Aviation has big plans for tiny computers.
Pilots know a good thing when they see it. It didn't take long, way back in the mid-1980s, for aviation enthusiasts to recognize the potential of the first tiny computers then being introduced mainly for engineering and scientific applications. A limiting factor until recently was the inability of these small marvels to accommodate really large memory requirements and databases. But the hardware now on the market is more powerful than the desktop computers of a decade ago, and the state of the art is rapidly advancing. There are units available in just about every price range and software that supports just about any flight planning need. Here, we take a look at three of these hand-held wonders, called palmtops in the computer industry, which span the range of cost and features and are representative of what the brave new world of miniature electronics offers to pilots. — The Editors
Paragon Technologies FX-7
The Hewlett Packard 95LX palmtop computer is a remarkable machine. The 11- ounce, checkbook-size powerhouse does everything the popular electronic personal organizers do, yet is versatile enough to do much more. It comes with a built-in appointment calendar, telephone directory, memo editor, financial calculator, Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, file manager, and communications program.
A Florida software producer, Paragon Technologies, uses the HP 95LX's versatility as a platform for its aviation-related software. Paragon still markets the aviation software it developed several years ago for the Atari Portfolio palmtop computers. The new FX-7 software for the 95LX takes advantage of the advancements in liquid-crystal displays and miniature electronics made since the Portfolio was first introduced.
Another advantage of the new technology is simpler operation. Just a few keystrokes on the familiar "qwerty" typewriter-style keyboard brings up the flight planner. Enter your first waypoint, using the FAA three-letter identifier. Airport entries must be preceded with a hyphen, intersections with a plus symbol, and user waypoints with the "@" symbol; navaids require no prefix. The number of user-created waypoints is limited only by the available memory. Once you've entered the first two waypoints, the 95LX displays the course and heading, groundspeed, distance, ETE, and ETA across its 40-column by 16-row LCD.
The groundspeed is based on the aircraft data you enter. Specific data can be stored and retrieved for any number of aircraft, or you can quickly enter the basics for a new aircraft. For cruise legs of the flight plan, the displayed groundspeed will match the cruise TAS you entered unless you manually enter an average wind speed and direction for the entire trip, or for specific stations along the route, in which case the computer will interpolate the winds. Or you can have the 95LX import the winds from the weather briefing you retrieve from DUAT or any other on-line weather service. To access the on-line services, you'll need a modem (Paragon and HP recommend the portable WorldPort Pocket modem, about the size of a cigarette pack, but any modem will do) and the proper cables.
You can either manually enter the waypoints for a route or have the Paragon software automatically figure it based on VORs or RNAV. Computations for even the longest routes take only seconds.
Coordinates, magnetic variation, and frequencies are available for any navaid and airport at the touch of the Tab button. Airport displays also show elevation. The most recent software update allows the pilot to search on an airport name to find the identifier. The new listing also includes the state the airport is located in and the runway surfaces and lengths. Another feature of the database is the ability to instantly display the distance and heading to the 20 airports, navaids, intersections, or user-defined waypoints nearest the selected waypoint.
With 34,500 waypoints, the FX-7 software sports a larger database than many PC-based flight planners. Unfortunately, though, not all of the database can fit into the 95LX's available memory. You can choose to configure the database information in a variety of ways. The airports are divided into regions using the same boundaries as those in the "Airport/Facility Directory." You can choose to include airports in any or all regions and of any or all types (airports, gliderports, heliports, etc.), public and/or private, and type of runway surface. Likewise, navaids in specific regions and specific types of navaids also can be chosen, as can regions and types of intersections (e.g., ARTCC boundary intersections or airway intersections).
The loading of all public-use, hard-surface airports and VORs, VOR/ DMEs, and vortacs in the continental United States leaves plenty of room in the available 512 kilobytes of random-access memory. The Hewlett Packard software built into the machine resides in 1 megabyte of read-only memory. Those who choose to add the intersection database and most of the airports and navaids may want to pay the additional fee for a 128K or 512K RAM card that slips into the left end of the 95LX. The card acts like a supplemental disk drive.
The Paragon communications software makes accessing DUAT and other weather vendors a snap. The flight calculator does the typical wind, true airspeed, and fuel computations. In the weight-and-balance portion, empty weights, fuel, crew and passenger weights, and their respective arms or moments can be stored for specific aircraft.
Paragon recently began including a PC-compatible E-6B and DUAT program with each software purchase. The flight planner portion of the FX-7 software always has been compatible with a PC. Using a serial cable or the optional HP Connectivity Pack, you then can transfer flight plans and weather briefings between a PC and the 95LX. At the time of purchase, all of the FX-7 software must be transferred from a PC to the smaller computer. The Connectivity Pack also is useful with the HP applications. For example, the appointment calendar and telephone directory can be maintained on a PC and then downloaded onto the portable 95LX unit.
