Learning to Fly

IMHO: Kindle DX as approach plate viewer

I've been looking for an electronic solution to approach plates and the Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD).  Typically, I carry in my flight bag an A/FD for the Northeast, and at least the current version of NE-2 approach plate pack (NY and NJ).  If I am flying somewhere else, my bag might also NE-1, 3 and/or 4.  Each measures something like 5x8, and are about an inch to inch-and-a-half thick.  More importantly, all that paper starts to weigh quite a bit.  I suppose I could just print out the relevant information for the airports I plan to use on any given trip, but there's a sense of security knowing that I can land at any airport along the route should I need to.  The A/FD gets updated every 56 days, the approach plates every 28 days, so that's quite a few trees as well.

Initially, I tried the Sony Reader and Reader Plates, since I happened to already have a Sony Reader.  The Reader Plates folks do a good job within the constraints imposed by the Sony Reader.  They crop out as much of the white borders as possible, so as to maximize the screen real estate.  (I think they also down-sample the images so as to minimize the memory footprint.)  The updates show up promptly on their password accessible site.

But the 6 inch screen of the Sony Reader is just not big enough.  On a trial run, I found myself squinting to see the small print.  Even the frequency list at the top of the plate (in bold) was sometimes hard to read---for example, it was hard to tell between an 6 and an 8.  Mixing up a 6 for an 8 in a radio frequency list is one thing, making the same mistake on, say minimum descent altitudes would be an entirely different matter all together.  You could enlarge the plate by using the Reader in landscape mode, but that would only put about half the plate on the screen at a time, requiring constant scrolling up and down.  I decided that in real instrument conditions in rough air, squinting at the screen or fiddling with the controls while trying to shoot an approach was not something I was prepared to do.

(Kindle DX vs. printed plate vs Sony Reader. DX display is about the same size as printed plate.)

  

(Rotating the Sony gets you close to full size, but with only half the plate viewable at a time.)

So, when Amazon announced the Kindle DX (with its 10 inch screen as opposed to the Sony's 6 incher) this past spring, I promptly pre-ordered one.  I've been flying with the DX for a couple of months, and have shot a number of approaches with it.  Some observations:

• The 10 inch screen is perfect for this application.  It's dimensions (8x5) is just slightly smaller than the size of printed plates.  You see the approach plates in full size.  And the crisp e-ink display has enough resolution to make reading a plate quite easy even in fairly rough air.  The e-ink display itself is crisp and contrasty, and is perfectly readable even in direct sunlight---a necessity in any cockpit especially if you fly low wings.  (But its no backlight reflective screen means that you do need a map light if you fly at night.)
• Nacomatic makes the process of downloading PDF versions of government plates simple and painless (and it's free!).  The plates and A/FD are organized by state or by region.  (Much better than the convoluted approach offered by the government site.
• The battery life is quite respectable, especially if you consider the fact that the Kindle has a cell radio inside (more on this below).  A full week without recharge is perfectly common---so if you remember to recharge the night before, there is almost no chance that you will run out of juice mid-flight.
• DX is quite stable---no random resets or any such thing.
• The DX is a bit large, but is thin and light, which makes it easy to handle in flight.  It's big well placed buttons make navigation quite easy. It's chicklet keyboard, however, is another story (more on this below).

There are a few gotcha's, however:

