Cockpit Accessories

The problem Ive always had with the Hawk glasses is styling-you wont win any modeling contracts with these utilitarian frames. This might not matter for action sports and flying missions, but they don’t exactly complement business attire. The companys new ComfortStyle line changes all that. After a $75 trip to my optometrist for some measurements, I sent the Hawks back to Cedar Park, Texas-based Flying Eyes to be fitted with my prescription. The lenses are made by Shamir Optical Industry and fabricated through Digital Eye Lab. My order was turned in less than one week.

This year at AirVenture, Quiet Technologies caught my attention, so I got a demo of its $359 Halo in-ear model and bought one. Initially, the headset offered a good fit and promised to be quiet. When I started the engine, I immediately noticed low-frequency noise that isn’t present in my Lightspeed. I reserved judgement until two hours in cruise flight at 11,000 feet.

For those who lost track of the OEM avionics market for turboprops and light jets, Garmins G3000 may seem like a new system, but it was actually unveiled at the NBAA convention way back in 2009. The system isn’t limited to Pipers M600. Youll find the G3000 in Dahers TBM930 turboprop single, in Cessna CJ+ series jets and in the Cirrus Vision Jet, currently undergoing certification. There are more applications coming. Textron announced that the G3000 will be in the front office of the Cessna Denali turboprop single.

While researching information on aircraft corrosion and corrosion prevention, I ran across my nomination for understatement of the week in an FAA publication. It said, . . . the amount of maintenance required to repair accumulated corrosion damage and bring the aircraft back up to standard will usually be quite high. No kidding. The reality is staggering-some years ago I was shown the bills paid by an owner for corrosion repair. He had bought a Louisiana-based twin without a prebuy examination. Over the next two years he expended more than hed paid for the airplane to repair damage to the structure and skins from corrosion.

In our world, the editorial year commences in the summer instead of January, and the anticipated editors choice awards focuses deserved attention on the products and companies that really impressed us in our coverage over the year. As we do every July, we take a half step back and tip the hat to a dozen of them on page 12 of this issue. But there was more that caught our attention the past editorial year, some of it unforgettable. If we had a worst news of the year award, there would be takers.

If you were a dedicated Cub aficionado and wanted to build yourself the ultra version of the essential Cub idea, what would you do? Youd start with the basic planform, update it with edge-of-tech materials and build methods-carbon fiber, CNC-cut parts, modern avionics-all buttressed with an aerodynamic makeover to tweak performance. Then youd send the airplane to the place that designs and builds seats for Bentleys and Ferraris and tell them to go wild.

We surveyed six of the more popular internet prep courses to see what was available, how they approached getting a student ready for the instrument written, what they cost and their convenience of use-notably whether they could be used on any internet-connected device or didnt require connectivity while using. We came away feeling all were good-its a competitive market and the high quality of the products reflects it.

My landings are a lot like my golf drives-inconsistent. Thats why I was anxious to check my cockpit seating position with the Eye Aligner, a portable leveling device developed by Florida-based FAA designated examiner Tripp Wacker. After 30 years of administering checkrides, Wacker recognized that landing and airwork performance were proportional to the correct view over the glareshield, but he didnt invent the aligner concept.

Just in time for the fresh flying season, David Clark throws another noise-cancelling headset into the competitive market, the One-X. At first blush, the new model looks a lot like the previously released Pro-X, but it has major design differences that contribute to better performance, while affecting comfort. It also has a higher price. Lets take a look.

FlyQ has been characterized by a design that maximizes screen space for maps, buttons that are large enough to hit on the first try, easily readable fonts, color-coding for alerts that minimize distractions and a touchscreen set up with turbulence in mind. The recently released Version 2.2 provides, among other new features, a three-times faster mapping engine, new base maps and over 4600 Seattle Avionics-devised airport diagrams for airports that do not currently have FAA diagrams.

Adevice called the Eustachi is being marketed to pilots as an alternative to the Valsalva maneuver theyve been using for years. You know the drill-pinch your nose and blow to unclog blocked ears during and after a descent. While that can generally do the trick, Minnesota-based Exercore says its Eustachi product is far more effective.

Electronic pilot logbooks have become ubiquitous in the last few years. Weve been impressed that a lot of skull sweat has gone into making them easy to use as we’ll as a safe place to keep something very important to you-your history as a pilot. We looked at a representative sampling and liked what we saw.