Updates of the flight-planner database also are downloaded from the PC. An annual database subscription, which includes updates every 56 days, costs $89 when downloaded from CompuServe, $129 by first-class mail. Hewlett Packard lists the HP 95LX, which is made in the United States, for $699. Paragon sells it for $549, though we've seen it advertised at the New York discount houses for $474. The Paragon FX-7 Flight Pak software is $195, which includes a six-month database subscription. Paragon charges $89.95 for the optional Connectivity Pack and $189 for the WorldPort 2400-baud modem. The 128K and 512K RAM cards run $129 and $239, respectively. The bottom line is that a complete system with 512K RAM card and modem costs about $1,300. You can be up and running with the software, computer, and necessary cables for about $800; the modem, RAM card, and Connectivity Pack can be added later. The computer and modem, of course, can be used for other things than flight planning. Paragon offers a demo disk with complete documentation for the FX-7 software for $15. The demo will run on a PC and shows nearly all the functions of the program. Those who choose not to buy the program can return the demo for a full refund.
The 95LX's configuration causes no problem in an airplane. You can lightly hold the control yoke and the 95LX in one hand and operate the computer with the other. Some desirable additions would be Victor airway routings, which Paragon plans to offer, and electronic check lists, which it does not plan to offer. You can make your own rudimentary check lists using the 95LX's built-in memo editor.
Hewlett Packard has wedged big computing capability into the 95LX's diminutive package, and Paragon has only begun to tap the possibilities. Like loran and electronic flight computers, this is one flight aid that is hard to give up once you've tried it.
Paragon Technologies, Post Office Box 273511, Boca Raton, Florida 33427; telephone 800/255-9411. — Thomas B. Haines
Flightmaster/Flightmaster Jr.
My friend had just departed Wichita on a 1,000-nm cross-country flight when he was cleared RNAV-direct to his destination. Equipped with just a KNS 80 RNAV unit, he faced the formidable task of trying to compute a direct route using low-altitude enroute charts. If he'd had a Flightmaster hand-held flight management system with him, his dilemma would have been solved in seconds with just a few keystrokes.
In the almost three years I've been flying with Flightmaster, I have come to regard it as an indispensable piece of cockpit equipment. Its database of 11,000 airports, VORs, intersections, and NDBs — plus 13,000 Victor and jet airway route segments — makes preflight VOR-to-VOR, RNAV, and airway planning; flight progress monitoring; and coping with in-flight route changes extremely easy. In addition, FM's ability to compute weight-and-balance and performance and display check lists for the airplanes I've programmed into it contributes to the safety and efficiency of my flying. (For a complete rundown on FM's capabilities, see "Pilot Products," September 1989 Pilot.)
Thousands of pilots flying virtually everything from two-seat experimentals to widebody airliners have come to rely on their Flightmasters. Still, the unit's $695 price tag can be a formidable barrier to entry, as marketing types would say. That's why the recent introduction of Flightmaster Jr. is a significant step.
Priced at $395, FM Jr. uses the same 10.5-ounce, shirt-pocket-size computer as the full-blown Flightmaster, but instead of two 128K plug-in memory modules to hold data, FM Jr. uses just one. So in place of full U.S. coverage, you receive East, Central, or West regional coverage (there's some overlap between the regions). Complete airport and navaid information for those regions is provided, but airway and intersection information is deleted. FM Jr. also does not include the FM's FAA flight plan form, does not support the FM's optional printer, and does not store check lists. Those are the differences. But because the basic hardware is the same, all you'd need do to upgrade to full FM capability is swap the memory modules.
How much functionality do you lose with FM Jr.? Not much, really. After all, airway route segments can usually be described as VOR-to-VOR legs, and intersections can be added as needed as user-defined waypoints. (The only limit to the number of user WPs is the computer's memory, which is also shared by your aircraft performance data and any routings you choose to save.) If your flying is generally limited to one geographic area, the lack of a full U.S. database will not be noticed, and you can order the regional databases separately for those long vacation or business trips. In evaluating FM Jr., in fact, I sometimes forgot I was using it rather than my regular FM until I attempted to plan a flight that crossed the regional database's boundary.
In flight, the heart of the system remains the interactive trip log that summarizes times, distances, speeds, fuel requirements, and vertical navigation profiles for the entire trip and then provides leg-by-leg details of that information, plus waypoint frequencies, coordinates, magnetic variation, and estimated and actual times of arrival and enroute. You can modify the trip log on the fly, so to speak, to reflect route changes or weather deviations. if you update the built-in flight timer as you pass each fix, the computer recalculates the variables for the following legs and gives you an accurate assessment of the true winds aloft, as well as your current dead-reckoning position at any moment. Other systems do not offer this "realtime" feature, which keeps you continuously informed of position, ETA, and fuel status.
