Archive for August, 2008

the future is E-ink

Friday, August 29th, 2008

reader and kindle

Personally I’ve been thinking about E-ink quite a bit as I’m preparing to start training regularly. With the amount of charts and plates you could need on hand when flying, a small cockpit is not the place you want to unfold giant maps or sift through stacks of paper. E-ink readers, while still fairly young in tech, are at what I consider to be THE future of printed media. I don’t own one myself, but more and more I’m seeing trends that I like.

Looks like someone else likes the trend too.

If the Sony Readers and Amazon Kindles of the world start doing their thing in color (they are all still B&W), I envision a whole generation of pilots whipping out a book shaped gizmo, flicking it on, and having access to thousands of maps, airport diagrams, approach plates, checklists, and more. But wait, Fujitsu is saying they’ll release a color E-ink reader in the fall…

There would be no need to unfold anything, and with the multi-touch gesture technology found on devices like the iPhone, you could have a dizzying array of scalable mapping, plotting, highlighting, and tracking systems at your fingertips.

I wonder if Garmin will get on the E-ink bandwagon with some sort of GPS enabled ebook…

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in the favor of mother nature

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

Mother nature likes me. Here’s Midway’s METAR just a few hours before I head over:

KMDW: 651Z 35005KT 10SM FEW041 SCT060 28/18 A3010

Winds out of the North at 5kts, visibility 10 miles, a few clouds at 4,100 and scattered at 6,000. Just South of us in Lansing, IL the sky is clear and the winds are reporting calm.

KIGQ: 645Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 27/19 A3010

Here’s hoping it stays the same.

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FIC001 - Hi, I’m Peter

Monday, August 18th, 2008

This is my very first podcast here on Flying in Chicago. Just an intro to me and the goals of the show. Stay tuned for more!

 
 Standard Podcast [12:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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an ounce of prevention

Monday, August 18th, 2008

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

ReliefBand

I’m not the kind of guy who regularly gets motion sick. It has happened in the past, but I have a pretty cast iron stomach. Honestly though, I’m taking no chances. I hopped over to ebay and scored a ReliefBand just in case my stomach decides to go a little wonky during my flight tomorrow.

The ReliefBand comes, as shown above, with a tube of conductivity gel and a booklet explaining how to use it. Basically you grease the inside of your wrist up, then turn it on and lay the two electrodes over the tendons in your wrist. I set it at level 3 and could feel the buzz in my wrist and palm. It cycles on and off in 4 second pulses and isn’t unpleasant at all. Even on the highest setting, I’m certain I’d forget about the sensation pretty quickly.

I’m hoping I don’t need to use it tomorrow. But if I do, at least I’ll have it along for the ride.

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a quarter inch to recording

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

TRS connector

With my first flight just around the corner, I’m determined to record as much audio in the cockpit as possible. I’ve pretty much figured out that there are 1/4 inch TRS jacks for the headphone input, so I’m fairly sure I can either split my jack and feed half to my iRiver, or if the plane is a 4 seater I can tap an empty jack for the audio.

I have an iRiver IFP-899, my mainstay for remotely capturing audio and it’s a dream. It’s tiny, runs off a single AA battery (I use Eveready rechargeables) and can store hours of quality audio. I used it when I worked briefly as a stringer for Sirius and have done countless interviews and ambient recordings with it. The gadget is a workhorse and can usually be found for less than $100 on eBay. It doesn’t have the bells and whistles of many other recorders, but combined with a delta mic from Reactive Sounds, or the Sennheiser wireless setup I own, I’ve gotten broadcast quality audio when necessary and brought it down to podcasting quality without a problem.

Oh. Did I say podcast?

Yep, I did. After becoming absolutely hooked on Bill’s Student Pilotcast, I’ve decided that podcasting my learning experience is something I want to do. I fully believe that recording the cockpit audio will be a useful tool to review each lesson, not only for me, but for anyone just starting out.

It also will be a good way for me to dedicate the time to review my lessons, edit them down, and prepare shows on a regular basis. I used to work as a paid podcaster for Windy City Media Group and the regularity of audio production kept my audio skills current. I’m a bit rusty these days because all I’ve done, outside of a few shows on radiopeter.com, is edit the occasional track or two for my dancer/designer/actor friends. The work will keep me sharp.

So yes. I need to get an intro episode together and get myself in iTunes.

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first intro flight booked

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

DA40
a DA-40 from Wikimedia

I’ve setup my first intro flight with Midway Aviators for this coming Tuesday August 19th at 5:00pm. I chose their second package, longer than the first with a bit more sightseeing and time in the plane. I’ll be in a Diamond Star DA-40. They show two models on their site, one with a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, one with the “standard six”, but I’m not sure which I’ll be in.

Whichever it is, I’m hoping mother nature looks on me favorably that evening.

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umm…this isn’t a first

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

As usual, Old Media is picking up news stories from the Airventure show in Oshkosh, WI that they think are a scoop. I’ve got to tell you folks, it ain’t news if it’s been done before.

Martin

The so-called ‘Martin Jet-Pack’ that’s been a-buzz in the major news outlets isn’t a new idea (as many have claimed), nor is it the first time such an ultralight has been built, tested, and actually run (as many have also claimed).

SoloTrek

A company named Millennium Jet created their SoloTrek XFV (eXo-skeletal Flying Vehicle) and managed to get one flying in the earlier part of this decade. They look like they are closely related. Except eight years ago SoloTrek made it happen, and their flight didn’t have two burly men holding the device stable. It hovered on it’s own with a limp tethering cord. Unfortunately, during one of the subsequent XFV flights, one of the tethering cables didn’t retract and got sucked into the ducted fans, destroying the fans and ultimately financially destroying the project.

I’d been following this flying machine story for years, and have kept tabs on Trek Aerospeace for quite some time. Their ‘Springtail’ is the derivation of the SoloTrek XFV work. Their site extensively lists specs and says they are waiting for funding.

Springtail

I only mention this story to point out how Old Media (i.e. the major news outlets) constantly gets aviation stories wrong. They exaggerate crashes, foul up the news on breakthroughs, and when it comes to tech gadgets, spin the stories so hard that if you’re not careful, you could end up dizzy after reading them.

I do wish Martin and Trek Aerospace a lot of luck bringing their project to fruition. Do not think I’m trying to lessen the time, sweat, and energy that they’ve put into their project. But let the record show that this has been done before, and Martin isn’t the first. I’m not even sure Millenium Jet was the first, but leave it to Old Media to spin spin spin as they are so apt to do.

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