It’s no news to anyone that general aviation airplane cabins are loud. After all, the engines have minimal mufflers, the thin aluminum skins vibrate like a drum, the exhaust exits ahead of the cabin, the tail cone is shaped like a loudspeaker aimed at the occupants, the windows are thin, the prop tips are moving at a high percentage of Mach and the manufacturer’s sound insulation is minimal.
Whether you use a tablet for navigating, backing up flight instruments or fetching information on the fly, you know there are compromises. The reflective screen on the iPad doesn’t do we’ll in direct sunlight, full-size models are bulky when mounted on the control yoke and resting the device on a leg or kneeboard creates distracting heads-down time.
Perhaps we should just admit resistance is futile. Glass cockpits look cool and make a lot of money for airframe and avionics manufacturers, They’re here to stay. But, with two-hour checkouts now becoming 10-hour events for glass newbies, what can you do to cut down on that $200-an-hour checkout dual so you can actually afford to rent and enjoy a 172 or Archer?
It’s hard to believe that Garmin’s current G3X Touch integrated avionics suite was born from the company’s GPSMAP696 portable GPS. The original G3X utilized the 696 portable GPS control set and display, but was connected to a remote ADAHRS system.
Because of design, certification and insurance costs, the OEM industry is hobbled with a rather arcane system of pricing replacement parts. When it comes to interior plastic parts—like a window molding, hinge cover or a glove box overlay, for example—a couple of dollars’ worth of plastic becomes a $400 part simply because of its unique shape and application.
The most unsung aviation invention of the past 40 years isn’t diesel engines or glass panels, but the lowly headset, without which most of us would be deafer than we already are. And if headsets are to do their stuff, they need to be plugged into effective intercom systems (ICS), a product category that improves with each new iteration.
Garmin’s GDL39 portable ADS-B receiver is just one choice in a crowded market of capable low-cost solutions. In our view, the GDL39 has been shadowed by the competition because it lacked some of the advanced features that buyers might expect from a modern portable ADS-B receiver. For example, while other brands sport full AHRS functionality, the utilitarian GDL39 is stark, by comparison, offering little more than an integral Bluetooth GPS receiver.
Whether a part on your aircraft is damaged or worn, it’s logical to look to the aftermarket for a replacement. While the buying decision might be based on the high price of OEM replacements, there are many benefits to aftermarket replacements. For one, the part could be made from more serviceable material, including fiberglass. This could also yield a weight-saving advantage.
I’m not a cockpit gadget freak. Maybe it was because I spent some time hauling freight and there simply wasn’t time to mess around in the cockpit with stuff. You got in, started up and went. Maybe it was because from the time I started taking dual, I looked at any purchase in how much flying time I was giving up rather than in dollars. Buy a flight bag? Are you nuts? An old briefcase would work fine.
In a world that’s gone wireless-everything, it’s surprising that cockpit audio communication has lagged behind. That’s why the EQ-1 Link wireless ANR headset networkfrom EQ1 Wireless Communications is so intriguing.
The advertising for Xavion’s emergency landing guidance, synthetic vision, navigation, instrument panel backup, ADS-B weather, weight-and-balance calculator, runway takeoff planner and personal currency record app has seemed shrill to us. The claims that it could save your life should the instruments fail or the engine quit as we’ll as help you through a ramp check came across as over the top—so we tested it.
Is my radio transmitter working? At some point, that’s the question nearly every pilot will ponder when they check in on a frequency and get no reply. Most of the time, the radio is functioning properly, but other times it’s a real-world failure.
