Zuluworks was formed by Rob Honeycutt, founder of Timbuk2, a successful custom bag manufacturer. He sold that company in 2002 and has since earned his private certificate and instrument rating - and set about to improve the way that pilots organize their cockpits.
The metal clipboard comes wrapped in a heavy-duty ballistic nylon or waxed canvas cover that opens to reveal clever mesh and nylon pockets. Two are obviously there for Mini-Maglite-style flashlights. A deeper pocket on one side fits an approach chart booklet, and a shallower pocket on the other is perfect for pens. The board itself features a post to hold the Zulupad - a pad specially designed to organize your weather briefing, flight plan, and flight information - securely in place.
Also offered are Zulucards. These full-color laminated cards contain vital flight information and memory joggers printed on one side for clipping onto the Zuluboard. You can keep the ones you normally use and store the rest. Particularly helpful is one that lists minimum climb gradient in feet per nm, and one that depicts a crosswind component chart. Others include light gun signals, a weather decoder, and common VHF frequencies. You can also customize a V-speeds card for the aircraft that you fly most.
Price: $44.95 for nylon; $49.95 for waxed canvas, with four Zulucards and a Zulupad included: also sold separately. For more information: 510/393-5444; www.zuluworks.com.
Petzl Zipka headlamp
A twist on the LED flashlight is Petzl's Zipka headlamp. Pilots may recognize the style as one long used by mountain climbers and other outdoor enthusiasts for hands-free illumination. This product adapts well to cockpit use in the event of an electrical failure or any time when additional light is required.
We tried the Zipka, and it fit several users comfortably. The thin head strap practically disappears under the headsets we used, and the lamp stays in place during light activity - it would take some pretty good knocks of turbulence to shake it off. The three LED lamps illuminate an instrument-panel-sized area, with the brightest core of light about the same width as an approach chart at two feet. The white bulbs can be modified with a red or green filter.
The best part is the Zipka's portability - it's about the size of a kiwifruit and weighs just under 3 ounces. The light is powered by three AAA batteries. The product carries a manufacturer's warranty of three years, and it's available through AvShop
Price: $26.95. For more information: 800/805-9415; www.avshop.com/zipka.html.
Flying the Mountains: A Training Manual forFlying Single-Engine Aircraft
It's that time of year again - when even the sea-level airports' automated weather observations are shouting warnings about density altitude. If you fly anywhere close to mountains, you need to get some additional instruction (see "Friends in High Places," July AOPA Flight Training). And that training starts with bookwork. The latest offering from McGraw-Hill, Flying the Mountains: A Training Manual for Flying Single-Engine Aircraft, is an excellent place to begin your study. The FAA has also produced several free tools for you to access to deepen your knowledge.
Flying the Mountains: A Training Manual for Single-Engine Aircraft focuses on which unique features of mountainous regions (besides the obvious terrain features) lead to accidents and how to avoid them. The effects of altitude on both the pilot and the aircraft can be severe and insidious. Also, rugged terrain, unpredictable weather, and remote locations conspire to turn an innocuous VFR cross-country flight into an epic. The book offers techniques and both correct and incorrect courses of action in response to specific situations
Price: $29.95. For more information: www.amazon.com and other online retailers.
Another excellent source of information is the FAA's Aviation Safety Program (AFS-820 in FAA department-speak). Tips on Mountain Flying, FAA-P-8740-60, is a succinct booklet filled with important information about flying in the high country. Produced with input from the Denver Flight Standards District Office, Denver Automated Flight Service Station, and Colorado Pilots Association, it contains the critical elements gleaned from broad experience with mountain flying. The booklet offers guidelines for flight planning, obtaining weather, flight operations, and emergency procedures and survival equipment.
The FAA has also produced a companion Mountain Flying Checklist, document FAA-P-8470-61, with bullet points and a density altitude chart to assist you in planning and executing safe mountain flights. Above all, the literature emphasizes that the best plan is to gain local instruction in mountain flying techniques before attempting flight into the high country.
Another resource is the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center's special Web page. Contact your local flight standards district office for information on obtaining copies of these and other free materials.
For more information: www1.faa.gov/avr/afs/fsdo.
BRIEFLY NOTED
The eight-lesson Private Pilot Refresher Course by Gleim is actually designed to help private pilots prepare at home for a flight review - and you can try it free of charge. This interactive program could also serve as an inexpensive study aid for student pilots who are prepping for the private pilot checkride several months after taking the FAA knowledge test. Each lesson is preceded by a 10-question true/false quiz to find out what you've retained as you've plowed through flight training. Answer 10 multiple-choice questions correctly before you move on to the next lesson.
Price: $29.95. For more information: www.gleim.com.
Flying Dynamics, a provider of flight training software, has released the latest version of its Flight Trainer software series. The programs include navigation training, quizzes, and navigation simulations (ADF, VOR, HSI, and DME) for private and instrument pilots - and pilots preparing to take the practical test for those certificates - as well as ground reference maneuver training and simulation (traffic patterns, s-turns, turns about a point, eights on pylons) for private and commercial pilots. The software shows the airplane in a given maneuver or course alongside several cockpit instruments and navaids with the appropriate indications for each phase of that maneuver.
Price: from $34.95 (for the ground reference maneuvers only) to $119.95 (for the works). For more information: 650/627-8898; www.flyingdynamics.com.
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