WxWorx on Wings
Don't have your own uplinked weather data or radar? Ever wish there was a portable weather receiver for cloud tops, lightning strikes, winds, Nexrad radar maps, storm cell tracking, sigmets and airmets, METARs, and terminal area forecasts? As one million listeners know, XM Satellite Radio offers 101 digital channels of news, sports, and music, but it can do more than entertain.
A Huntsville, Alabama, company called WxWorx now uses XM Satellite Radio resources to broadcast weather, WxWorx on Wings, anywhere in the continental United States (Alaska and Hawaii are not included). The data can be picked up by mobile receivers and displayed on your laptop or tablet computer for a startup cost (including receiver, antenna, and software) of either $660 or $860. The Basic package at $660 provides the WxWorx software, receiver, and antenna. The Premium package includes topography and GPS connectivity — plug in a GPS to the computer and you'll see your position relative to the weather. Service is limited to the continental United States because that is the area reached by XM Satellite Radio, according to WxWorx Vice President Mick Gosdin. While the Premium product used in this test is marketed directly by WxWorx, Garmin and Heads Up Technologies are offering WxWorx as well — Garmin uses it on its new G1000 integrated avionics system and Heads Up has it on its XM audio/data receiver that can be used with various display systems including electronic flight bags. The Heads Up receiver also will be used to provide WxWorx on Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 aircraft avionics systems.
The portable WxWorx receiver requires no special approval for use in an aircraft — use it as you would any portable radio — and there are no plans to have it certified. While portable, the receiver does need to plug into the aircraft's power supply. The company is developing a single power supply that will work for either 12- or 28-volt electrical systems. As this was written, separate power supplies were required.
Additional costs include a subscription to the weather data from XM Satellite Radio. A subscription service for weather called the Aviator Package — purchased directly from XM Radio rather than from WxWorx — costs $49.99 a month plus a one-time activation fee of $75.
The WxWorx on Wings on-screen data buttons for weather, airspace, VORs, airports, winds, and other data turn red when the data is more than five minutes old or simply unavailable, blue when data is available, and green when the user is receiving the data. Normally all weather data is updated every five minutes. Aviation-related data such as airways, airports, airspace, and VORs is obtained from the FAA. WxWorx plans to offer database updates every 28 days over the Internet or on a CD, but pricing for that proposed service has not been established.
Two pilots and I had a chance to test it out on a flight to Florida from Maryland. The antenna wire, power cord, and cable from the receiver to my laptop created a wire jungle in the cockpit that was best left unexplored until after takeoff. Also, my laptop supposedly has a two-hour battery, but it actually lasts only 45 minutes. I learned to pick and choose the times when weather data was needed. We had expected Florida to be having its usual precipitation problems, but clicking on METARs for Kissimmee and the surrounding areas showed that conditions would allow a VFR arrival — no need to call flight watch.
The return flight had to be rerouted when an offshore weather system sucker-punched North Carolina, not to mention the northern portions of South Carolina and all of Georgia. The only way back to Maryland was to go from Kissimmee to Huntsville, before turning east. Once airborne on an IFR flight plan, conditions reported in northern Florida and central Alabama didn't sound promising — 200-foot ceilings and one-mile visibilities. It was time for WxWorx on Wings to save the day. A look at the big picture, clicking on METARs for Huntsville and nearby towns, revealed that while conditions along the route were minimal, the destination had a 1,000-foot ceiling and five miles visibility. Had conditions not improved, we could easily have shopped for an airport with better weather in only a few clicks of the mouse.
To run the program you'll need Windows 2000, Windows XP, or a tablet PC. Whatever the computer, it needs a Pentium class processor of 800 MHz or better, a CD-ROM, 512 megabytes of memory, and USB ports. — Alton K. Marsh
Price: $660 for the Basic package; $860 for the Premium package
Contact: 321/751-9202; www.wxworx.com
Bose X headset
For many pilots, the Bose Aviation X ("ten")-series headset has been perceived as the Porsche of the active noise reduction (ANR) group because of its light weight, sleek design, and high audio quality. But other ANR headset manufacturers have pushed the standard in noise reduction and functionality, helping to spur Bose to do the same — and justify the jump in price from other marques' top-of-the-line models to the X, which consistently retails for just south of $1,000.
Changes to the model propose to reduce pilot distraction, allowing the pilot to "concentrate more on flying." The portable control module and battery box has been streamlined by 30 percent. The shape is more ergonomic as well, with controls easily manipulated by one hand. The mic can be placed on either ear cup by unscrewing the boom module and reinstalling it on the other side — the X is a "sided" headset, meaning you need to have the ear cup labeled "left" on your left ear in order for the ANR to function properly.
Improvements to the ear cups include smaller air ports to bring outside air into the shell to use in noise attenuation — which reduce the amount of ambient noise also let in. This enabled Bose to go even lighter — while the total package with battery box weighs about 1.2 pounds, the headset itself weighs only 12 ounces, as advertised.
But the most distracting thing about an ANR headset is the warbling feedback that occurs when the set loses its juice. Until you can find the battery box (usually somewhere on the cockpit floor amidst cables and charts) you're stuck with the flak. Bose has developed Adapti-Sense, a power-management system to conserve batteries by regulating the voltage to supply only that which the headset needs at a given moment. The company promises up to 40 hours of life from a pair of AA batteries (and the battery type is also a switch from the X's previous 9-volt setup). We found this claim to be true in our testing. The system also detects when the pilot has removed the headset and shuts off power. A three-color indicator with day or night brightness adjustment shows the battery status, so you have a heads-up before you find yourself fishing for AAs from your spare flashlight.
