Goodies & Gadgets
In Flight USA Goodies & Gadgets
MTH Version of the Electroair Ignition System Now Available
Ameritech Industries, Inc. have announced the long awaited availability of the Magneto Timing Housing (MTH) version of the Electroair Certified Electronic Ignition System for Continental IO-360, O/IO-470, IO-520 and IO-550 six cylinder engines. Ameritech is the largest stocking distributor for Electroair and systems are on the shelf, ready-to-ship.
The EIS-61000-1M STC’d ignition kit is currently approved for Cessna, Cirrus, Bellanca, Beechcraft, Mooney, Meyers and Navion aircraft with models being added regularly. Check Ameritech’s website for the latest approvals.
The Electroair direct fire ignition system replaces one magneto with a Magneto Timing Housing (MTH), which feeds the engine position and RPM information to the Controller. The Controller also receives the input from the MAP sensor, computes the amount of dwell, adjusts timing, and signals the coils to fire directly into the spark plugs.
Zenair Rivets Now Available at Aircraft Spruce
Zenith Aircraft Company is making available their unique blind rivets through Aircraft Spruce and Specialty. Blind (or pulled) rivets are a common type of fastener used in metal kit aircraft construction. They are available in 1/8-inch and 5/32-inch diameters.
What makes the Zenair rivet distinctive is that as the rivet is pulled, the rivet head is drawn into a dome-shaped top which gives the finished rivet a low profile rounded top, enhancing the strength of the rivet while improving airflow over it. The ease with which these rivets can be pulled, or “popped,” saves considerable time and simplifies the entire kit building process. Aeronautical engineer Chris Heintz, designer of the popular Zenith line of kit planes, first started using structural blind rivets for light aircraft construction in the 1970s when he sought an easier alternative to bucked solid rivets, which require 
additional tooling and skills.
D’Shannon Baffles Refine Cooling Process
D’Shannon Baffle Cooling Kits provide vital airflow to engines, extending cylinder life.Realizing that properly fitting baffles can have a dramatic impact on cylinder life; D’Shannon Aviation has gone the distance in refining their custom baffle cooling kits for Barons and Bonanzas. It is one of the reasons the company went beyond FAA requirements, conducting flight tests in 100 degree ambient temperatures. Data collected in conditions that exceed FAA requirements have verified the cooling properties of D’Shannon engine baffles.
A vital factor in the effectiveness of baffles is the snugness of their fit against the cowling to utilize all incoming air by directing it over the cylinders. The new engine-mounted aluminum baffles are provided with high temp, high tear strength silicone that is used to mate the baffles to composite inserts that are attached to the upper cowling for maximized cooling.
D’Shannon Baffle Cooling Kits come with the mounting brackets, hardware, along with metal and flexible seals configured to eliminate any possible loss of cooling air. An engine with proper cooling will make it to TBO by substantially reducing CHT and oil temperatures.
The Deohako Propshot Lens
The Deohako PropShot-Smarty is a universal smartphone lens and mount for your iPhone, Samsung, or other mobile device that allows video footage to be captured without the propeller distortion and Jello effect usually experienced while shooting aerial videography. The Deohako PropShot Lens uses a special dual circular polarizer lens plus a neutral density filter to capture professional looking video. The universal smartphone grip adjusts to securely hold your mobile device. Its rotating ball head positions your smartphone at any angle to capture amazing flight footage. Just slide your phone into the smartphone holder, add the Prop Shot Lens, and start filming.
Reno Air Race’s Online Store Now Open
The official Reno Air Race’s 50th logo merchandise has been restocked and is ready to ship from their website. Great gift ideas for the holidays for all race fans. Items include 50th anniversary poster, men’s suede jacket, polo shirts for men and women, twill shirts, denim shirts and much more.