• Remember to turn off the cell radio before flight! Otherwise, the cell will continue to hunt for a signal, rapidly draining the battery.
• The PDF reader implementation is half-baked.  Most critically it does not support PDF bookmarks/TOCs.  So, getting to the plate that you want is more of a hassle than it needs to be.  Nacomatic provides a TOC page listing the airport and the page on which its associated plates can be found.  Then you need to use the page number to jump to the relevant page. This is a bit of a problem since it requires the use of the tiny keyboard.  Compounding the problem is the fact that there are no dedicated number keys---so entering page numbers is quite cumbersome.  Workable, but not great.  Here's hoping Amazon provides proper TOC support in its PDF reader soon.  
• The other issue is that the Nacomatic's TOC page only lists airports by their 3 letter identifier, so figuring out which one is the right one might take some doing, especially if you are flying in an unfamiliar area.  (Their PDF TOC actually contains the airport name and town information, so again the proper support for PDF TOCs would improve usability significantly.)
• The size of the DX makes it a bit awkward to use in a cramped cockpit.  The device itself is about the size of a standard 8.5x11 notepad---too big for most kneeboards.  No yoke mount for it yet, either, though I'm not sure I want something that big on the yoke.
• The cost of the DX ($489) is a bit high. I can sort of justify it given the amount of reading I do (occupational hazard). Whether it's worth it as a plate reader alone is debatable (though in fairness the dedicated eFlybook is much more expensive).

Overall, the DX makes for a nice useable electronic approach plates solution.  You have to be aware of its quirks (like lack of TOC support) and work around them, but once you get used to its peculiarities the process of getting to the plate you want becomes almost second nature.  It's proven reliable enough that I've used it to fly all my recent approaches.  (I do, however, carry print outs of the plates for my destination and alternates just to be sure when I go flying IFR "for real".)

[Followup 11/30/09:  The Reader Plates folks have started offering the electronic plates in Kindle DX format as well.  One nice thing about this is that they actually create proper TOC hierarchies, which make navigation a lot easier.  They allow you to find plates by state/city or by airport code.  It's not free like the other PDF plates, but the ease of navigation is worth the  reasonable subscription fee of $9.99 per cycle.]

Flying the NY VFR Corridor (obsolete)

[Edited November 19, 2009] The information that was originally on this page has been superseded by the creation of the New York SFRA.  For information on how to fly in the Hudson River Exclusion Zone, consult the FAAST website which provides a brief but excellent course on the topic:

FAAST: http://faasafety.gov/files/helpcontent/Courses/NY%20Course/index.htm

The information that was originally on this page has been superseded by the creation of the New York SFRA.  For information on how to fly in the Hudson River Exclusion Zone, consult the FAAST website which provides a brief but excellent course on the topic: http://faasafety.gov/files/helpcontent/Courses/NY%20Course/index.html (November 19, 2009)

Archived and edited: 

Spring is here again, and one nice thing to do on a clear spring/summer day is to fly the Hudson River VFR corridor.  [Some out dated material deleted.]  First, a discussion about the risks you will have to manage when flying the VFR corridor.

A lot of complicated airspace: There is obviously the NY Class-B with complicated “shelves” on both sides of the river.  There are also a bunch of Class-D airports---Duchess County, Stewart International, Teterboro, Caldwell, Morristown---in the area.  There is also the West Point Restricted Area (think live fire exercises) on the west bank of the Hudson just south of Stewart.  And there is the distinction between “transient” and “local” operations over the Hudson.

A lot of helicopter traffic, and occasionally even banner-towing (slow moving) aircraft.  The helicopter traffic is often to/from Manhattan to Newark or Teterboro.  Which means that they may cut directly across the “local” part of the Hudson River Exclusion Zone.

Around Manhattan, the Hudson is a bit less than a statute mile wide, so not a whole lot of room to maneuver in.

NY is frequently the subject of TFRs---this happens whenever domestic or foreign dignitaries are in town (not all that frequent but happens), whenever the UN is in session, whenever there are games at Yankees or Giants stadium, etc.  So you need to make sure that the airspace is cleared for fixed wing flight on the day of your flight.

