The Economist , a widely read financial magazine, recently published an outstanding detailed article highlighting, from an economic standpoint, the future of Avgas in general aviation. The bottom line is Avgas has a gun to its head.

Fabric airplanes have a special place in most pilot's heart, even if it might make their mechanic nervous... You see there is something special about a type of construction that hearkens back to good ole Orville and Wilbur. That being said there is a certain mystery surrounding the whole process. Chemicals, special fabrics and to top it all off you've got to learn how to sew? My only experience with this process occurred when I was about 12 in one of the forum tents at EAA's Oshkosh airshow (now Airventure, but it was Oshkosh then...). I took a wing section and managed to add fabric and what seemed to be about 20lbs worth of chemicals rendering what could only be described as a wing only a home-builder could love... It's a few more years down the road and I'm happy to say that the folks at Wicks Aircraft Supply have created a kit for those looking to humiliate themselves in the privacy of their own home.

Power Flow Systems, manufacturers of the popular bolt on tuned exhaust kits, is offering a $400 rebate from now until March on their goodies. They offer mods for 12 different aircraft including Jason's favorite, the trusty C-170. I've flown a both a C-172 and a Super Cub equipped with the power flow systems and was very impressed. The additional power is certainly noticeable and the specs even boast as much as a 7 knot gain in performance.

The 4-place piston market is seeing some innovation and technological advances. However, many of them rely on engine technology that doesn't seem to have much room for growth and a few of them are incredibly expensive. A couple of South African companies have come up with a home-grown 4-place piston plane that could potentially make a big break into the piston market around the world. The aircraft is the SA Ravin 500 and the motor is the Adept Airmotive 320T.

Diamond Aircraft as a solid line of aircraft and a history of coming up with some interesting deals. This year, they have a new offer out for an unspecified "limited time." They'll match a down payment on a DA-20, DA-40 or DA-42 up to 10% the price of the aircraft and throw in Garmin Synthetic Vision for free.

This is a pretty impressive deal, especially in a down economy. When you combine the value of the avionics upgrade, a 10% discount and bonus depreciation on a new plane, there probably hasn't been a better time to buy a Diamond Aircraft.

I just got a press release from Teledyne Continental Motors giving us a heads up that they're offering a discount on many of their engines through the completion of the AOPA Summit. If you take advantage of their offer you can save upwards of $2,500 on some of the most popular engines in TCM's lineup. The offer even includes a $2,000 savings on the venerable O-200, while not the lightweight version, this little engine has made it's was into quite a few light sport aircraft.

Or else the local bear is going to smell that fish you forgot to clean out of the cargo compartment in your Super Cub and poke a couple of holes in your plane while trying to find it. I picked these pictures up from a couple of our avid readers and couldn't help but show them off. The damage is extensive, but doesn't seem structural. I must say though, popping the tires was just downright mean.

Who doesn’t like free stuff, especially free stuff that we would normally pay good money for. Even better, stuff for free that we would normally pay good money for that we can use for flying! John Baute got tired of two things, carrying around a suitcase full of paper IFR charts and approach plates, and paying for printed charts and plates (every couple of months when they expire) when the information is free from the FAA. To solve both problems, John started pdfplates.com.