Accessories

Even in this age of cockpit electronica, there’s often a need to jot something down, hold open a chart or approach plate, or stow your checklist. Enter the kneeboard, and the reviewers dilemma. Kneeboard needs and preferences vary not only person-to-person, but even aircraft-to-aircraft. So heres the best in class as we see it from several perspectives. The core function of a kneeboard is to write stuff down. With strictly that goal in mind, we liked the Classic VFR and Classic IFR kneeboards from Sportys. The only difference between the IFR and VFR models is the “useful” data printed on the metal board itself. Beyond reminding you what the light-gun signals are if you go lost comm, we don’t think that information matters much. Other than that, the two boards are the same.

We get a steady stream of requests for reviews of electronic flight bags (EFBs). In theory, they make sense: all your charts and approach plates in one place and geo-referenced so you can see your exact position, up-to-date airport information at your fingertips and a pre-flight planning tool that becomes the in-flight resource without reentering information. In practice, were in a Dickensian “best of times, worst of times” state where the technology is marginally up to the task and no one has quite nailed the software. All three of the solutions we tested for this article get the job done-approach charts, sectionals, airport information, XM weather, a moving map GPS-its all there. All have touch-sensitive screens (that work with gloves on). All are available as ready-to-fly solutions and meet the FAAs requirements as Class 1 or 2 EFBs.

Call us overly picky, but we have yet to find a digital approach-plate solution we can completely endorse. Perhaps the problem is that they have yet to surpass the bar. That is, theyre almost as good as paper when what we really want is something better than paper. In fairness, the e-reader solutions for approach plates are superior in three critical ways: You can carry plates for the entire country without risking a hernia, updates are a breeze (so long as youve got some free time and a good internet connection) and there’s no wasted paper. The readers all support PDF documents, so you can also load useful items like your aircraft handbook or maintenance manual if there’s space to do so.

The term “product support” means different things to different people. For example, someone in the market to buy a new aircraft may worry about whether the local FBO has personnel trained to maintain it. Meanwhile, a renter pilot buying a new headset wonders what will happen if an earcup cracks five years from now. Both pilots may also be in the market for a handheld GPS: Will database updates for it still be available in a few years? Perhaps because of the relatively high prices we pay for these and other products, there’s often the expectation of manufacturers supporting them forever. And Jeppesen should continue offering custom database updates long after the memory space required outstrips that available in the hardware. Good luck with both. So, how long can we expect to receive a manufacturers support for their products? What factors into a manufacturers decision to discontinue support of a product? Are our expectations unrealistic? If so, why?

We can imagine only three reactions to the phrase, “there’s an app for that.” One, utter puzzlement because youre clueless about apps, two, you recoil in disgust against the overblown preciousness of Apples iPhone or, last, “yeah, Ive seen it.” Apps are, of course, modest little single-purpose programs that run on Apples iPhone smart phone or iPod Touch MP3 players. At last count, there were more 140,000 apps and at least 195 of them are aviation applications of some kind. In this report, we’ll take a minimal survey of a handful of these but, more to the point, we’ll examine the basic Zen of apps. Are they just gimmicks or are they really useful? (Its a little of each, in our view.) Worth noting is that other smart phones like the Android-based products and the Blackberries also have aviation apps. we’ll get to those later.

Portable GPS devices are arguably the most useful cockpit tool since the invention of the E6B. Or aeronautical charts. So it was no surprise when our reader survey on portable GPS generated we’ll over 1000 responses. There were comments from pilots still flying trusty, monochrome Magellans to ones using the newest Garmin aera. We saw dozens of poetic waxings about most every major supplier and surprisingly few complaints. That said, no company or product escaped with no complaints and we saw some direct conflicts: Pilot A had such a dismal time with Anywhere Map that he went to Garmin and is much happier, while Pilot B finally got so sick of Garmin troubles he bought an ATC and now flies in a state of bliss. To each his own.

