Exploring

The first diesel-powered LSA debuts from IndUS Aviation, Stafford Manufacturing offers a variety of mounting collars, and AirGator improves its handheld electronic flight book (EFB).

Were all used to the standard red canister fire extinguisher, often encased behind glass, that we've grown up with at school, work and at home. But the need to put out flames in racecars has brought about a new generation of extinguishers, suitable for aircraft, which offers effective protection in a small and attractive package.

Columnist Dan Checkoway appreciates the flexibility of owning a homebuilt rather than a certified aircraft. On a recent condition inspection of his RV-7, he detected small cracks in the front spar of the horizontal stabilizer. A week later he was working on replacing it, without any intervention from the FAA.

Dave Martin introduces us to the Gobosh factory-built Light Sport Aircraft (SLSA) from Poland. Positioned at the luxury end of the LSA spectrum, there are two models: the all-metal G700S and the composite G800 XP, each of which includes standard six-pack instrumentation and leather seats.

Have you checked your fuel system for leaks lately? Turns out there's a good reason to periodically conduct a thorough investigation. Incipient leaks may go undetected. Worse, when the O-ring on the fuel-selector valve goes bad, it could allow air into the system, which means your engine could misbehave at a most inconvenient time. Often, this malady is difficult to diagnose and the assumption is that the fuel selector is OK when it is not.

The new Lancair Evolution flies, and the Aircraft Electronics Association speaks out on ADS-B implementation. The Arlington Fly-In and EAA sign new agreement, and Garmin introduces the GPSMAP 495. Aircrafters LLC is the distributor for a new overhead lighting console.

You've invested thousands of hours building your airplane, and now its time to pick a paint design that will show off all that hard work to best effect. But how do you go about selecting one of innumerable designs? Susan Brunner offers some tips on not only how to narrow the field, but also how to make sure you get the paint job you envisioned.

When it came to choosing a kit aircraft to build, columnist Amy Laboda and her husband opted for a metal design, in part because it would be resistant to destruction by lightning strike and also because fatigue is easier to detect in metal than it is in a composite plane. However, new nanotube technology, if integrated into composite construction material, could not only help identify wear problems, but also potentially heal them.

Heres one instance where the sound of silence (as in no engine noise) wont signal the need to start scoping out a place to set down. The Urban Air motorglider offers a compromise that makes the best of both worlds: fuel-efficient powered cruising and exciting powered-off soaring.

Editor in Chief Marc Cook was skeptical early on about using the Primary Category to address the problem of over-reliance on commercial builder assistance. But further consideration made him think it may have a role to play in the FAAs revised guidance.