BruceAir, LLC (bruceair.com)

The Extra is in Seattle for the Summer

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:37:32 GMT

I launched in the Extra 300L from its winter home at 61B at 0600 PDT Saturday and cruised to KVIS via DAG and PMD, etc. on the dogleg to California's Central Valley (I don't like to fly the lonely stretch between Las Vegas and Reno in the Extra); 1.7 en route on a clear, smooth flight. That’s the time of day to cross the desert.

Refueled at KVIS (I was there before the FBO opened the doors) and rocketed on to KOVE, which has the cheapest ($4.80) gas I could find in CA; 1.4 up the valley, including, with ATC’s blessing, a scenic overflight of Beale AFB, which now has a permanent temporary flight restriction (National Security Airspace) superimposed on its Class C. One U-2 variant on the ramp; several other pointy aircraft (probably T-38s) were in evidence.

The next leg is the usual run from KOVE to KCVO in Oregon. But everybody north of Medford was reporting broken and overcast layers at 3000-4000, and that’s what the XM weather on Garmin 396 continued to report (how did I fly before I had that feature?).

So after 1.2, I plopped down at KMFR, refueled, and hung out at the nice, remodeled FBO (Medford Air) for about 90 minutes. The gas wasn’t cheap (but not outrageous these days), and the folks were helpful, and they have good facilities for stranded pilots.

The next round of METARs looked better, so I departed KMFR. I spent the next 1.2 beneath an overcast working my way north through the hills. I always had excellent visibility (20-30 miles), all of the mountain tops were in the clear, and I had several alternates (e.g., KRBG) reporting good VFR.

According to the fuel computer and my Mark 0.5 brain, I had just enough gas to make it all the way home to KBFI. But the weather in the Willamette Valley had me at 2000-2500, and I didn’t want to start poking my way through the infamous Chehalis Gap south of KOLM in MVFR only to find that I didn’t have enough gas to go to Plan B, so I dropped in at KHIO for some insurance fuel and another look at the weather. Then it was on to KBFI (0.8 en route).

I’d had so much fun that I decided to stop flying for the day. Wouldn’t want to spoil that endorphin high. Besides, around 1900 PDT, the skies opened up and poured rain as another front passed through.

Not much chance of doing acro for the next several days, but it looks like I’ll get some flying in later this week:

A STRONG UPPER RIDGE WILL BUILD OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOR WARM SUNNY DAYS WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

We may even get close to 80!

WingX: Flight Planning in the Palm of Your Hand

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:46:49 GMT

I’ve longed use the Web and PC-based flight-planning tools to check the weather, lay out and file flight plans, and retrieve information about airports.

Voyager, my favorite flight-planning program, also prints current instrument approach charts and other essential information that I can carry along in the cockpit. Many FBOs have computers in the flight-planning room, so even when you’re away from home, you can take care of preflight business via the Web.

But not all airports offer such services—the office may not even be open, as I recently discovered on a fine Saturday morning at Walla Walla, an airport with an operating control tower and airline service but nobody at the FBO on weekends.

Cell phone service, however, is available at most airports, and thanks to products like WingX from Hilton Software LLC, all of the online aviation-related services I rely on are available through a Web-enabled PDA or Smartphone (the current list of supported devices is on the WingX Web site).

To read a detailed assessment of WingX, visit the product review page at BruceAir.com.

"Taxis in the Skies"

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:39:45 GMT

James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, has contributed a fascinating article, "Taxis in the Sky," about DayJet, a new on-demand flying service that uses the Eclipse Very Light Jet (VLJ). You can read it online at the Atlantic Web site.

Aviation Forecast Discussions

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:33:06 GMT

Like many pilots, I start watching the weather days ahead of planned trips. Unfortunately, the Outlook Briefings offered by Flight Service Stations and other official sources of aviation weather are about as useful as the tips you get from financial advisors (or bookies).

I much prefer the National Weather Service forecast discussions prepared by local NWS offices. These descriptions of current and forecast conditions, including outlooks, offer forecasters' analysis and opinions of what the various computer models and observations imply about upcoming weather.