Check out the website for information regarding selection, size, color and pricing, including shipping. http://shop.airrace.org/
Items Include:
• 50th Anniversary Poster, $15
• 50th Anniversary Suede Jacket, $240.00
• 2013 Official 50th Anniversary Logo Tee Shirt, $25
• Men’s 2-Tone 50th Anniversary Logo Polo Shirt, $47
• Women’s 50th Anniversary logo polo shirt, $47
Jewelry Made From B-17 Bomber Skins Highlights New EAA Gift Catalog
Give a piece of the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress this holiday season with original, exclusive jewelry made from the actual exterior skins of EAA’s Aluminum Overcast, available through the 2013 EAA merchandise catalog.
This jewelry is available only through EAA, made by Criffin Designs from the skins that were removed after being damaged in a 2012 hailstorm. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this jewelry will help maintain the B-17 in flying condition for years to come.
Hellcat Bottle Opener
Get ready to pop that top with this truly unique handcrafted, Hellcat bottle opener. Not only is this a fun keepsake and a functional gadget, but it also resembles the Grumman F6F carrier-based fighter used in World War II.
The Hellcat bottle opener is made with lead-free pewter with some sterling silver that provides an exceptional shine. You can keep the Hellcat bottle opener clean by hand washing with ammonia free mild soap and water. Dishwashing is not recommended. A pewter cleaning cloth available from any hardware store is also an option for keeping your bottle opener shiny bright. The Hellcat bottle opener and gift box packaging is completely made in the USA. It fits in the palm of your hand, has a nice feel, and measures approximately 4.25-inches long by 3.25-inches across the wingspan.
Anyone interested in aviation would enjoy owning this opener. This is available for $25 on the Banyan Pilot Shop website at www.BanyanPilotShop.net/hellcat
Positive Data Continue to Accumulate for Tamarack’s Active Winglets
Preliminary flight tests are revealing significant fuel savings with Active Winglets installed on the Citation Jet.Tamarack Aerospace Group (TAG) continues to show significant performance and efficiency gains on a CitationJet equipped with Active Winglets according to flight test data. In a number of flights starting at gross weight (10,400 pounds), the Tamarack test CJ has beaten the published times for climbing to 41,000-feet by significant margins.
The most recent flight from Dallas to Jackson Hole (a distance of 1,100 nm) used 2,400 pounds of fuel. Starting at gross weight, an unmodified CJ would have burned 2,700 pounds of fuel. Practically speaking, the flight would have required one re-fueling stop, taken an extra hour to reach the destination, and burned close to 3,200 pounds of fuel. The ability to make the flight non-stop saved close to 800 pounds of fuel under realistic operating conditions that included 50-knot headwinds.
TAG has observed similar savings on several other flights, validating the potential for significant fuel savings with Active Winglets. These are preliminary results with a prototype aircraft on which the Active Winglets are still being optimized.
Active Winglet kits are expected to be available for the Cirrus SR22 this spring and for the CitationJet in 2014. For more information, visit www.Tamarack Aero.com.
Aeroleds Releases New Microsun Taxi/Recognition Light
In their continuing effort to keep the designs “new” and “fresh”, AeroLEDs has increased its light output of their popular MicroSun light from 5,000 candela to 8,000. Originally designed as a direct replacement for recognition lights in the wingtip of Cirrus aircraft, the MicroSun has proven very popular with Experimental, LSA and Special-Use applications. While the MicroSun draws only a fraction of the power required for a comparable halogen light it has a life expectancy of 50,000 hours, outlasting halogen and HID lights.
Each MicroSun has built in pulse and wig wag features, weighs only 3.5 ounces and can withstand temperatures of -55°C to +70°C.
The MicroSun is protected against overheating with a built-in protection circuit and can be installed in 12Vdc or 24Vdc electrical systems. It is also sheltered against lightning, voltage spikes, reverse voltage and under voltage conditions. MicroSun sells for $350.
For more information visit www.AeroLEDs.com or call 208/850-3294.
