A Geek Goes Flying

$150 off an iPad mini 6 on sale at Amazon finally convinced me to upgrade from the iPad mini 4 I’ve been dragging between rental planes (with its slightly cracked screen and outdated operating system - iPadOS 16, released in 2023, left it behind ). Since it would now be USB C instead of Lightning, and since my old charging setup was woefully inadequate (10,000 mAh and 10W total output power), it was time to just sort of refresh things. Flight bag, 2020 edition , now: Center Section Four Top Pocket: Still the AO sunglasses and foggles. Main compartment: Same Stratus GPS / ADS-B receiver and RAM suction cup mount . At some point I might replace the battery, through the official kit ($125) or just an aftermarket battery ($30). Same  Bose A20 headset, but I needed to replace the ear pads ; I opted to use the official Bose SKU ($36 shipped). Same  Velcro PTT switch . New for the iPad mini 6: RAM-B-202-AP36U RAM® EZ-Roll'r™ Cradle with Ball for Apple iPad mini 6 ($36.50). I’l...

In between Storms of the Century ™, I’m back to bicycle commuting to the office. (For not the best reasons: Weight loss (again, sigh), and, my senior mutt can’t make it up the stairs anymore, so she hasn’t been coming in with me, so I don’t need to accommodate her with my Jeep and a ramp [1] and ... But at least I feel better on the bike.) Revant lenses for the Bose Frames Tempo sunglasses: 👍 I’ve been using the Bose Frames Tempo sunglasses again, an xmas present from my mom back in 2020.  They still work incredibly well, audio is good all things considered, and they don’t isolate me from the environment when I’m cycling. (I mostly stick to bike paths, with some limited time spent in traffic.) I’ve even been able to participate in Zoom conferences with vendors, boards of directors meetings, etc., while on my commute, and no one has complained about wind noise or said they’ve had any issues hearing me. Impressive. The lenses are too dark for riding at dusk, though, and with sunse...

It’s been a while ; I should probably revisit what’s in my flight bag. The exact configuration will change depending on if I’m renting or flying one of the planes in our “fleet,” the following is pretty typical for “grab the bag and go flying” no matter what aircraft it is. Note that my flights tend towards the cross-country, and I’m usually hundreds of miles from home. I fly a lot of missions ( Pilots n’ Paws , etc) and I’ve, e.g., been stuck in Las Vegas overnight when mountain waves suggested it would be a really good idea to wait out the ~50 knot headwinds. So, here goes. Everything in this list has saved a flight at least once. The bag: BrightLine Flex B4 Swift I paid $164 for this in 2014; it’s gone up a bit since then ($196) but I think it’s still a great deal. It’s incredibly durable, expandable (e.g., I have a Center Section Three ($40 in 2015, $46 now) I can zip in when I need a bit more storage - an overnight change of clothes, a second headset, whatever), and I like hav...