A new free app from King Schools makes it easy for users to transfer their content to a variety of electronic devices, John King told AVweb in an interview at AOPA Summit in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday. "You can now be in an airliner and put on your earphones and take a course on your iPad or other device, and you don't have to be connected to the Internet," John King said. Martha King said the school also has created a new flight instructor refresher course especially for helicopter instructors that is ready to go, but it awaits official approval from a now shut-down FAA office. Read More

In a conversation with AVweb's Mary Grady at AOPA Summit this week, John and Martha King of King Schools said they want to encourage all pilots to be mentors to other pilots who are less experienced than themselves. They also talked about a new app that makes it easy to take their computer-based courses on the road with you, and they offered some insight into their approach to flight instructor refresher training. Read More

CSC Duats, which provides free FAA weather, flight planning, and flight-plan filing at its website, is now working to bring free Duats weather services into the cockpit, program manager Leon Thomas said at AOPA Summit on Friday. The company is working with a satellite provider to develop a system that will deliver full current weather at no charge, although users may need to purchase hardware to access the system, and will have to pay for the satellite link. "We'll be able to pump everything up to the cockpit," Thomas said. Launch of the product is 12 to 18 months away, he said. He also said CSC Duats has recently launched a Tripkit function, which makes it easier for pilots to organize their data. Read More

If you’re interested in comparing the top performing noise-cancelling headsets, AOPA Summit is the place to be. A mysterious booth called Giant of Quiet offers all of the major brands for a trial against a noise generator and you can compare five of the top models from Lightspeed, Sennheiser, Bose and David Clark. If you buy a headset--any brand--you'll get a $25 coupon. Read More

At AOPA Summit, you can try all of the major ANR headsets in a single booth and fill out a survey form to quantify exactly what you think of each one. If you buy any of the headsets from any manufacturer, Giant of Quiet will give you a $25 coupon toward the purchase. We'll play the game here and refrain from identifying which company is sponsoring the mystery headset challenge. Read More

The cost of fuel is a constant concern for pilots, and Jack Pelton told AVweb's Paul Bertorelli at AOPA Summit this week that EAA will do what it can to help control those costs and keep airplanes flying. Pelton also discussed EAA's conflict with FAA over paying for controller staff at AirVenture. Read More

When leaders of the Recreational Aviation Foundation work to protect access to backcountry airstrips, one objection they often hear from park officials is that the noise disturbs wildlife, says RAF executive director John McKenna -- a claim he hopes to dispute, thanks to a $10,000 research grant from AOPA's new "Giving Back" grant program. "We don't know for sure if the noise disturbs the animals or if it doesn't," he said. "But with this study, we'll be able to get some data." The RAF grant application was written by four Ph.Ds from various universities, said McKenna, who have volunteered to do the study and plan to submit their research to a peer-reviewed publication to provide scholarly credibility to their results. Read More

Cirrus has created a new program to help train pilots about using the parachute on their aircraft, company spokesman Todd Simmons said at AOPA Summit this week. Read More

Mark Scheuer, the founder of PS Engineering, came to AOPA Summit this week to announce a special offer for pilots who are now flying with Garmin's GMA340 -- ask your avionics shop to swap in a PMA8000B audio panel for a free trial, and fly with it for up to two weeks. "Really, you're going to know after that first flight, if this is what you want," said Scheuer. But if you want to keep it for a week or two, that's fine, he said. Among its other features, the panel enables pilots to monitor radio calls while passengers hear only music. "We also have tweaked it so the pilot can hear music too, but any communications from the radio will cut in," Scheuer said. The offer covers installation and labor costs, so there is no risk for the pilot. Read More

SocialFlight, a free app and web tool that helps aviators find local aviation events, now will be listing online events such as interactive seminars or webcams at air shows, company president Jeff Simon said Friday, at AOPA Summit in Fort Worth, Texas. "Now anyone can host an event," said Simon. "That's the key." A variety of widely available web tools make it easy to produce and host events online, and SocialFlight's "active and vibrant community" provides a ready audience, unrestricted by geography, Simon said. The new feature will launch with two events hosted by Spencer Aircraft, in Puyallup, Wash. -- a live interactive demo about how to cover a fabric airplane, and a live seminar about mountain flying in the Northwest. Times and dates are still being finalized, but will be announced soon, Simon said. Read More

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