The easiest way to see the aviation forecast discussions for areas that interest you is via the map at the NOAA Aviation Testbed site. Click a region on the map, and up pops the text of the latest discussion. Of course, you must supplement the discussion with official reports and forecasts, all of which are available at the Aviation Weather Center, the Aviation Digital Data Service, via DUATS, and from Flight Service Stations. You can find an extensive list of weather and flight-planning links on the Aviation Resources page at my Web site, www.BruceAir.com.

To learn more about weather briefings and tools available to pilots, see Aviation Weather Services (AC 00-45F), available as a free download (.pdf) from the NWS. The General Aviation Pilot's Weather Guide is another excellent portal to weather information.

Flying in a Different Era

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:08:07 GMT

The latest "Ask the Pilot" column at Salon.com is an evocative essay about the DC-8 and transatlantic flying in an earlier era, albeit one only 20 years ago. It's a good read, and a reminder of how quickly aviation has changed, even if some fundamentals, such as cruising speed, haven't kept pace with high-tech cockpits, more fuel-efficient and reliable engines, and other developments.

G1000 Gets WAAS and Other Updates

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:59:43 GMT

The flight school where I instruct is taking delivery of new DA40s (and updating much of its current fleet) with the latest iteration of the G1000 software, which includes WAAS and many other updates, among them:

NACO charts (Jepp charts are available at additional cost)
WAAS approaches
New engine display options
Enhanced VNAV capabilities (with the GFC 700 autopilot)
Airways in flight plans
New flight plan display options
Ground track bug on HSI
Additional wind display options on PFD

I have placed a bunch of screen shots captured with the new version of the G1000 PC-trainer in one of my SkyDrive folders. Manuals, etc. are available for download from Garmin. (There are too many changes to list here.)

Garmin has also updated the Cessna G1000 system, but I haven't seen it yet.

The PC trainer still has several quirks and bugs (e.g., on my system the XPNDR always reverts to 0000), but it's an indispensable training aid. Note, however, that the PC trainer does not have a flight model--pitch up and the attitude and altitude change, but airspeed doesn't vary. However, it now supports dual-monitor setups (you can display the PFD and MFD simultaneously), and an annoying joystick bug is gone. The PC trainer is available from Garmin for $25.

Effect of Supreme Court Ruling on Aircraft Manufacturers?

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:56:31 GMT

On February 20, the US Supreme Court issued an opinion in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. that "bars common-law claims challenging the safety or effectiveness of a medical device marketed in a form that received premarket approval from the FDA." The case focused on the "pre-emption" clause of the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, 21 U. S. C. §360k.

I'm not an attorney, but I wonder what, if any, implications this ruling may have for manufacturers of other devices that are subject to approval by federal agencies, such as the FAA. Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. clearly turns on specific language in the Medical Device Amendments act, but it seems to be part of a trend. The court will soon hear a similar case, Warner-Lambert Co. v. Kent, that involves a pharmaceutical company. According to a story in today's NY Times:

By an 8-1 vote, the court ruled a 1976 law creating federal safety oversight for medical devices bars state-law claims challenging safety or effectiveness of devices that have won premarket approval from the Food and Drug Administration...
The ruling could benefit other device makers, who have argued that the FDA's judgment that a product is safe and effective should protect companies from being sued for liability in state court.

General aviation manufacturers and aviation associations have long complained that the makers of airframes, engines, instruments, and other aircraft components are unfairly held responsible for deaths and injuries resulting from aviation accidents even when those accidents are officially blamed on pilot error, weather, or other factors not related to the design or function of the aircraft or its parts. The industry has often cited FAA certification as evidence that aircraft and their components meet applicable and reasonable safety standards.

The General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA) provided some liability protection for manufacturers of general aviation aircraft (for a brief overview, see this 2006 report by the law firm Wilson Elser). According to GARA:

...no civil action for damages for death or injury to persons or damage to property arising out of an accident involving a general aviation aircraft may be brought against the manufacturer of the aircraft or the manufacturer of any new component, system, subassembly, or other part of the aircraft, in its capacity as a manufacturer if the accident occurred—
(1) after the applicable limitation period [18 years] beginning on—
(A) the date of delivery of the aircraft to its first purchaser or lessee, if delivered directly from the manufacturer;
or
(B) the date of first delivery of the aircraft to a person engaged in the business of selling or leasing such aircraft;
or
(2) with respect to any new component, system, subassembly, or other part which replaced another component, system,
subassembly, or other part originally in, or which was added to, the aircraft, and which is alleged to have caused such
death, injury, or damage, after the applicable limitation period beginning on the date of completion of the replacement or
addition

