instruments.  This helps clean the panel up.

I personally don’t see the need for 3 screens, but maybe there is someone out there who needs it.

One selling point that Aspen has over Garmin is the wide variety of autopilots and GPS units that Aspen units are compatible with.  The G500 is only compatible with King autopilots, it’s own GFC 700 autopilot (which would be a retrofit), some Collins autopilots, and the Century 21, 31, 41, and 2000.  This does cover a wide array of autopilots, but it keeps some on the outside.  Aspen, on the other hand, is compatible with most autopilots on the market.

Finally, let’s talk price.  Going with an Aspen EFD 1000 PFD (this is the single screen Aspen) will run you somewhere in the area of $12,000.  The price will vary based on the shop and the airplane.  When you want to add a screen, it’s an additional $6,000.  This is for the base, so if you want to add weather or synthetic vision, it’ll run you a little more.

The Garmin G500 comes in around $20,000, again depending on the shop and the airplane.  The screens are bigger on the G500, which is kind of nice, and you are buying a Garmin product, which has a fabulous track record in the aviation industry.

Decisions, decisions.  There really is no wrong answer here.  Both are excellent products with very good track records.  Both have really nice features and don’t hardly fail.  Really, the choice comes down to what you want.

Need training on your upgraded GPS or glass panel retrofit?  Contact Texas Top Aviation for thorough training on your new avionics today.

Dallas Airspace Changes

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As was the case with the Class B Airspace around Houston several months ago, the Class B Dallas airspace has been overhauled as well.  These changes were implemented at the last database update on September 18th.  If you’ll be flying into any of the Dallas airspace airports IFR, make sure you have current charts and your GPS databases are updated.

According to AOPA, 14 SIDs and STARs were deleted, a number of new procedures were added, and changes were made to most of the other remaining procedures.  The new procedures in the Dallas airspace consist mainly of RNAV procedures for turboprops and jets, so most GA aircraft won’t be affected by those.  The legacy procedures that remained in place over went changes, including new frequencies, so piston aircraft going into the Dallas airspace are still affected.

From AOPA, departures from Dallas Love (KDAL) that file their flight plan with special equipment /G in their flight plan will automatically be given an RNAV departure procedure.  This does not appear to affect piston aircraft as all the new RNAV SIDs in the Dallas airspace are for turboprops or turbojets.

The reason for the changes to the Dallas airspace?  Similar to the changes in Houston, these airspace changes are meant to streamline departures and arrivals in the Dallas airspace area, reduce controller workload, and give continuous descent angles for arriving high altitude traffic.

Don’t be surprised the next time you are in the Dallas airspace area if you receive a clearance that states:  “Descend via the arrival.”  In that case, just check the chart and aim for the appropriate altitudes at the appropriate fixes.  As we move closer to the ADS-B requirement, I believe we will see more and more of these terminal procedure overhauls, so be prepared and keep those charts and databases up to date.