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 pocket survival kit, more LED flashlights, software to manage maintenance documents, and much more.

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

Pocket Survival Pak

This is probably on your list of things you know you're supposed to do but haven't got around to doing: buying a survival kit for your plane or your flight bag. No one really expects to crash in some out-of-the-way place where rescue is days away, but then again, all pilots think they are above average and yet accidents happen to even the best of us.

There are some large survival kits for storing in your plane; but for those of us who don't own a plane, something smaller and cheaper is more likely to be carried in our flight bags.

The Pocket Survival Pak fills a niche that the developer, Doug Ritter, knew was empty: A small, portable, lightweight survival kit with the most important, emergency essentials. It's not intended to be the "ultimate" survival kit; instead, it's intended to be the one that actually gets taken along; and, therefore, the most useful and valuable.

The Pak contains over a dozen items needed for survival, but none of them are life-limited, so it can remain unopened until needed. Although not the whole list, here are the key items included:

• Fire-Starting Materials
• Whistle
• Signal Mirror
• Compass
• Duct Tape
• Stainless Steel Utility Wire
• Braided Nylon Cord
• Nylon Thread
• Fishing Kit
• Heavy Duty Sewing Needle
• Safety Pins
• Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
• Pencil and Waterproof Notepaper
• Scalpel Blade
• and more

The whole thing weighs less than 4 oz. and stores in the waterproof, zip-top pouch. The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price is $27.50. More information is available from the Equipped to Survive Web site.

Border Pilot

By M.W. Bourne
Reviewed by AVweb's Jennifer D. Whitley

Border Pilot is author M.W. Bourne's compelling memoir of his days as a crop-duster pilot in deep South Texas some 30-odd years ago. Mr. Bourne, who served in Vietnam as a B-26 navigator and then earned a CFI and A&P certificate before embarking on a 10-year career as a crop-duster, says, "There's just no sound reason for a sane man to enter into this trade. Unless, of course, he has a love for flight that will never be satisfied in any other way."

A plain-spoken, often-hilarious, natural storyteller, Mr. Bourne paints a vivid picture of flying the lonely, untamed land of the Texas/Mexico border as it existed decades ago. We learn how to fly doubles in beat-up old Stearmans and Pawnees, how to avoid the wires, how to mix a hopper full of chemicals, and why maps drawn in the sand are more effective than sectionals. We come to know the landscape of the tiny, remote airstrips of South Texas and the larger-than-life characters who shared this hardscrabble life -- Dealin' Don, The Corpus Christi Kid, and "The Man I Named Johnny."

It's hard not to love a book with no fewer than three chapters on "Stealing Airplanes," a detour to a Mexican jail, and a bit of aerial misjudgment that gained renown as "The Great Radish Screw-Up." At the same time, an undercurrent of gentle wisdom runs through the work. In his time as a crop-duster, Mr. Bourne says, he learned that "the important questions were really quite simple, and the most common, the most ordinary answers were the best."

For ordering information, visit the publisher's Web site.

LED Light Bulbs

Last month, AVweb reported a new product to replace the incandescent bulbs in a Mini-Maglite, and we asked readers to tell us if they found an LED replacement for the bulbs in a standard D-cell flashlight.

As usual, our readers came through for us. We can report that there are several different kinds of LED replacements, so we'll briefly list them as well as links to suppliers.

The EverLED is a single-LED, solid-state replacement for traditional incandescent PR-flange bulbs in common flashlights. The manufacturer says the batteries will last up to five times longer, even though the light is up to four times brighter than a krypton bulb. It also can automatically adjust to flashlights with anything from one to six batteries. It does spread some light to the sides, to take advantage of the flashlight's built-in reflector and give a bit of flood light to the area you're pointing at. EverLED comes in six LED colors: white, blue, teal, green, yellow and red. More information from the LEDdynamics Web site.

LEDCORP sells a wide range of LED replacements and lights. Some have screw base, some are the slide-in "universal" mount, and some have PR base. Most use one LED, but there are two-LED replacements also. LEDCORP also has table lamps and flashlights. Check out their Web site.

Practical Risk Management for Weather

If you're like most pilots, you're aware that weather can be very unforgiving. It can, and does, kill. And the sad … truly tragic fact is that every weather-related accident could have been avoided!

Do pilots deliberately takeoff and fly in weather that they know will kill them? No … usually the weather changes while they are enroute and pilots fail to recognize and manage the changing weather risks.

The new Practical Risk Management For Weather course, from King Schools, trains pilot to proactively recognize weather risks and its constantly changing reality -- and how to make essential weather-related decisions quickly and with confidence -- both on the ground and in the cockpit.

The course includes training in:

• How to manage your risks in poor weather
• What your risks really are
• Defining your personal weather minimums
• Using conservatism without guilt
• Safe flying in haze
• Approaches to minimums and your individual minimums
• Risks associated with VFR weather flying
• Risks associated with IFR weather flying
• The slippery bridge between VFR and IFR weather flying
• What your autopilot means to weather decisions
• GPS and your weather decisions
• What role aircraft performance plays in your weather decisions

Practical Risk Management For Weather is available from King School's Web site.

Personal Cabin Pressure Altitude Monitor and Warning System

Hypoxia is particularly dangerous for aircraft crew when there is a slow, progressive increase in cabin altitude or sudden exposure to high cabin altitude. The PCM 1000 gives early audio, vibratory, and visual warnings of the existence of hypoxia-causing conditions.

Another function available on the PCM 1000 is the Altitude Alert Function. This function allows the user to program in a target altitude and a tolerance window to fit the flight situation. Although the PCM 1000 is not a certified aircraft instrument, nor is it meant to replace a certified instrument, it can serve as a viable alternative for determining altitude in an emergency situation or as a simple function check of aircraft instruments.

Some of the features include:

• User programmable warning system for either FAR Part 91 or FAR part 121/135 guidelines
• FAR Part 121/135 warning for >30 minutes between 10,000 ft and 12,000 ft or any time above 12,000 ft
• FAR Part 91 warning for >30 minutes between 12,500 ft and 14,000 ft for anytime above 14,000 ft
• Continuous display of barometric pressure, temperature, and altitude
• User programmable for Above Ground Level (AGL) altitude or Mean Sea Level (MSL) altitude

ATP NavigatorV

• View publications, search options, and search results on the same screen.
• Build profiles and compliance records for any type of component, whether or not ADs for that component exist.
• Bookmark documents and searches for frequent retrieval.
• Easily paste recurring ADs into multiple records with the cloning button.
• Sort results by column headings or pre-made filters including AD number, effectivity date, and recurrence.
• Create customized searches on any data field, including portions of AD numbers, date ranges, and approval signatures.
• Export profile and compliance printouts to PDF, RTF, Word and Excel.

More information, as well as a tour of the ATP NavigatorV, can be found on ATP's Web site.