The biggest one for me, personally, is that the fact that there are virtually NO emergency landing sites south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, and north of Sandy Hook on the NE corner of NJ.  North of the George Washington Bridge, you will see cliffs on both sides of the river.  Between the GWB and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at the south end of the Exclusion Zone is some of the most densely populated real estate in the country on both sides of the river.  The roads along the river on both sides are generally highly congested. For the entire length of the Exclusion Zone you will be flying below 1300 feet (1000 feet, if you are “local”)—that is, below some of the taller buildings in Manhattan—giving you precious little altitude to glide.  You may not even have enough altitude to get *across* the river.  So, if you experience engine problems, you are most likely in the drink.  Since both banks are heavily built up (with piers and the like), once you are in the water, it could be surprisingly difficult to get out.  There are precious few places where you could simply “walk out” of the Hudson.  Add to that the strong currents influenced by the tides (around Manhattan, the Hudson “River” is technically a tidal estuary and sometimes flows upriver), where you ditch and where you end up may be dramatically different. During the winter, the area gets cold enough for the river to freeze over.  So, the recent “Miracle on the Hudson” of Flight 1549 not withstanding, you are not likely to survive a winter ditching into the Hudson.

That said, flying along the Hudson River between the Verrazano and Tappan Zee bridges offer some stunning views, and is not likely to be a trip you will soon forget.  Among other things, you get a different view of the Manhattan skyline, overfly two graceful suspension bridges, and get to look at the Statue of Liberty from the front side and up close. 

[Obsolete information deleted.]

What about doing this route at night?  While the prospect of getting to see the illuminated skyline of Manhattan and the surrounding cities is tempting, and the Verrazano and Washington gets lit up quite nicely at night, I would highly recommend against it.  The reason is that the lights of the city and the surrounding areas make it too easy to lose sight of the beacon and nav lights of any nearby traffic.  Particularly so for helo traffic departing the Manhattan heliports.  Sure, strobes are easier to spot, but with the river no wider than a mile, and you flying no higher than 1300 feet (or even 1000 feet), the available reaction window is really small.  If you must, I would strongly recommend contacting EWR Tower (127.85) if you are northbound, or LGA Tower (126.05) if you are southbound to be cleared into the “Skyline Route” (Class B VFR Transition Route).  That way, you are over all the VFR traffic, and are under positive control (with traffic advisories).

Hope this is useful.  A lot to keep track of in a span of 40 miles or so.  But some of the most interesting flying around.  I’m sure the information here can be improved. If there are any errors (especially if something I’ve written here is unsafe), please let me know.

IMHO: Coradine Aviation Systems LogTen Pro logbook software

One of the chores of flying is the detailed records we are required to keep of all the training we’ve received and the flights we’ve flown. The FAA requires meticulous record keeping, and there are training/experience requirements for the various certificates and ratings which you need to establish using your logbook.

In preparation for the Private Pilot check ride last year, and again for the Instrument check ride, I had to fill out the infamous FAA-8710 form, which requires you to total various different kinds of flying you’ve done.  But before I could get to that, I had to total up my logbook.  Each flight had been dutifully entered into the logbook as they occurred, of course, but I’m not as meticulous about keeping up with the various page totals.  So the first task was to sit down, calculator in hand, and sum up the various categories (like number of day or night landings, amount of time flown day or night, instructional or solo, etc.) on each page, and for my entire (thankfully still short) flying experience.  Of course, doing these sums by hand (even with a calculator) is a rather error prone process, and after a day of this my logbook had more than a few corrections.

The logbook represents nothing so much as a paper spreadsheet, so I figured there had to be a better way.  This is where being a devoted Mac user is a bit of an issue.  You figure that Mac users are something like 10% of the market, and pilots are what, less than 0.5% of the adult population?  That being the case, pilots who are Mac users are presumably a really tiny market.  So, I was actually prepared not to find a single logbook software for the Mac.