But GARA hasn't stopped folks from suing anyone and everyone who might have a connection to an aircraft involved in an accident. An infamous recent case involved a multi-million-dollar verdict against Parker Hannifin, a company that manufactured FAA-certified vacuum pumps. The company's pumps were installed in a twin-engine Cessna 335 that crashed on October 16, 2000, killing three people, including Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. The NTSB official report listed the probable cause of the accident as, "The pilot's failure to control the airplane while maneuvering because of spatial disorientation. Contributing to the accident were the failure of the airplane's primary attitude indicator and the adverse weather conditions, including turbulence." But the report does not blame either of the airplane's two vacuum pumps, both of which were working at the time of the crash. Parker Hannifin has since stopped making vacuum pumps.

It will be interesting to see if the aviation industry finds new support against similar claims in light of the decision in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc.

Review of RAM Mounting System GPS Holder

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:42:17 GMT

Like many pilots, I bring a portable GPS along when I fly, even if the airplane has a panel-mount GPS or an integrated avionics solution like the Garmin G1000.

But the proliferation of gizmos these days makes it hard to keep everything in its place. Over the years, I've tried several products to hold portable devices securely and conveniently, but until recently, none has really delivered.

However, I recently bought a RAM-B-166U Suction Cup Twist Lock Mount and RAM-HOL-GA7U from RAM Mounting Systems, Inc., and I think I've found the simple, flexible, and useful solution that I've been looking for. Read my detailed review at BruceAir.com.

Flying WAAS: The Sequel

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:59:25 GMT

Before I flew south for a few days of aerobatic practice over the Nevada desert, I took advantage of another good day for IFR practice in the Pacific Northwest. Today's flight in the A36 was a round-robin excursion: KRNT-KHQM-KOLM-KRNT, with RNAV (GPS) approaches at KHQM (RNAV Rwy 24) and KOLM (RNAV Rwy 17).

I won't provide a detailed narrative--it was a routine flight, albeit another example of how wonderful WAAS is. But it was a pretty day in a Northwest way, and if you want to fly along virtually, you can find pictures, charts, and a GPS track file in .kmz (Google Earth) format in one of my SkyDrive folders.

To read more about flying WAAS, see my account of a similar flight on February 11.

Flying WAAS

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:06:12 GMT

After what seems an interminable stretch of bad weather, even by Seattle standards, a warm front moved through the Pacific Northwest today. The clouds didn't part, but they spilled only light rain showers, and most importantly, the freezing level soared to around 6000 feet, high enough for me start up the Beechcraft A36 and log some RNAV (GPS) approaches that take advantage of the updated WAAS capabilities of the Garmin GNS530W installed in the instrument panel. Being a belt-and-suspenders guy, I brought along my portable Garmin GPSMAP 396 GPS, which can display real-time weather information beamed via XM radio signals.

(You can find more pictures and charts and a GPS track file [.kmz] from the flight that you load into Google Earth in one of my public SkyDrive folders.)

I departed about 1230 PST (2030Z) from Renton, WA (KRNT) on an IFR flight plan to Skagit/Bayview (KBVS). I was cleared to climb to 4000 and proceed via the PAE VOR near Everett, WA to KBVS. Given the reported weather at Skagit, I expected to fly the RNAV (GPS) Rwy 10 approach.

The airspace north of Seattle is a mosaic, with pieces under the jurisdiction of Seattle Approach, Seattle Center, and NAS Whidbey Island Approach. After takeoff to the south, I was vectored around to the northwest (the better to avoid conflicts with traffic using Boeing Field [KBFI] and Sea-Tac [KSEA]) and then cleared direct to an initial fix for the approach (see the blue GPS track of the entire flight overlaid on the sectional chart above).

Although the clouds were free of ice and serious rain, the famous Puget Sound Convergence Zone made its presence felt. I rode through continuous light turbulence in and occasionally between layers of dense clouds from around Everett north.