FM and FM Jr. can search their databases for an airport or navaid even if you can remember only a fragment of the facility name or city. You can also search a given radius around any location (including your present position) for airports, navaids, or other fixes. This can provide useful heading and distance-to-fly information in the event of a route change, minimum fuel situation, or in-flight emergency.
And both units perform E-6B calculations that will relegate your whiz wheel to the flight bag.
For both units, an annual, six-time database update subscription costs $150 via second-day air, $180 via next-day air, and $200 for the zero-downtime option (the company sends you new memory modules, and you return your old ones). A one-time update costs $50 via second-day air, $55 via next-day air.
A videotape Flightmaster information package, plus a user's manual, is available for $14.
Both units carry a no-risk, 90-day, money-back guarantee.
Flightmaster, Inc., Lake Technology Park, McHenry, Maryland 21541; telephone 800/462-6669 or 301/387-7997, fax 301/387-7322. — Seth B. Golbey
Ultra-Nav
Computers aren't for everyone, even the computer designers admit. That's especially true in the aviation realm, where only the most intuitive computers can be considered for cockpit use. Piloting duties simply leave little leftover time to decipher a complex software system.
Charles Mire understood that simplicity is the soul of goodness where cockpit computers are concerned and came up with the Ultra-Nav, which uses a Texas Instruments TI-74 S hand-held computer as a basis. The $295 price includes the computer, software, and a 32K data cartridge that contains the Ultra-Nav software. No database is included; you must fill the 150 waypoints yourself. (There are those who consider this an unacceptable task, but you must only do it once [a keep-alive function preserves the database while you change batteries], and if you're careful, the chances of entering the incorrect coordinates are slim. Call it a compromise for the Ultra-Nav's low price.)
For those turned off by computerese and user-hostile programming, the Ultra-Nav will be a welcome relief. Like the other units described in this article, it is entirely menu-driven, which makes it clear and simple to use. Even the computer-phobic will find the unit friendly. This menu system, however, also turns out to be the package's Achilles heel; more on that in a bit.
Here's an illustration of the Ultra-Nav's menu philosophy: When you power up, the first menu that appears is "Fast Trek ? (Y/N)." This is the most basic flight planning function; to start, just type "Y" and hit the Enter key. You will be asked the number of route segments and then the departure identifier (or lat/long coordinates if you haven't put that waypoint in memory yet). After you enter the identifier and the computer finds it, you'll be asked for the destination in the same fashion. Ultra-Nav will ask for groundspeed and then go about computing true course, flight time, and distance. It's all so self-explanatory that you can make it work with no instruction or outside prompting of any kind.
The next level includes what the Ultra-Nav calls dead-reckoning navigation. This is a more involved version of the Fast Trek computations and asks for fuel flows, climb and cruise true airspeeds, winds aloft, and magnetic variation for the area; that the computer doesn't know this last bit of information is a shortcoming because it's not always at your fingertips. With these numbers, the Ultra-Nav will spit out magnetic heading and course information, time to station, fuel consumed, distance, and computed groundspeed for each leg and will provide flight totals as well. In another mode, the Ultra-Nav will perform rudimentary area navigation and provide the above-listed computations.
Among the Ultra-Nav's other talents: Computation of weight and balance, density altitude, true airspeed, groundspeed, winds aloft, crosswind/ headwind component, and unit conversions. As with all its modes, the Ultra- Nav handles these calculations through a stone-simple menu system that takes zero time to become accustomed to.
The downside of this system is that it quickly becomes cumbersome for the experienced user. You may either answer no (or "N") to the functions you do not wish to use or scroll through with the arrow keys, but there's no way to go directly to the desired function. Also, if you run Fast Trek numbers and then wish to have fuel flows figured as well, you must go back to the dead-reckoning mode and enter the waypoint identifiers all over again; better off just using the DR mode to begin with. You can save two 15-segment flight plans in memory. Another nit: You must know how many route segments you intend to fly before you start entering them, which requires more mental gymnastics than we'd like.
Overall, the Ultra-Nav scores well for simplicity and its ability to placate the computer-frazzled. The TI computer comes in a plastic case and appears to be very rugged. Only the recently released Flightmaster Jr., at $100 more, gives the Ultra-Nav a run for the money at this end of the market.
Ultra-Nav, 2904 20th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79410; telephone 806/792- 4890. — Marc E. Cook
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