Marc Cook
Marc Cook is a veteran special-interest journalist who started as a staffer at AOPA Pilot in the late 1980s. Marc has built two airplanes, an Aero Designs Pulsar XP and a Glasair Aviation Sportsman, and now owns a 180-hp, steam-gauge-adjacent GlaStar based in western Oregon. Marc has 5000 hours spread over 200-plus types and four decades of flying.
Garmin Introduces G3X, G500, Updates Other Glass
For homebuilders, the G3X is the big news. Based on the GDU 370/375 panel-mount MFDs, the G3X is a modular EFIS/engine monitor. The system starts with a 7-inch-diagonal portrait display that can be scaled up to work with two or three screens and a variety of plug-ins.
25th Anniversary: Power Shift
From scrounging engines to building Experimental powerplants: Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook looks at the last 25 years in engine choices for homebuilders.
Product Review: Garmin eLearning for the GPSMAP 696
Marc Cook tries out Garmins eLearning program for the GPSMAP 695/696.
Love the One You’re With
Once you finish building a project, it's tempting to second-guess whether you should have done something different, or perhaps waited for the next gen of a new technology to make an appearance. But flying two differently powered Sportsman aircraft gave Editor in Chief Marc Cook a new appreciation for his own airplane and its more than adequate capabilities.
Flight Review: Power Promises
Marc Cook flies two GlaStar Sportsman 2+2s with two different engines, and a winner emerges. More power!
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook takes note of the good, bad and the uncapitalized in public reactions to a recent aircraft accident. He encourages knowledgeable pilots, builders and enthusiasts to counter the public rantings of armchair crackpots with kindness and courage. Also, a tip of the buttonless cap to Omar Filipovic, KITPLANES.coms new webmaster, for his savvy work to create a more lively and flexible web site.
Kitfox Super Sport Series 7
Marc Cook flies the capable ready-to-fly Kitfox Super Sport Series 7 SLSA, and spotlights owners John and Debra McBean’s deft handling of the company in a crowded market and rocky economy.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook takes a moment to put lifes challenges in perspective as Senior Editor Bob Fritz enters the fight of his life with his characteristic positive attitude.
Product Review: Wicks Adel Clamp Pliers
No hangar assistants or third hand to wrangle those tricky wiring or tubing installations using Adel clamps? Wicks has come up with the perfect kit to help. By Marc Cook.
JPI Announces New “Flat-Panel” Engine Monitor
JP Instruments has just introduced the new EDM-730/830 engine monitor, which can be bought as an LCD screen upgrade for an existing 700/800 series...
In Case You Missed It
An Immigrant’s Journey
Enchanted with the idea of building his own amphibian, Larry Woods came across a Ukrainian design, the Aeroprakt A-24, which seemed to fit the bill. After much research, he got a hold of a kit, built it, and then liked it so much that he became the Canadian distributor.
Wind Tunnel
In order to bank the airplane and execute a turn properly, adverse yaw must be countered or eliminate altogether. The discussion of how to do this includes rudder control, aileron-rudder interconnects, directional stability, differential ailerons, aileron drag and the use of spoilers;
Viewfinder
By getting an up-close look at the Sandberg reporting station in Southern California, Editor-at-Large Marc Cook finds out why the weather there is almost always worse than it is anywhere else in the L.A. basin.