New Aviator Light Pen Sheds Light Where You Need It
When you need to write, and there is no light available, or when you don’t want to lose all your night vision, or when you don’t want to disturb those around you, the old solutions used to involve writing blind (and trying to decipher it later) or holding a flashlight in your “spare hand,” or even in your mouth. Technology presents a better solution, and Wicks Aircraft Supply has it: a pen with a lighted tip.
This good-looking ballpoint pen, with the Wicks phone number always handy on its barrel, writes with standard black ink, right where its own light is shining, allowing you to see and write in otherwise pitch-darkness. It is also possible to use this pen without turning on the light, to save the long-life batteries for when you need them. It is also useful as a micro-flashlight.
Scott Wick, President of Wicks Aircraft, says, “This new pen has a LED light which shines from the tip directly to the surface you are writing on. It is perfect for the pilot who flies at night and needs to write down a clearance or needs to see or make a mark on their map. Now you don’t have to hold a flashlight in one hand and write with the other. Nor do you need to move your map under a cockpit light to be able to see it. I wish I had one of these years ago.”
The wait is over. The Wicks part number is WF14101B, and the Aviator Light
Pen is available immediately, priced at $9.99. Visit www.wicksaircraft.com to order.
Ideas for the Future Pilots on Your List
Tailwinds: Adventures of a Young Aviator
Free Ebook
What if your parents introduced you to flying at a very young age? What if you began in the 1930s when the few aviation regulations were rarely enforced? Think of the adventures you might have experienced.
Dan Poynter’s book, titled Tailwinds: Adventures of a Young Aviator, takes place in the late 30s and early 40s and is illustrated with black-and-white photos that were taken at that time and maps depicting all the places the young hero visits. Fascinating videos provide back up material and almost all were from that early era.
The book reveals the ‘story behind the story’ of many events between 1939 and 1942. The places described in the book are real as are most of the events and people. The dialogue is presumed and the main character is fictional – but he could have been real.
Until recently, ebooks were simply digital versions of the (non-illustrated) printed book. Now, authors and publishers are discovering that ebooks have more capability than books of the past. Enhanced (illustrated) ebooks can tell a story in a way that a print book never could. Read this novel on an ereader connected to the Internet to take full advantage of this enhanced ebook’s capabilities.
Holiday Ideas for the Pilot on Your List
Watches For The Adventurous Woman
The Abingdon Co. is a specialty watch company that was created with one goal in mind: to provide adventurous women with stylish, practical and high-quality aviation and travelling watches.
Founded in 2006 by a young woman pilot, Abingdon Welch, The Abingdon Co. offers three models – the “Jackie,” the “Amelia” and the “Elise.” The watches feature multiple times zones, flight calculations and conversion capabilities (foreign exchange, imperial to metric units), date function, chronograph timer and luminous hands and markers. The assemblies in each watch come from all over the world, including the US, Switzerland, Japan, and Hong Kong. They are crafted using top quality materials and techniques: quartz movement, surgical grade stainless steel or ionized 18k gold plating, genuine mother-of-pearl dial, sapphire crystal glass and interchangeable leather or stainless steel bands.
The Abingdon Company’s complete line of aviation watches are available at http://theabingdonco.com/
Photograph Your Best Flying with the Fat Gecko(r)
Co-Pilot Camera Mount
Capture your flight hands free. The Fat Gecko(r) Co-Pilot makes it easy to mount any camera inside your airplane for an unobstructed view of your cockpit and the open airspace ahead. The retractable telescoping bar fits a variety of cockpit widths ranging from 36” - 49.5” and creates a stable suspended base for your camera between any two opposing windows. Two industrial locking suction cups secure each end to the window’s surface for a trustworthy hold, even in turbulence, pressure changes and cold temperatures. Attach any camera to the built in standard tripod thread in the center of the bar and lock in your angle to capture the open air or instrument panel, the pilots actions for in-flight training sequences, or the thrilled look on your passengers’ faces behind you. Once attached, the camera can be adjusted to shoot up or down, turned sideways or even reversed by loosening the two adjustment knobs on the mount.
