June 21, 2013

By The AVweb Editorial Staff

Weather Where You Want It the Most — In the Cockpit! The XGPS170 GPS + ADS-B Receiver delivers no-subscription weather (FIS-B) & traffic (TIS-B) services to many EFB apps on Apple and Android devices. See NEXRAD radar imagery, NOTAMs, METARs, TAFs, PIREPs, winds aloft, TFRs, and SUA updates right on your tablet! The XGPS170 features a WAAS GPS and USB-rechargeable battery that lasts over five hours and connects to two tablets using Bluetooth. Non-slip mount included. Click here to learn more. Business Profiles back to top  A Visit With Trade-A-Plane: Selling Airplanes in the Digital Age Before there was eBay, Craigslist and Controller.com, not to mention web sites for every imaginable aircraft marque, the one and only place you looked for a used airplane or obscure parts to fix one was Trade-A-Plane, the iconic yellow shopper that, for many of us, was and is a dreamsheet. Despite the onslaught of competition from the digital world, three-quarters of a century after it was founded, Trade-A-Plane is still there. And although it's smaller than it once was and it's no longer yellow -- covers excepted -- Trade-A-Plane remains a mainstay go-to for anyone looking for anything to do with aviation products and services. Unbeknownst to many pilots, TAP Publishing, the mother ship company, has evolved into other markets, including the construction industry, web site hosting and custom weather products and in an age where many companies farm out their grunt work to others, TAP publishing is entirely vertical -- almost everything is done in house. But there's a price to pay for that. When we visited Trade-A-Plane's Crossville, Tennessee headquarters in late-May 2013, publisher Cosby Stone showed us something the company had never experienced: a dark pressroom. Two weeks earlier, an electrical transformer fire took down the presses and very nearly the building that houses them. During our tour, repairs were underway and the presses -- a pair of big multi-gang units -- were expected to be back on line by mid-June. Click here to read the full article. The Highway In The Sky for iPads When all else fails, fly through these hoops to a safe runway. Xavion is the point-to-point, full-time Highway In The Sky virtual cockpit app with 3-D guidance and 3-D synthetic vision. With your iPad and ADS-B/AHRS systems, you get an emergency back-up for your entire panel. If needed, Xavion's guidance hoops direct you to safe runways in best glide range. This Virtual co-pilot even warns if you exceed altitude limits or line up on short runways. Watch our demo for details. Risk Assessment back to top  Risk Management, Military Style Especially in military operations, it's impossible to eliminate risk, but it can be minimized. Many of their risk-management techniques can apply to your flying. No matter what we do in an aircraft, we cannot eliminate risk entirely. Instead, we can manage that risk and take positive steps to mitigate or reduce it; in rare cases, we may even be able to eliminate it. An example of the latter might be canceling a trip for poor weather, or because of a mechanical issue. But we should be mostly concerned with mitigating and reducing the risks our flying poses. Of course, there are many ways to accomplish these goals. I believe most of us in general aviation have sat through a presentation or seminar discussing risk management. While serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, I sat through those classes as well as taught them, and I always came away with the same question, "How will this reduce the mishap rate?" Given the resources available, along with the missions, the military's way of managing risk can't be implemented by the average GA pilot. But it's worthwhile to examine the military's risk-management process. Using it as a template, then taking some simple steps and applying its techniques over time, on our own, can help reduce the GA mishap rate, before someone does it for us. Click here to read the full article. Levil Technology's Line of AHRS/ADS-B Receivers Just Got Better! Offering the most compatibility with your favorite apps and uncontested AHRS performance, the iLevil SW has been known as the most flexible AHRS/ADS-B system in the market. Levil Technology is now introducing the iLevil AW, featuring internal pressure sensors that measure indicated airspeed, pressure altitude, and VSI when connected to the pitot-static system of a homebuilt or light sport aircraft. Check out the iLevil at AirVenture Oshkosh or visit our web site here. AVweb Audio — Are You Listening? back to top  Podcast: Flying on Solar Wings File Size 9.5 MB / Running Time 10:20 Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS Solar Impulse, the one-of-a-kind solar-powered airplane from Switzerland, is finishing up its flight across the U.S., with just one more short leg to go from Washington, D.C. to New York. AVweb's Mary Grady talks with pilot Andre Borschberg to learn more about this unique project. Click here to listen. (9.5 MB, 10:20) Like to Save Money? With Aviation Consumer, you get only the facts — and none of the fiction. We buy products — just like you — and test, test, test. You get the results — right when you need them. Subscribe now. 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. 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