There are a few choices on the Windows side, and if push came to shove, I could always use VMWare or use an online service.  But, I didn’t want to be forced to use Windows especially if flying becomes as regular an activity as I hope.  (It was bad enough that the King School software was Windows only, forcing me into VMWare on a regular basis for the last year.)  It’s not that I have anything against Windows, per se.  It’s just that having been a long time Mac user, I find Windows awkward to use (in the same way that I’m sure many Windows users would find some Mac conventions quite odd), and it takes me a bit to re-acclimate every time I start up VMWare. I also investigated online options, but didn’t like them much either.  For the most part, they were overkill for my needs---most are geared towards professional pilots.  And I didn’t like the idea of having my irreplaceable logbook data entrusted to some online service provider that may or may not be around in a few years, and may or may not have an adequate backup strategy.  I didn’t like the idea of having to be connected to the internet to access the logbook either.

That’s when I came across LogTen Pro from Coradine Aviation Systems.  This software is excellent.  Out of the box, it allows you to record an incredible amount of detail about each flight, and is quite frankly a bit overkill for the needs of most private pilots.  Clearly, the software is designed to cater to the needs of professionals and even small flight schools or charter operations.  But at its most basic level, it’s a spreadsheet with a data entry panel at the bottom of the window.  So getting up to speed on its most basic features as a logbook is self-explanatory and quite easy to do.

After a little over a year of use, I’m beginning to appreciate the level of detail that it allows me to keep track of.  It also allows a great deal of customization, with various custom data fields.  This flexibility came in particularly handy during instrument training when I began to track various types of approaches and holds I had flown.

LogTen Pro, of course, keeps track of various currency requirements.  And it gives you “smart groups”---much like the “smart lists” feature in iTunes---which allows you to quickly look at a subset of your flights---say night solo flights, or cross country PIC time.  This latter feature has been very useful in keeping track of the various requirements for the commercial certificate.

Where LogTen Pro really shines is in its printed reports feature.  It comes with pre-formatted templates for various printed logbook formats in a variety of national requirements.  It will, of course, do FAA 8710 forms and generate other summary reports.  The printed logs/reports are fully customizable---they are just HTML pages.  So if you have a basic working knowledge of HTML, it is pretty straightforward to look at an existing template to figure out how reports are generated and customize your own log/report based on the existing templates.  (If you don’t know HTML, unfortunately you are SOL.  But it’s pretty easy to learn just enough to be able to customize LogTen Pro logs/reports.)

And if you like to carry around a hardcopy in a nice binder, LogTen Pro works well with the binders and logbook paper from Cirrus/Logbookpro.com.

The documentation is sparse, to put it kindly.  (For example, to generate a custom log/report, you need to know what the various data field names are.  To figure out what they are requires scouring through the example temples to figure them out.  There is no data field documentation you can turn to.)  So thank goodness the program is pretty self explanatory, and there is a pretty active user community.

LogTen Pro has an iPhone app to go with it.  The iPhone app syncs with the desktop, so you have your most recent flights, as well as various totals and currencies.  You can also enter the information for a flight using the iPhone and have it sync up to the desktop.  Pretty handy, especially if you are traveling away from your computer.

At $100 for a full license, and $50 for an upgrade from a previous version, the price of entry is pretty steep.   Add another $40 for the iPhone app.  (Somewhat confusingly, they have, count ‘em 10 versions of the iPhone app---$10 for the student version, $40 for the full version, and $20 for all other versions---with presumably different subset of features enabled for different target markets.  I say “presumably” because the differences across the versions aren’t easy to figure out.)  As the only game in town for Mac using pilots, I suppose they can charge a premium.  Admittedly, their pricing is not entirely out of line with similar products on the PC side.  And, to be fair, they have been good about continued development and bug fixes to the product.

Now if only someone would develop an EFB/Flight planning software for the Mac...

IMHO: UFlyMike for Bose QC2 headphones

Back in April, my trusty David Clark H10-20 headset went missing. I made the mistake of leaving them in the back seat of my car in a parking lot, and apparently forgot to lock the door. (oops.) When I returned 15 minutes later, it was gone.  So, I found myself in the position of having to rent headsets (a bit unpleasant on warm spring days, never mind the summer), while I looked for a replacement.