Thanks to the display on the GPSMAP 396, I knew that the weather at KBVS was well above the lowest minimums established for the approach (353 feet above the runway and 1.25 miles visibility), so I loaded the procedure into the GNS530W as soon as I was cleared to SOCLO, one of the initial fixes for the procedure.

A few miles southeast of SOCLO, the Whidbey Approach turned me loose: "Bonanza 46 Foxtrot, cross SOCLO at 4000, cleared the RNAV runway 10 approach."

From this point, I'm left to fly the procedure on my own. Before WAAS, I'd have been busy during the holding-pattern course reversal (which, given my arrival from the southeast, was best accomplished with a parallel entry into the oval holding pattern).

For reasons I've never understood, many pilots intensely dislike parallel entries. The GNS530W, however, makes the U-turn a non-event. The moving map shows your airplane's position relative to the charted hold, and the unit prompts you to fly specific headings. It even starts a timer at the appropriate moment. Just follow the magenta line, and you'll fly a textbook entry and then track directly back to the initial fix for the approach.

A few minutes later, I was heading directly toward the runway, riding the GPS-generated glideslope toward the LPV DA of 497 feet MSL. These GPS-based glideslopes are the real magic behind WAAS. In effect, they turn most approaches into ILS-like procedures that are typically available only at big airports. The Whidbey controller cleared me to switch the CTAF and asked me to report on the ground.

On such a dreary day, I had the airport mostly to myself. The only other traffic was a Robinson R22 helicopter working in the traffic pattern. I landed and cleared the runway. I couldn't talk to Whidbey on the radio, so I drew my cell phone and called the Seattle Flight Service Station, which relayed my arrival to Whidbey and then obtained my IFR clearance back to Renton. I was back in the air in just a few minutes, well ahead of my clearance void time. Whidbey confirmed radar contact and aimed me west of Paine Field (KPAE) en route back to Renton at 3000 feet.

The ride home was smoother, and the efficient, friendly controllers soon had me set up for the RNAV (GPS) Rwy 15 approach to KRNT.

But as often happens, things don't work out quite as planned. After several handoffs, the last controller issued my approach clearance: "Bonanza 46 Foxtrot, cross LUTSY at 2000, cleared the RNAV runway 15 approach."

I had just gotten established on the intermediate segment of the procedure from LUTSY when the controller announced Plan B.

"Bonanza 46 Foxtrot, there's a Boeing 737 first flight about to depart Renton, I need to turn you east and bring you back around."

Renton is home to the Boeing 737 factory, and because of rising terrain south of the airport, fledgling Boeing jets always take off to the north, over Lake Washington. This jet would be aimed directly at me if I didn't turn.

A series of vectors followed, driving me in a neat box pattern back around to the north (see the GPS track). I twisted knobs and punched buttons to reload the procedure, and in a few minutes, I was back at LUTSY, this time for good. I broke through the clouds in plenty of time to see the runway, and once again, I rode a GPS glideslope right to the touchdown zone on the runway. Just like Flight Simulator....

If you haven't had the opportunity to see WAAS in action, track down a pilot who has a WAAS-capable unit and go for a ride. It's terrific leap forward in safety and utility for pilots who fly IFR.

University of Michigan Aeronautical Engineers Study Birds

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:17:21 GMT

Interesting story from the U of M about aeronautical engineers who study "low Reynolds number aircraft" (i.e., birds). Factoids from the press release:

A Blackbird jet flying nearly 2,000 miles per hour covers 32 body lengths per second. But a common pigeon flying at 50 miles per hour covers 75.
The roll rate of the aerobatic A-4 Skyhawk plane is about 720 degrees per second. The roll rate of a barn swallow exceeds 5,000 degrees per second.

Check out the slide show link in the article. Great photos.

Northwest Aviation Convention and Trade Show

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:41:50 GMT

I will give two presentations at the annual Northwest Aviation Conference and Trade Show at the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, WA on February 23-24. (The closest GA airport is Pierce County Airport-Thun Field KPLU.)

On Saturday at 4:30 p.m., I will speak about Using Flight Simulator as a Training Aid.

On Sunday, I talk about Stall/Spin/Upset Training at 1:00 p.m.

