A Geek Goes Flying

There's a lot to be said for the network effect . Case in point, GoPro. Early movers in the "action camera" space, they became ubiquitous. There's thousands of options for basically every accessory imaginable. Different mounts, including the specialized MyPilotPro Swivel GoPro Airplane Moun t. Different battery pack options (like the Wasabi Power Extended Battery for GoPro HERO3, HERO3+ (with Backdoors) I use with the camera I hang off the MyPilotPro mount). Etc., etc., etc. Then there's the Panasonic HX-A1: This coulda been a contender. I picked one up to clip to things relatively unobtrusively. The original idea was to be able to do POV shots using the head mount: But the one I ordered never shipped, and then eventually the order was canceled and refunded. The built in battery life is pretty anemic; there was an extended battery, but it's no longer available . Orphaned tech. My old GoPro Hero 3+ cameras (Black and Silver) will run for a long while...

Having had my iPad mini overheat a couple of times in flight, and after reading positive reviews on /r/flying , I ordered the X-Naut Active Cooling Mount iPad Mini . Because I couldn't readily find this information, I'll put it here: I used the  RAM Mounts 2 7/16" Flat Surface Mount RAM-B-202U  ball mount base to attach to the back of the X-Naut (the mini version has a three hole mount). Note that base doesn't come with screws (I took the base off my iPad Air cradle, which I haven't used in years). Other mounts may work just fine, but, I can confirm that this item specifically mounts right up to the X-Naut with no modification required. PIREP on the X-Naut ASAP. (Toying with the idea of replacing the yoke clock with something like this , to easily patch power into the iPad and X-Naut.) Update (2018.07.16) : The promised PIREP. I’ve been flying behind the X-Naut for a few quite warm months now, including a couple of > 100°F days (including one departure fro...

HS-105 Initial Setup Connecting to WiFi using the Kasa for Mobile App First, get the free Kasa app ( iOS | Android ) (in the Apple App Store on my iPhone, searched for "tp-link kasa" and found it). I disconnected from my 5 GHz network and connected to the 'regular' (2.4 GHz) WiFi network, as apparently the TP-Link devices only speak 2.4 GHz. Clicked the '+' (upper right corner) to add a device, and scrolled down to find the Smart Plug Mini. My HS105 was already plugged in and powered on (and running a RetroPie ... ;) ) ... Once it started blinking orange/blue, went into Settings on the iPhone to connect to its WiFi network (TP-Link_Smart Plug_DEB5). Back to the Kasa app. Gave it a name (RPi Plug). Gave it the credentials for my WiFi network. Updated the firmware when prompted (took about 60 seconds). Determine the Network Address From a UNIX ( Mac OS X ) machine, fired up Terminal.app and ran 'ping' on my broadcast address: ...

There's a lot of movement in the autopilot world right now. I'm building this list here to keep track of which options have what capabilities (most of which is academic)... TruTrak : TruTrak is one that will fly a track (set in the autopilot, no "heading bug" interface), GPS, or GPSS (ARINC429), and will fly GPS vertical guidance / vertical speed altitude preselect / altitude hold pitch, but won't talk to anything "analog" (ILS/VOR/LOC) or the heading bug on a DG, correct? (Still, for $5,000 + install ...) Trio Pro Pilot : Also does GPSS and GPSV, with an optional ARIN429 module; CRS mode uses rotary encoder to set  a course (like TRK mode on the TruTrak), can also do VS (and airspeed?) climbs/descents to pre-selected altitudes... Garmin GFC500 : There's also the GFC500, which I was interested in (with a G500 TXi PFD), but I've since learned : The GFC500 requires a G5 in order to function. The G5 serves as the attitude reference an...

I have ... A few iOS devices. So the default Amazon naming scheme (Geek's 2nd iOS Device, Geek's 3rd iPhone, &c.) leaves a lot to be desired of. Likewise, Amazon's " Manage Your Content and Devices " advice doesn't give you anything to differentiate them with, except (if you click the "..." button to the left of each device) the "Send to Kindle" email address associated with each unit. Tapping the "More" icon on the bottom of the screen in the latest Kindle software gives you a "Settings" option, which will reveal the "Send-to-Kindle email address" associated with that device. Then, find the corresponding device in the "Manage Your Content and Devices" list on Amazon.com, and edit the name there. Kind of a hassle, but at least straightforward. And now I can send a book to my iPad Pro 9.7, without trying to divine if that was my 3rd or 4th iPad...

Had an opportunity to attend a public presentation by George Bye about the upcoming Part 23 certified SunFlyer 2 and SunFlyer 4 electric airplanes (we also treated him to lunch after the presentation). Exciting stuff. I've been keeping a casual eye on electric airplanes, and have been sort of underwhelmed to date; e.g., the eFan 2.0's hour of flight time only made sense for the most rudimentary of training missions, and Pipistrel's decision to go LSA for the Alpha Electro was mind-boggling, given the fact there's no change to LSA definitions, which still require ICE. (All-electric propulsion is now an option under Part 23.) (Also, the weight limitation of light sport aircraft puts a serious limit on the kilowatt hours you can carry with you.) I wasn't aware battery tech has advanced as aggressively as it has; they've gone from 100 Wh/kg to 260 Wh/kg in 5 years (and anticipate ~350 Wh/kg by the time the SunFlyers are certified). The SunFlyer 2 claims a 3.5 hour ...

Finally too frustrated with stuttering playback on my Panasonic DMP-BDT320's client, I almost pulled the trigger on an Apple TV 4, intending to run VLC on it. Instead, figured I'd give Kodi a try on the RetroPie I setup over xmas. Followed simple instructions , and then the HD HomeRun Prime showed up when I browsed for UPnP devices. Watching the NFC championship now; perfect picture with no stuttering or other issues (the RPi is connected via Ethernet, haven't tried over WiFi - I have a lot of signal saturation issues from neighbors, here). I'm satisfied!