It was close to midnight and after a long day of flying we were cooked. A couple miles out something just didnt look right. If not for the landing light reflecting off the trees, we might not be here to review cockpit lighting upgrades. The instrument-panel lighting in that 70s-vintage Arrow was so poor we cranked in the wrong altimeter setting-misreading a two for a three in the Kollsman window. There’s no reason to live with (or risk death due to) substandard cockpit lighting. Panel upgrades require skill and a decent budget. The good news is there are several options to light up your night.

Its refreshing to review a product that makes a modest claim on what it can do and then delivers completely. Thats exactly what happened with our flight tests of the Pilot Communications USA BluLink Bluetooth headset adapter. BluLink adds Bluetooth connectivity to any headset. You simply plug your headset into the BluLink unit and then plug that unit into the intercom. It can be ordered with cables for traditional two-plug intercoms, helicopter plugs or Lemo-powered plugs used in many Bose X headsets. If you fly more than one setup, the same BluLink controller can use any of the cables interchangeably. The cabling for BluLink is the most cumbersome part of the whole setup as it makes your headset cords even longer. This annoyance is about our only beef with the system.

Most airplane seats are poor places to park your keister for a few hours. After a decade or so of the temperature extremes found on the typical airport ramp, their foam deteriorates, eliminating any resilience in the cushions and creating a permanent sag. The vinyl and fabric-or, if youre lucky, leather-has long since started to rip apart at the seams, snagging shirts and trousers as you shift and squirm. A good interior shop can fix this for a grand per seat, but there are less-expensive options, including ready-made upholstery you install yourself. One often-overlooked option is to do nothing at all with the seat itself but simply hide the ugliness and discomfort with a custom-fit cover. A wide variety of materials are available-especially if you don’t mind installing something from the automotive market. One of the more popular options is the made-to-fit sheepskin seat cover. Installing one automagically resolves several issues, among them eliminating the hot/cold seat, sticky vinyl and unsightly, worn and torn upholstery. They trap air between you and the seat itself, so theyre cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, plus they wick away moisture, like the sweat from your next flight review.

Once upon a time in a galaxy not far away and not that long ago, there was no such thing as an EFIS. The aviation world was guided by spinning iron gyros on jeweled bearings. Then, overnight it seems, you could practically buy one of these things in the electronic department at Walmart. Okay, so thats an absurd exaggeration, but there are still a bunch of aftermarket EFIS choices out there and Aspen, Garmin, Avidyne and, soon, Bendix/King continue to offer more. Most recent is an expansion of the Aspen line with new approvals for the EFD500 and EFD1000 in the multifunction role. As weve reported previously, Aspen has essentially invented its own niche market by engineering a compact, easy-to-install PFD that fits electronic gyros into the space normally occupied by the AI and DG/HSI. Even in an anemic market, Aspen has enjoyed brisk sales, evidently because the installation does less violence to the basic panel and because the price is right.

Ever wonder where can you could get a lightweight in-the-ear headset made with the utmost attention to fidelity, designed for serious audiophiles who happen to be pilots? Someone, it turns out, has actually thought of this. In 1995, Jerry Harvey created a high-fidelity in-the-ear earphone and started a company called Ultimate Ears. These appealed to performing musicians who liked their in-ear monitors, but it quickly spread to include more casual users. Harvey left Ultimate Ears in 2007 and started JH Audio to build the Aerous-no-nonsense audiophile earphones with a mic-designed for pilots.

I read with great interest the EFIS article in your September edition. I did not participate in your survey, but feel compelled to comment on my G1000-equipped Diamond DA40. I obtained my private certificate on steam gauges and then purchased my Diamond DA40. After two incidents where I am convinced that my glass cockpit saved my bacon (and that of my CFI), I would never fly steam gauges again. In October of 2007 on approach, while working on my instrument rating, I was descending through 1200 feet on long final at the POH-specified air- speed of 70 knots. ATIS information informed me that surface winds were 7 knots from 250 degrees. I scanned my MFD and thanks to the winds aloft vector on the G1000, I observed that the winds aloft were 37 knots from 040 degrees. I mentioned to my CFI that there would be one heck of a windshear on approach.