New Aerobatic Videos

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:25:21 GMT

I've posted several new videos shot last week while I was flying my Extra 300L near Las Vegas. You can find the videos (in .wmv format) in one of my SkyDrive folders. The video titles should be self-explanatory.

One video shows the close- and extended trail portion of a three-ship formation flight. I was number 3, working with an RV-6A and RV-8.

More information about the maneuvers is available on my Web site.

The area where I was flying is southwest of Boulder City, NV (61B), just south of the "substations" marked on the chart near the dry lake bed.

My friends at APS Emergency Training just posted a great discussion of AoA and recoveries from unusual attitudes. You can read the article online or download it as a .pdf. I highly recommend the articles published by BJ and his staff. You can find videos on the site, too.

I’ve also been working on a Web site for a new group of instructors who provide stall/spin/upset training—The Council for Unusual Attitude Training and Education (CUATE).

PowerPoint c. 1918

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:11:07 GMT

Anyone who has given (or been on the receiving end of) a PowerPoint presentation will appreciate the following anecdote, which could come straight from a Monty Python skit, quoted in Aces Falling: War Above the Trenches, 1918 by Peter Hart.

Hart's description of the early days of photo intrepretation includes an excerpt from the diary of Lieutenant Thomas Hughes:

I started my course of 'Interpretation of Aeroplane Photographs' this morning. There were eight infantry officers--I rather think they were battalion intelligence officers--assembled round the table in the conference room at the Corps...where I arrived with the component parts of a magic lantern. After a bit of business getting the light to work, I got under way with my celebrated lantern exhibition and was getting along quite nicely when the door behind the screen opened and the Corps Commander and the B.G.G.S. shuffled in, tripped over the electric light wire, put out the light and fused the arc lamp. The Corps Commander then fell over a chair and I felt it was time to pull up a blind, which I did. He then told me to carry on as if he wasn't there!"

PC-Based Simulations and Aviation Training

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:58:34 GMT

Transference of PC-Based Simulation to Aviation Training—Issues in Learning (.pdf) is a new review of published studies and books from 1997–2007 on the topic by Nic D'Alessandro of Insite Solutions in Australia.

This article isn't a rigorous review of the topic, nor does it present original, peer-reviewed research, but it does summarize many of the issues, and it includes a useful bibliography.

Disclosure: I had no role in this study, and I learned about it only after it was published on the Web. But the author does include several references to my book on the topic.

General Aviation Pilot's Weather Guide

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:24:10 GMT

The FAA has published a terrific Web page to help pilots collect and analyze weather information before, during, and after a flight.

The General Aviation Pilot's Weather Guide is a portal to many useful resources, including VFR and IFR weather worksheets, and sources of information about the weather. Many of the references and guides are available as free .pdf downloads; check the Downloads tab at the site.

This well-organized and easy-to-use online Guide could also serve as an excellent lesson plan or template for a preflight briefing with students.

Most of the information on the site is available in a single document, General Aviation Pilot's Guide to Preflight Weather Planning, Weather Self-Briefings, and Weather Decision-Making (.pdf).

The VFR and IFR weather worksheets (also available in .pdf format) will help you systematically collect and organize weather information and make good weather-related decisions.

"The Shepherd" by Frederick Forsyth on CBC

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 09:11:36 GMT

The daily radio show "As It Happens" on CBC continued a Christmas Eve tradition by broadcasting a reading of "The Shepherd," a short story by Frederick Forsyth. It's a classic ghost story told by the pilot of a de Havilland DH 100 Vampire jet lost over the North Sea on a foggy Christmas Eve in 1957.

The CBC hosts said that the reading of this classic would be available as a podcast for a limited time. It's not on the CBC Web site yet, but check back soon.

Update: As of Dec. 27, the mp3 file is available on the CBC page for "As It Happens" podcasts.

Alchemy Lives!

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:07:27 GMT

Wired has published its Vaporware 2007 awards. Coming in at number 10 is the Orbo, a device that, according to the developer's Web site:

...produces free, clean and constant energy - that is our claim. By free we mean that the energy produced is done so without recourse to external source. By clean we mean that during operation the technology produces no emissions. By constant we mean that with the exception of mechanical failure the technology will continue to operate indefinitely.

