A Geek Goes Flying

So I almost pulled the trigger on an ASA timer , or the Sporty’s rebranded kitchen timer , or something similar. Which was going to mean a yoke clip with a spot to velcro the timer, hold approach plates, etc. And then I was gonna get a knee clip for the iPad. (I’m bouncing between an SR22 with a side-stick, and rental PA28s.) Instead, I found the perfect timer app: Timer+ . You can pre-specify countdown timers (e.g., at 90 kts, the time from the final approach fix to the missed approach point on the CNO 26R ILS is 2:56) that can be named and started with a tap: When the unexpected happens and you have to setup a new count-down timer on the fly, tap the lightning bolt, tap in the time (2-5-6) (no scrolling through Apple’s weird timer setup, in turbulence, for the win), and hit Start when you’re ready to activate it: Super easy, and a couple of taps away when you’ve got the approach plate loaded in ForeFlight (ForeFlight should have a pop-up timer, too, but that’s a

This is nominally flying related (’cause, IDK, printing approach plates and charts...) Mostly I just wanted to create a permanent record somewhere of the incantations required to get this to work. Problem : The Ricoh MP C2503 printer at the office doesn’t have Postscript installed (verified on the Configuration Page , which, under System Reference, lists “Printer Language[s],” in this case, Adobe PDF, RPCS, PCL5c, and PCL XL, but no Postscript). The official Ricoh driver for OS X is a Postscript Printer Description (“PPD”) file. Not useful if your printer doesn’t support Postscript. Apple does ship a “Generic PCL Printer Driver” with OS X, but it only prints in greyscale, and I needed color support. Solution : Install Ghostscript (I used 1.9, available as a .pkg here:  http://pages.uoregon.edu/koch/   [Ghostscript-9.19.pkg] ) Install Foomatic-RIP (I used 4.0.6-230, available here:  http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/macosx/foomatic  [foomatic-

Not a lot to mention. I sold my XGPS150A, and picked up a used Stratus 1. It’s nice having traffic and weather in ForeFlight: ( Yeah, potentially could have built something roughly equivalent in a Stratux, but I like having a known-quantity all-in-one solution for not substantially more money. I love open source, but I'm not sure I want to rely on volunteer code when aviating. ) Other than that, just flying. Started IFR training (back at DuBois , who continue to impress). I’ve also been fortunate enough to clock a number of hours (including some actual IMC time, both hand-flying and under autopilot) in a friendly Cirrus SR22 (Avidyne Ex5000 glass cockpit): Love flying that plane. 150kts at ~12 gph, and (contrary to what I’ve heard from others), it’s the easiest plane I’ve ever landed. Or maybe I’m just a better pilot than I was before. Either way. after my first three landings, I’ve greased it in every time. Meanwhile, Proteus has a nifty new simulator