Those who purchase and study Capt. David B. Gwinn's How Radar Works shouldn't find themselves among that crowd. Available from Sporty's Pilot Shop, this product consists of a terse, information-packed booklet and a 66-minute audio CD-ROM. The booklet discusses all the essentials in an easy-to-read, heavily illustrated format. Included is information about radar antennas, radar energy characteristics, antenna tilt control, and hazardous radar signatures. The CD provides a formal lecture that further details and fleshes out the concepts depicted in the booklet.
It's like sitting in on an advanced ground school session on radar - which is understandable when you realize that Gwinn, a retired TWA captain, makes a living as a weather radar educator. His highly regarded seminars have been well attended for years by airline and corporate pilots.
Now, with How Radar Works, you too can benefit from Gwinn's decades of on-the-job experience. Pilots who have access to radar-equipped aircraft and haven't yet attended a formal course - or who anticipate flying radar-equipped aircraft in the future - should order a copy. Price is $49.95; save $2.50 by using your AOPA credit card. For more information, contact Sporty's Pilot Shop, Clermont County Airport, Batavia, Ohio 45103-9747; telephone 800/543-8633 or 513/735-9000; fax 513/735-9200; or visit the Web site (www.sportys.com ).
Thomas A. Horne
Embedded Flight Computer
Many solutions exist for those pilots who wish to take their mechanical E6B and toss it out the side window. If you use a personal digital assistant (PDA) that employs the Pocket PC operating system, a new program from Grey Eagle Software allows you to perform all the calculations for which you'd normally use an E6B, and adds countdown timers and conversion equations.
Embedded Flight Computer displays all the required entries for a given computation, such as a heading problem, making it easy for the user to ascertain what inputs are needed. The pilot can either type in the exact figures with the keyboard, or for rough calculations, the joystick can be used to input numbers in increments of 10 - or whatever increment you customize. This feature is handy for those times in the cockpit when you have neither the time nor dexterity to use the stylus and keyboard (or you've dropped the stylus under the seat).
Embedded Flight Computer,/I> is available for Compaq iPaq PDAs and retails for $39.95. The software is available on the Handango Web site (www.handango.com ). For more information, contact Grey Eagle Software via e-mail ([email protected] ).
Pilot Error: The Anatomy of a Plane Crash
Where does an accident really begin? Phaedra Hise, an instrument-rated private pilot, investigates the story behind the weather-related crash of a Grumman Traveler off the shores of Cape Cod in 1998.
The book thoroughly discusses the events that led to the accident through interviews with controllers and others using the airspace that night, as well as family members.
Pilot Error: The Anatomy of a Plane Crash contains a good lesson about the insidiousness of overconfidence and adhering to a set plan - common pitfalls of students who are professionals in their daily lives and accustomed to completing tasks on time and with repeated success.
Pilot Error: The Anatomy of a Plane Crash is available from Brassey's Inc. for $26.95, plus $5 shipping. For more information, contact Brassey's, Post Office Box 960, Herndon, Virginia 20172; telephone 800/775-2518; fax 703/661-1501; or visit the Web site ( www.brasseysinc.com).
Situation Awareness Simulator
The developers at Simulation Environments, Robert Mehranfar and Stephen Doos, along with experienced flight instructor Larry Capots, have a program that should help students to improve their ability to interpret VOR (very high frequency omnidirectional range), DME (distance measuring equipment), and ADF (automatic direction finder) displays.
Called SASI (for situation awareness simulator), the program for Palm-based PDAs shows a cluster of instruments (a heading indicator, VORs one and two, an ADF, and two DME displays) along the top of the display. The student determines which instruments to use, and drags and drops them into any configuration. In simulation mode, an aircraft on the lower portion of the display can be moved into any position relative to the VOR or ADF station depicted on the screen, and the resulting indications on the instruments noted. Confused about where the aircraft is? Select "Show OBS radial" to see the radial the aircraft is currently on.
In knowledge test mode, the program tests the student in several ways. A quiz mode presents a set of needles, and the student taps on the location on the screen where the aircraft would be given the indications. Aircraft position is tested at varying levels of precision, determined by the number of sectors into which the screen is divided. Aircraft orientation takes the airplane's heading into account to see if the student can determine which direction the aircraft is heading relative to the station.
SASI retails for $49.95 and is available at PalmGear.com ( www.palmgear.com ). For more information, contact PDA Essentials via e-mail ([email protected] ).
Private Pilot Oral Exam Prep
You've passed the private pilot knowledge exam and mastered all the flying skills you'll have to demonstrate - now it's time to prepare for your practical test. New programs from First Solo Software allow you to study on your computer for the oral.
Private Pilot Oral Exam Prep contains more than 420 questions and presents the answer for each question, along with graphics where appropriate. Questions for a particular drill session are selected by topic for review. Once the drill has begun, the program prompts the student for a verbal answer, after which the student can view the correct answer and score him- or herself as having answered correctly or incorrectly. This self-scoring allows the program to cycle through incorrectly answered questions until the student is able to answer each question to his or her satisfaction. The student can exit the drill at any time, and the percentage of questions answered correctly at that point are displayed. Student records are saved separately.
Private Pilot Oral Exam Prep retails for $39.95. A version for the instrument oral was slated to debut in May, and a flight review prep will be ready for launch in June. For more information, contact First Solo Software, 7718 Yoakum Circle, Corpus Christi, Texas 78413; telephone 361/906-1020; or visit the Web site (www.firstsolosoftware.com ).
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