The secret behind this amazing device? From the company's Web site: "Orbo is based upon the principle of time variant magneto-mechanical interactions."

I don't know what that means, but I wouldn't be surprised if dilithium crystals are involved.

Reading the claims and the The Steorn Validation Process, I was immediately reminded of Charles Mackay's wonderful book, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

First published in 1851 and later issued under the title Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, it remains in print today, a Plutarch's Lives of "astrologers, necromancers, sorcerers, geomancers, and all those who pretended to discover futurity; and...dealers in charms, amulets, philters, universal-panacea mongers...."

Chapter 4, "The Alchymists," is most relevant to this topic. Among the many case studies Mackay describes is one George Ripley, the canon of Bridlington, in Yorkshire.

He studied for twenty years in the universities of Italy, and was a great favourite with Pope Innocent VIII, who made him one of his domestic chaplains, and master of the ceremonies in his household. Returning to England in 1477, he dedicated to King Edward IV his famous work, The Compound of Alchymy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone. These gates he described to be calcination, solution, separation, conjunction, putrefaction, congelation, cibation, sublimation, fermentation, exaltation, multiplication, and projection; to which he might have added botheration, the most important process of all (4.36)

"Congelation, cibation, sublimation, fermentation, exaltation, multiplication, and projection"? Might as well be "time variant magneto-mechanical interactions." (According to the OED, congelation is "the action of congealing or freezing"; cibation is "feeding the matter; taking food.")

Alas, it appears that Orbo's public debut did not go well:

Further to Steorn’s announcement yesterday (5th July) regarding the technical difficulties experienced during the installation of its “Orbo” technology at the Kinentica [sic] Museum in London, Steorn has decided to postpone the demonstration until further notice.
Sean McCarthy CEO stated that “technical problems arose during the installation of the demonstration unit in the display case on Wednesday evening. These problems were primarily due to excessive heat from the lighting in the main display area. Attempts to replace those parts affected by the heat led to further failures and as a result we have to postpone the public demonstration until a future date.”
He continued that “we apologise for the inconvenience caused to all the people who had made arrangements to visit the demonstration or were planning on viewing the demonstration online.”
Over the next few weeks the company will explore alternative dates for the public demonstration.

Flight Simulator X Service Pack 2

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:08:55 GMT

Microsoft has released SP2 for Flight Simulator X.

You can learn about the what’s included in this update and download the appropriate installation file from the FSInsider Web site.

Voyager 4.0-First Impressions

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:56:25 GMT

I have just installed the alpha release of Voyager 4.0, a sophisticated flight-planning and electronic flight bag tool from Seattle Avionics. An alpha release is still far from a final product, but it's good check point to evaluate how well a new version installs and runs on various systems. And in this case, it's given me a look at the overhauled charting engine for Voyager.

I'm running the new release on a Dell computer that's running Vista Ultimate. Because the new charting system works much like Google Earth, it's best to have a system with a good video card--not the on-board, "shared" video memory so common on budget systems today. My 4-year-old system has a relatively new ATI card with 512 Mb of video memory, so it can take advantage of the new charting engine.

And, boy, is the new interface fast! My only major complaint about Voyager has been speed. Zooming in and out and panning around charts has always been slow, at least compared to the latest mapping tools such as Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth. That's no longer an issue with Voyager 4.0.

The alpha release doesn't include the final VFR and IFR chart overlays that will make the Voyager match the charts that pilots use in the cockpit, but they shouldn't slow things down.

I'm also impressed that the alpha has proven stable on my system; it's loading and saving existing flight flights, showing IAP charts, and grabbing weather data from the Web with aplomb.

I look forward to the beta and exploring Voyager 4.0 in more detail. I'll post a detailed review of the final release in the Product Reviews section of my Web site.

Photo Album: Blog Images

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:46:48 GMT

Blog Images

Photo Album: Blog Images

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:42:17 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Blog Images

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:04:24 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Blog Images

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:13:33 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Photo Album: Extra 300L

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:50:02 GMT

Extra 300L

Clouds02

Extra300_058

Extra_01

ExtraFormation05a

ExtraFormation07a

Extra-Right-Echelon-Lrg

Two-Ship4

Book List: Aviation Books

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:36:33 GMT

Aviation Books