Our X model worked as promised, and delivered consistently less clamping force than other high-end models, as considered by several staff testers. In a quiet setting, the shutoff feature engaged within 30 seconds of the tester removing the headset. In the airplane, the headset will stay active unless manually turned off or the engine is shut down.
Bose offers a five-year warranty on both portable (as tested) and installed models (using aircraft power and special plugs).
Price: $995
Contact: 800/242-9008; www.bose.com
ElectronicFlight Solutions Autopilot Systems CD
The fifth and final module of its CompleteLearning library, Autopilot Systems, brings to fruition ElectronicFlight Solutions' goal of demystifying complex avionics for general aviation pilots.
The CD loads easily and installs with any other modules already on your PC. Once launched, you choose from one of three models of autopilot to study, the Bendix/King KAP 140 or KFC 225, and the S-Tec Fifty Five/Fifty Five X. Procedures for several other Bendix/King autopilots are also covered by the KFC 225 tutorial, and procedures for other S-Tec autopilots are included in the tutorial for the Fifty Five and Fifty Five X.
The ElectronicFlight modus operandi is to first lay a solid foundation in avionics core principles prior to teaching procedures. And rather than being taught by rote, procedures are chunked into tasks so that you learn how to get the autopilot to do what you want and can rearrange smaller tasks to fit a given in-flight situation. This mode of teaching is well executed in the autopilot module.
It took our tester about two hours to complete the first tutorial on the KAP 140. If tutorials on the other two autopilots are selected, some of the basics are repeated from the first lesson, but the other seven lessons are model-specific. Each tutorial contains operations for both VFR and IFR flight, with instrument approach procedures broken down into each component. Both precision and nonprecision approaches, with procedure turns and holds, are covered. Failures are gone over in detail. A bank of questions at the end of each lesson and a review section at the end of each tutorial reinforce concepts. The questions require some thought; they aren't just teaching the basics here.
Even if you fly with an autopilot regularly, we'll bet that you learn more than a few things from this module.
ElectronicFlight also offers customized CDs for owners and pilots of specific aircraft, such as new Beechcraft, Cessna, Cirrus, and The New Piper airplanes. The CDs contain the tutorials specific to the aircraft's avionics for a focused course and a price ranging from $595 to $695.
Price: $195 for the Autopilot Systems CD
Contact: 866/234-2359; www.electronicflight.com
Approach Aviation's LED Micro-Flex and Mega-Flex lights
Two new flexible-neck lights designed in Germany are available from Approach Aviation located in Stow, Massachusetts. The 19.5-inch LED Mega-Flex can bend around the bottom of a cylinder to check for cracks or even pass through most spark plug holes for inspection by a mechanic. The 6-inch LED Micro-Flex easily clips onto a shirt pocket, collar, or even a headset, allowing the light to be moved through an infinite number of positions to illuminate the instrument panel or lapboard. The flashlights use not conventional bulbs but light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the light source that Approach Aviation's Jeff Simon says last 100,000 hours.
The batteries in each light, although of different types, last 100 hours. The Mega-Flex requires a single AA battery, while the Micro-Flex takes four power cells slightly larger than those found in watches. Whether you've lost a battery or a contact lens in the cockpit, or you just want to look in the tail cone to find a bird's nest, this is the way to do it. — AKM
Price: LED Mega-Flex, $39.95; LED Micro-Flex, $24.95
Contact: 877/564-4457; www.approachaviation.com
QUICK HITS
The lightweight Proplock, by Wilson Locking Systems, immobilizes most general aviation propellers to deter theft aircraft. The 3-pound lock is made of manganese and neoprene and resists cutting by torch or hacksaw. The lime-green color makes it easy to see; custom colors are available.
Price: $235 plus $20 shipping
Contact: 505/471-1948; www.wilsonlocks.com
Pilot Publishing has released its latest version of the Western U.S. Pilot's Guide, a full-color book designed to help pilots locate and plan trips to recreational destinations throughout the western United States. More than 75 new airports have been added to the guide since the premier 2002 edition.
Price: $39.95
Contact: 800/521-2120; www.flythewest.com
SureCheck Aviation announced its redesigned portable collision avoidance device, the TrafficScope VRX. The passive unit detects Mode C and Mode S transponder replies with user-selectable altitude and radius ranges and audio and visual alerts. It can also send traffic information to compliant avionics via an RS-232 connection.
Price: $1,195
Contact: 888/340-8055 or 760/891-0500; www.surecheckaviation.com
A free online flight planner, Airports En Route, accesses several useful online tools already available to pilots from a single page. The site's original flight-planning tool computes the course from the given route and winds aloft for points in the United States and Canada, with Mexico and Caribbean destinations to come.
Contact: www.plantofly.com
Unless otherwise stated, products listed herein have not been evaluated by AOPA Pilot editors. AOPA assumes no responsibility for products or services listed or for claims or actions by manufacturers or vendors. However, members unable to get satisfaction regarding products listed should advise AOPA. To submit products for evaluation, contact: New Products Editor, AOPA Pilot , 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701; telephone 301/695-2350. Links to all Web sites referenced in this issue can be found on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/pilot/links.shtml).
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