PlaneTalk

Chat with Mark Scheuer in the PS Engineering booth at AirVenture. Mark talks about the new aviation audio technology and the collaboration with an avionics transceiver manufacturer.

Conversation with Teresa De Mers of Lightspeed Aviation at AirVenture

Phillips 66 Aerostars

Interview with the Phillips 66 Aerostar formation aerobatics team at AirVenture. https://www.phillips66lubricants.com/aerostars

Interview with Tyson Weihs, Co-Founder and CEO ForeFlight

One on one interview with Tyson Weihs, Co-Founder and CEO ForeFlight at AirVenture 2019. Interesting conversation about aviation technology and how ForeFlight has changed the way pilot’s fly.

Like our health, we sometimes take our vision for granted.  Like breathing, it is something we do without thinking about it.  Bird strikes, sunlight and laser strikes all can affect vision, impacting your freedom to fly.  The selection of protective eye ware starts with fashion, fit of the frame, lens quality and coatings.  

Digital Flight Bags

An organized cockpit improves flight safety. The past decade has seen the amount of technology in our flight bags change.  Gone are the days of paper charts, pencils, rulers and mechanical E6Bs.  Today’s average pilot’s flight bag contains many electronic devices and other pilot supplies.  Personally, I believe that flight bags are just like computer hard drives, the bigger the flight bag, the more stuff is in it.

SUNnFUN 2019 featured the Phillips 66 Aerostars aerobatic team, compromised of four professional aerobatic pilots, Harvey “BOSS” Meek, Paul “ROCKET” Hornick, David “CUPID” Monroe and Gerry “FOSSIL” Molidor.  The four pilots, led by BOSS have combined more than 60,000 flight hours and over 400 airshows under their wings. At SUNnFUN 2019, I had the opportunity to fly front seat with ROCKET.  ROCKET has over 10,000 hours flying with the airlines, instructing aerobatics, flying corporate jets and roughly 2,000 hours flying airshows. 

Folding Electric Bikes

Unlike FBOs in the United States, where crew cars are plentiful, many Canadian airports rely on taxis and Uber to get you into town for that $100 hamburger.  Folding bicycles have been around for decades.  My first folding bike was made by Fuji, weights 45 pounds, with full size 26 inch tires. It fits easily into the trunk of a car, but required some serious effort to get it into the back of a Cessna 182. Polymer Lithium Ion battery technology has changed the off-airport transportation capabilities.  The evolution has seen small folding bikes, designed with small wheels and electric assisted pedal bikes to all electric bikes.  With technology concepts taken from the automotive industry, lightweight all electric bikes are able to perform with surprising speed and agility. 

In Canada, there are roughly 65,000 licensed pilots and 36,000 aircraft, 28,000 of which were built before January 2000. Many pilot owners are wondering how to upgrade their aircraft without investing a disproportionate amount of money versus its value.  Upgrades fall into four categories: safety/reliability; performance; compliance; and wiz bang.  Or Airframe, Power Plant and Avionics.  John Leggat, President of Leggat Aviation (www.LeggatAviation.com) reports “aircraft owners are investing into their older aircraft not only for safety and avionics upgrades but also driven by a sense of pride in ownership.”