Overwhelmed by the selection of pilot and aviation supplies on the market? Trust the reviews below for to find the best general aviation products on the market.
It’s hard to believe that the iPad was introduced just in 2010. With an estimated 60 million iPads sold since Apple introduced it two years ago, no other device in history has influenced our world the way this clean little tablet computer has.
It’s ironic that even in a multimillion-dollar aircraft, the ultimate cockpit situational awareness comes through a pair of headsets that can be anything from an $80 pair of eBay budget buys to $1,100 ANR big-namers.
Once upon a time in aviation, studying for the written and practical exams was anything but easy or convenient. Most likely, you’d sign up for ground school
Not long ago, handheld devices for in-cockpit use broke down into neat categories: GPS moving-map units kept pilots from getting lost.
On a recent cross-country on a busy day in the skies above California, I got a firsthand look into the importance of a good headset, and how a headset that’s good in one airplane might be completely wrong in another.
Ah, the flight bag. What, in the air-mail days, was a lowly canvas sack into which was stuffed a bedraggled map, a candy bar and a dime for a phone call if the weather got bad has become a cockpit staple.
Get a bunch of pilots together, and the talk will eventually turn to gear. Aviators tend to be folks who embrace technology, or at least the technology that centers on aviation.
We familiarly call them “George” or “Otto.” But Avidyne’s DFC90 autopilot makes a strong case for being called “Doctor” George or “Professor” Otto.
A 2008 study by hearing expert Sergei Kochkin found that 35 million Americans have permanent hearing impairment.
The heart and soul of civilization, if you buy the exhaustively researched conclusions in Matt Ridley’s top-selling book The Rational Optimist, has been trade between the world’s people, from the very beginnings of humankind’s first yearning to explore and occupy the far horizons of planet Earth.
Since 1930, the standard paper navigation chart for VFR pilots has been the venerable sectional, originally produced by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, whose aviation department has since become the FAA’s National Aeronautical Chart Office (NACO). NACO sectional charts are widely available, and provide key data on terrain, airspace, navigational aids, etc. We all learn to use them in primary flight training.
The iPad is slick, dazzling and infinitely upgradeable, with over 100,000 applications in Apple’s App Store.
Year in, year out, up economy or down economy, enterprising aviation entrepreneurs always find new and exciting ways to get our juices flowing and our checking accounts draining.
So much has changed in aviation in the last 15 years. Never mind the fact that LSA and the sport pilot category have instigated innovation rivaled only by the “golden age” of aviation in the ’40s.
Once upon a time, intrepid pilots rapped with their oil-stained, gloved knuckles on balky steam gauges; needles quivered unstuck, and all was right across the skies.
Like many pilots, I carry a little insurance against the possibility of an alternator failure. I have a portable GPS on my Skylane’s yoke, a handheld VHF NAV/COM in a seat-back pocket and a cell phone where I can reach it.
If you took one look at my airport car, you’d probably conclude that I’m not the most organized person in the world.
The world of panel-mount avionics has changed almost beyond recognition in the past 10 years, with glass panels and digital displays rapidly taking over from the “steam gauges” of the 20th century.