Savvy Launches Free-of-Charge Web-Based Next-Generation Engine Monitor Data Analysis Platform: SavvyAnalysis.com
Designed by professional analysts to be fast, powerful, easy to use, and packed with features for serious analysis. Available to the public free of charge beginning July 1st, 2012.
SavvyAnalysis.com, a new web-based next-generation digital engine monitor data analysis platform, will become available July 1st, 2012, totally free of charge.
Mike Busch“We were frustrated with the existing tools available to graph and analyze piston engine monitor data, so we decided to develop our own platform from the ground up, and equip it with all sorts of advanced capabilities from our growing wish-we-had-this list” stated Mike Busch A&P/IA, CEO of Savvy Aircraft Maintenance Management, Inc. Busch is a recognized authority on piston aircraft engines, and was honored by the FAA in 2008 as National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year.
“As the world’s largest manager of owner-flown piston-powered airplanes, we have long found that engine monitor data analysis is the most powerful tool available for troubleshooting engine problems,” Busch added. “I suspect we’ve probably done more of this kind of analysis than all other organizations combined, so we know what it takes to do it right.”
AeroLEDs Sunspot Landing Light Lasts 50,000 Hours
The Sunspot 36HX has received PMA approval from the FAA and can be installed on any certificated aircraft.The FAA had granted PMA Certification to AeroLEDs Sunspot 36HX landing light. Powered by new LED technology, the Sunspot will last 50,000 hours, allowing pilots to fly with the light on at all times for enhanced visibility. The light also comes with “wig-wag” or pulsing capability and is so bright that it can be seen at great distances in daylight when the aircraft is not visible.
BrightLine Bags New Modular “Flex System” Flight Bags
BrightLine Bags, Inc. has announced an entirely new modular flight bag system to replace its current market-leading flight bag design. The new product line, called “The FLEX System,” starts with the basic modular design concept that made the current BrightLine Bags flight bag so popular and then takes that same innovation and thoughtful engineering to a whole new level by creating an entire system that now contains five different-sized interchangeable modules, a front and rear end cap, and a collection of four interchangeable external pockets. The result is that for the first time, every individual pilot can create a customized bag that is the exact size and has the exact functionality he or she wants, according to the needs of their next flight.
Grime-Off General Aviation Cleaning Products
Check out this new line of 100% biodegradable cleaning products which are ideal for general aviation aircraft. Certified to Boeing Standard D-6 for commercial aircraft, Grime Off Aviation products are mean, green, and made to clean. The product line includes Exterior Wash, Surface Cleaning Spray & Wipes, Windshield Cleaning Spray & Wipes, Grime Off Heavy Duty Degreaser, LubFix lubricant, Shield it rust and corrosion protection, Simply Soy cleaner/lubricant, Green Carpet carpet and upholstery cleaner, Bolt Off rust and corrosion remover, Brake Cleaner, and Gas Off wipes for removing fuel smells from hands and clothing. Made in the USA, the Grime Off family of 100 percent green products are perfect for keeping all types and sizes of aircraft looking like new.
Grimo-Off products are available at Aircraft Spruce. Call 1-877-4SPRUCE or (951)372-9555 or visit the website at www.aircraftspruce.com.
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Bob Hoover Flying the Feathered Edge Released on DVD, Blu-ray
In Flying the Feathered Edge, Hoover reveals hard-earned wisdom from a life spent pushing the edge of the flight envelope while contributing to aviation’s many developments.
“This film captures my life story in an authentic and accurate way,” Hoover said. “I don’t know how it could have been done any better.”
EAA Chairman, Jack Pelton, calls it “the best aviation documentary I have ever seen.”
Award-winning producer, director, and editor Kim Furst, whose previous efforts include One Six Right, Discovery Channel’s Rocket Challenge, and Wings Over the Rockies, made the film.
Flying the Feathered Edge is available exclusively through the Bob Hoover Project website at http://www.thebobhooverproject.com/. The DVD is priced at $28.95, and the Blu-ray is $32.95.