December 14, 2012

By The AVweb Editorial Staff

Flying IFR? ForeFlight Mobile Pro Is for You ForeFlight Mobile Pro for iPad is a must-have service for instrument-rated pilots flying in IMC. The instrument procedures organizer, the instrument procedure search, and the enhanced situational awareness provided by ForeFlight's best-in-class TrueTaxi and TruePlates geo-referenced airport diagrams and approach charts make each IFR flight a joy. Visit ForeFlight.com to learn more and upgrade. A Future of Fewer Pilots, Part I back to top  The Unstable Training Environment and The Coming Pilot Shortage Congress has mandated a 1,500 hour minimum flight time requirement for scheduled air carriers next summer, and unless FAA regulations come along to supersede it the "impending pilot shortage" that even the general media  has latched on to could become a reality sooner than later. When regulation outpaces thinking, and policy is made without concern for data, supply and demand often get thrown out of whack. In this case, it's reasonable to assume that if this 1,500 hour rule is fully implemented, it will cost prospective pilots far more money and time to become professional airline pilots. And fewer and fewer pilots will enter the pipeline as many sensibly opt out of the arduous quest to reach the arbitrary 1,500 hour mark. The pilot pipeline is precarious enough, right now. Lengthening it makes a continuos and positive flow of well-trained professional pilots that much less likely. We need to make a change. Click here to read the full article. Bose® A20® Aviation Headset The Best We've Ever Made Bose was the first to introduce active noise reducing headsets to aviation more than 20 years ago, forever changing the way pilots fly. Today, we continue to set the standard with the Bose A20 Aviation Headset. The headset provides acclaimed noise reduction, with a comfortable fit and the clear audio you expect from Bose. It also features Bluetooth® connectivity, an auxiliary audio input and priority switching. Learn more. A Future of Fewer Pilots, Part II back to top  Podcast: The Aviation Talent Pool File Size 7.1 MB / Running Time 7:42 Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS At the NBAA Convention a couple of months ago, aviation recruiter Sheryl Barden led a panel discussion about the expected shortage of pilots and mechanics in the near future and what that means for business aviation and for safety. Recently, she posted the transcript of that discussion online, and a white-paper report is expected soon. She spoke with AVweb's Mary Grady about these issues. This podcast is brought to you by Bose Corporation. Click here to listen. (7.1 MB, 7:42) Introducing: Headset-Friendly Sunglasses Flying is better when your noise-canceling headsets perform at their best — and when you don't have an aching head from uncomfortable sunglasses. So we bring you a completely unique pair of sunglasses designed by a pilot specifically for this purpose: to be the best, most comfortable sunglasses to wear with a headset. Flying Eyes: Watch the video review and take advantage of our special introductory price. A Future of Fewer Pilots, Part III back to top  GA Fly-by-Wire: Diamond Says Three Years Fly-by-wire control system are standard issue in military aircraft -- including drones -- and in major new transport aircraft. Within three years, Diamond says it hopes to offer such systems for light aircraft and it's further along the developmental road than we imagined. When we visited Diamond Aircraft's skunkworks in Austria earlier this year, the company showed us a crude fly-by-wire developmental project that, eight months later, has flown some 50 hours and will soon be ready to enter its second developmental phase, according to Diamond CEO Christian Dries. The system is installed in a DA42 testbed and Dries says if it can overcome certification hurdles—no small feat, to be sure—it could be certified and available as an option as early as 2015. But why would you want such a thing? Click here to read the full article and find out. Introducing Bad Elf GPS Pro! Bad Elf introduces the GPS Pro, the most feature-rich Bluetooth GPS for aviation. This new, made-for-iPad GPS delivers high performance and reliable operation with Bluetooth connectivity. Travel all day with 16 hours of battery! Share your GPS with up to five iPads! Datalog your trip, map it, tag it, and share it! Stop guessing about your GPS status with the big LCD display! Click here for more information. From the Pages of Aviation Consumer Magazine back to top  Lithium Ion for Aviation It holds promise for higher capacity batteries, but also risks for fires and explosions. Owners should tread cautiously. For the great wide world of transportation, the lithium-ion battery is the shining city on the hill, that pivotal bit of technology that will have us whizzing around in silent cars banishing the evils of carbon dioxide. For aviation, lithium-ion is both an enigma and an opportunity. To understand both, you need only to grasp three numbers: 50, 150 and 1700. The opportunity part resides in the first two numbers -- a lead-acid battery's energy density is about 50 Wh/kg, a third or less than that of the typical lithium-ion's 150 Wh/kg. Now for the enigma. The 1700 is the Wh/kg energy content of gasoline, adjusted for the typical internal combustion engine's 20 percent efficiency. The very best lithium-ion batteries can do at the moment is 400 Wh/kg and these don't exist commercially yet. That means the practical electric airplane may be on the horizon, but it's not around the corner. Click here to read the full article. You Refurbish It, We Show It Off back to top  Refurb of the Month: Lyle Holbo's 180C Cherokee click for photos Fresh off the factory floor, a modest airplane like a Piper Archer may be better built, but its basic performance has been baked into the airframe for years. That's why a project like Lyle Holbo's 1965 Cherokee 180C, our refurbed airplane of the month, will keep pace with an airplane 40 years newer. Holbo bought the airplane in 2007, already recently repainted and equipped with a Garmin GNS430. He replaced that mapcomm with the WAAS version and rebuilt the airplane's Century II autopilot, adding an S-TEC pitch stabilization system to improve the autopilot's capability. Last year, he opened up the panel and put in a two-screen Aspen EFD 1000 system with an external backup battery, plus an Avidyne TAS 600 system. He replaced the old Piper gauge cluster with a JPI EDM-930. Final touches include BAS shoulder harnesses for the front seats and Rosen visors in place of the original Piper sun visors. We know what you're thinking: Isn't this, er, a bit much for a modest Cherokee? "While this upgrade project approximately doubled my investment in the aircraft, the investment is far less than that required for a new Archer, Cessna 172 SP, or Cirrus," says Holbo, "and I retain the reliability and low operating costs of the Cherokee." And we think that pretty well answers the question. If you'd like to enter your airplane in AVweb's "Refurb of the Month," send us some photos and a short description of what you've done. Click for photos. Names Behind the News back to top  Meet the AVwebFlash Team AVwebFlash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the world's premier independent aviation news resource. The AVwebFlash team is: Publisher Tom Bliss Editorial Director, Aviation Publications Paul Bertorelli Editor-in-Chief Russ Niles Webmaster Scott Simmons Contributing Editors Mary Grady Glenn Pew Contributors Kevin Lane-Cummings Ad Coordinator Karen Lund Avionics Editor Larry Anglisano Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? Your advertising can reach over 225,000 loyal AVwebFlash, AVwebBiz, and AVweb home page readers every week. Over 80% of our readers are active pilots and aircraft owners. That's why our advertisers grow with us, year after year. For ad rates and scheduling, click here or contact Tom Bliss, via e-mail or via telephone [(480) 525-7481]. Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.) Comments or questions about the news should be sent here. If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your phone or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebFlash. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here. Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.