What's New -- Products and Services

This month, AVweb's survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you a new instrument training book, GPS mapping software for PDAs, LED flashlight conversion kit and much more.

If you know of a new product or service other AVweb readers should hear about, please send us a note.

Jeppesen Instrument Procedures Guide

Jeppesen has published its latest pilot training and reference book -- the Jeppesen Instrument Procedures Guide. The text is an advanced publication aimed at instrument students, certified instrument flight instructors, instrument rated pilots and those holding an airline transport pilot certificate.

The Jeppesen Instrument Procedures Guide offers insights into the rapidly evolving technologies emerging in the IFR environment, such as: Global Positioning System (GPS), Local and Wide Area Augmentation System (LAAS & WAAS), Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) and more. Thorough coverage of IFR operations in the National Airspace System, all regimes of IFR flight (takeoff, departure, en route, arrival, approach and landing) and safety-related human factors discussions are also included. The text emphasizes airplane operations but also includes guidelines specific to helicopter instrument procedures.

The Jeppesen Instrument Procedures Guide suggested retail price is $44.95. For additional information visit Jeppesen's Web site.

TeleType GPS

TeleType has updated their GPS mapping software that runs on hand-held PDAs (personal data assistants). The software has many capabilities for pilots, including the following new features:

• Victor Airways routing support
• Approaches & Departures in true vector format
• Computed Glidescope/VASI for any runway
• GPS Altitude Correction
• Improved Flight Route Display
• Improved Flight Data Display
• Water landing areas (seaports)

The software also contains features that have always been part of Teletype GPS:

• Moving Map Software
• Navigation Screen
• Flight Planner
• Controlled Airspace
• Temporary Flight Restrictions
• Runway Information & Layouts
• Radio Frequencies (recently expanded)
• EFIS/HSI display
• E6B Flight Calculator
• Navigation Aids (VORs, NDB's)
• Man-Made Obstructions
• U.S.A. Street Maps
• Closest airports quick display

Just hook up your PDA to a GPS unit that can output position and the software will do the rest.

Or you can buy a package that contains the software plus a Bluetooth-enabled GPS, and the PDA and the GPS don't even have to be physically connected. The GPS can sit wherever the signal is best received, and it will transmit the GPS coordinates to your Bluetooth compatible Pocket PC, which can be located in a more convenient position, such as on the aircraft yoke.

The TeleType GPS software (including world-wide aviation maps plus U.S. streets) runs about $195; a package with the Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver goes for about $600. More details from Teletype Corp.

Broken Wings: Tragedy and Disaster in Alaska Civil Aviation

By Gregory Liefer

Broken Wings is a history of Alaska aviation, encompassing numerous civil aircraft disasters over a period of 70 years. Derived from official accident reports, newspaper accounts, magazine articles and years of research, the author draws the reader into the true stories of aviation tragedy that have occurred in the Last Frontier.

Thirty-one accidents are detailed in this book by Liefer, a pilot and fifth-generation Alaska resident. Starting with the death of bush pilot Russel Merrill in 1929 and continuing through the year 2000, he describes both the causes of the accidents and, in some cases, the miraculous survival of some pilots and passengers. Many of the technical explanations are more easily understood by pilots than non-pilots.

Liefer is currently working on a book dealing with military aircraft accidents in Alaska and Western Canada.

More information is available from the book's publisher.

LED Mini-Maglite Conversion Kit

Review by AVweb's Kevin Lane-Cummings

If I lose the interior lights in a plane at night, I could pull my big D-cell Maglite out of my flight bag, but it's really too bright and the white light would destroy my night vision; it's really designed for night preflight. I also have a tiny LED light I keep with my kneeboard -- as the "last-ditch" emergency light -- but the battery is small (some kind of watch battery, I think) and I can't imagine it would last long in a real electrical emergency.

I could buy one of those special LED flashlights designed for aviation, but then I realized we have several Mini-Maglite flashlights sitting around the house. These are just the right size and brightness to use in the cockpit (especially if I cover the lens with a red gel), but those little AA batteries won't take more than a few short uses.

Now comes this new product called the LED Mini-Maglite Conversion Kit. It is a red LED that replaces the tiny (and unusual) white bulb in a mini-Maglite. The process of converting the Mini-Maglite to an LED is amazingly simple -- only takes 30 seconds -- but not trivial. Tiny electrical leads on the bulb or LED must be inserted into tiny sockets in the flashlight -- bend one and it might break.

But once the LED is in place, it works just like the flashlight always did: Twist the top and the light comes on. It doesn't have the focus capability that the incandescent bulb had, because an LED always points straight ahead and doesn't waste any light by shining omnidirectionally from the bulb. I found that the red light distribution pattern just about replicates the tight focus pattern of the original bulb. And it's about the same brightness as the white light, although much better than when I put a red gel on the white light. Because the LED takes so little electricity compared to the incandescent bulb, these AAs will last a really long time.

I'm impatiently waiting for this company or some other to come up with an LED replacement for the standard flashlight bulb used in the rest of our flashlights -- especially if they can get a white-multi-LED setup for my D-cell Maglite so it will last a lot longer, too. Let us know if you find one. Meanwhile, you can order the LED Conversion Kit from this Web site for around $20.

Bird Gard Laser

In the ongoing battle to remove birds from airport property and from inside hangars, a new weapon has been introduced that safely and humanely drives away birds.

The Bird Gard Laser is a hand-held laser that can be used to scare birds into flight. By using it frequently over several days, birds will be forced to find an alternate roosting site. The laser is not intended to shine on the birds but instead to shine a dot of bright red light nearby that the birds seem to consider an intruder and thus take flight. It works best in darkened hangars, especially in the evening.

The system uses a 9-volt battery to drive the laser, as well as several safety interlocks to prevent unauthorized use by those not trained in safe use of the laser. More details are on this Web site

Aero-Lift

ARM Aerospace has created a way to double the storage capacity of any existing hangar. The Aero-Lift makes it possible to store two airplanes in almost any hangar by lifting one aircraft into the air and using the empty space underneath to store an additional aircraft (or a car or a boat).

The Aero-Lift can raise a 2500 pound aircraft, with any gear configuration. The Aero-Lift is a cantilevered, single-post lift design that uses a jackscrew mechanism and electric motor, rather than traditional hydraulic systems. The Aero-Lift is also perfect for maintaining or cleaning the belly and gear of any aircraft.

Aircraft are hoisted on a large girder that branches off to three docks that can be adjusted quickly to accommodate any landing gear configuration. The unit’s components are substantial in size and weight, and yet the Aero-Lift sits unattached on the floor. Nothing is bolted to the hangar structure. Thorough engineering analysis has approved the units for use in the highest earthquake risk areas, including California and Alaska.

Details on the ARM Aerospace Web site.