I thought of simply getting an identical pair of DC H10-20s. They worked well enough, and were reasonably comfortable. Though they felt a bit bulky especially in the tight confines of a C172 cabin (I was always bumping them), and the clamping pressure was a bit firm (which is what you would expect from a good pair of passive noise reduction headsets). While I was researching active noise reduction (ANR) headsets, I came across an interesting product: the UFlyMike. Basically, it's a mic attachment that converts a Bose Quiet Comfort 2 (QC2) active noise reduction headphones into an aviation headset. If a gadget costing a little less than $200 + shipping (or less than a pair of good passive headsets) turns a QC2 into a workable ANR aviation headset that's quite a bargain. (By contrast the Bose ANR aviation headset costs just $5 shy of a grand). Since I happened to have a QC2, I decided to give it a try.  I've been using it for a couple of months now, and here are a few observations.

First, the QC2+UFlyMike works quite well as an aviation headset.  I have to admit I was quite surprised by the fact that here was a product that actually worked as advertised.  The combination did not feel like an "after market kludge" at all.  The mic attachment was solidly built, and attached to the Bose QC2 with a reassuring click.  I don't have access to other ANR aviation headsets, so I can't compare the QC2s noise reduction capabilities to them, but compared to the DC H10-20s the QC2 does quite well. Since the QC2 works better in the lower frequencies, the frequency energy balance of the sounds that you do hear shifts considerably towards the high end. Basically, it sounds like the engine drone has changed pitch, so it was a bit difficult to judge overall sound level impressions (especially in comparison to the DC headset I no longer have). But I would say that the QC2 was a bit quieter than the DC H10-20 that it replaced.  And that for a headset that was significantly lighter and smaller, with less clamping force---overall a more comfortable experience. Whatever people may say about Bose headphones for listening to music, the QC2 worked very well for radio communications---the voice of the tower controller as well as other pilots were crisp and clear. I also polled the instructor (who was listening to me over the intercom), as well as a few fellow pilots in the pattern who presumably heard me over the radio, and all of them reported that the audio quality (of the UFlyMike) was quite good.

One thing I did notice, however, was that using the QC2 as an aviation headset seemed to drain the batteries more quickly than usual (presumably from having to work to cancel the constant drone of the engine). Still a single battery was good for more than a few training flights, so maybe this is nothing to be concerned about. On the other hand, I know that when the QC2 runs out of juice, it goes silent.  Of course, this is a non issue if I switch out the battery before each flight (so maybe I should just make this another check list item)---the gas tanks would be empty long before the battery went dead.  On the other hand, that's potentially one more thing to forget, or to have to troubleshoot when the comms goes silent.

I am perfectly happy using the QC2+UFlyMike during training flights with someone (with another headset) sitting next to me. They are comfortable to wear, the ANR works as advertised, and the sound is excellent. I would be perfectly happy to use them on VFR flights where comms aren't as critical, where there is more room for error, and where there is more time to troubleshoot if something were to go wrong. The big question is, would I use them while doing single pilot IFR? I'm not so sure. The likelihood that a battery would die mid-flight is miniscule, especially if I remember to change the batteries before each flight. On the other hand, I don't ever want to be caught fumbling around trying to change batteries to my headset in hard IFR. Perhaps I'm being paranoid (I freely admit to being overly cautious about many things) but I don't think I would trust the QC2+uFlyMike to be my primary headset for solo IFR flight.

I will certainly keep them. The combo works great as a VFR headset, is more comfortable than the DC headsets I've been wearing, and it's going to be a while yet before I earn my instrument ticket (and even longer before I face the prospect of solo IFR flight "in the soup"), so it serves my current purposes quite well. And when I eventually find a replacement, the QC2+uFlyMike will stay in my flight bag as a backup headset.

(As an aside, the QC2+uFlyMike makes a great passenger/intercom headset. It's relatively inexpensive for what it is. Not only is the headset quiet, reasonably small and comfortable, it also has an aux/MP3-player port---something which most dedicated aviation headsets don't offer.)