Today Hawke Tracking and the U.S. Soaring Team made history by demonstrating the new Delorme InReach with 10x faster updates than our traditional SPOT trackers. Bill Elliot (WE), U.S team pilot in the 18-meter class, graciously agreed to fly with the InReach unit loaned to us by Steve Wells of Delorme. Mark Hawkins got the…
Technology
More on Delorme InReach – Mark’s Test Results
by Bill Elliott •
Mark Hawkins now has a loaner InReach device in-hand, and is integrating its data into our SPOT tracking map. Hopefully we will have it in Bill Elliot’s (WE) hands tomorrow or Saturday so everyone can see the results for themselves. Mark tells me that he has not only confirmed the 2-minute tracking interval, he has…
Uvalde WGC SPOT Tracking Improved
by Bill Elliott •
disclaimer: I am part owner of Hawke Tracking LLC, and have every intention of financing my next glider (winglet) purchase from my half of the profits! ;-). Mark Hawkins, the genius behind Hawke Tracking, has made some major improvements to the Uvalde WGC SPOT tracking site. First, we purchased and installed a complete, independent server…
Delorme InReach Tracker: 2-minute tracking, GPS altitude.
by Bill Elliott •
The ‘AvWeb’ emag recently posted an article from Oshkosh in which they mentioned that Delorme had demoed a new firmware upgrade to their InReach satellite tracker (similar to SPOT’s tracker, but it uses the truly world-wide Iridium constellation instead of Globalstar) that supports position reporting intervals as low as 2 minutes. This would be really good…
SeeYou Recorder
by Bill Elliott •
We have all been eagerly awaiting this. Naviter’s first Android app with a similar iOS app to follow immediately after Apple approves it for the AppStore. It’s an IGC flight file recorder and its name is SeeYou Recorder. It’s free. And it’s actually an IGC flight recorder on steroids.
SSA 2012—LX Zeus Flight Computer Demo
by Rand Baldwin •
As always, the exhibit hall was filled with gadgets galore, but a new product from LX Navigation caught my eye, so I asked one of the developers, Andrej Vrecer, to give us a demo.
ClearNav Helps Pipistrel Win NASA Green Flight Challenge
by Bill Elliott •
Team Pipistrel along with partners at Penn State University, including team leader Jack Langelaan, was announced as the winner of the NASA Green Flight Challenge during a ceremony at NASA Ames Research Center in California. Team Pipistrel, flying the Taurus G4, was able to achieve an efficiency rating of 403.5 passenger miles per gallon.
The Craggy Aero Ultimate Le™ Flight Computer
by Bill Elliott •
Sailplane cockpits are enhanced by Craggy Aero’s Ultimate Le Flight Computer. The system is a modular design and can use the hardware and software familiar to soaring pilots. Designed specifically for sailplane panels, you can use current hardware or grow your system as your needs and budget dictate. Pilots can start with an Ultimate Le and a NMEA GPS source or build an integrated system with Variometers, IGC logger, and PowerFlarm.
Designing the New B700 and B800 Variometers
by Bill Elliott •
For those who may be interested, here’s a story of the sometimes fortuitous and serendipitous development path of a couple of new variometer systems and a description of their features. Originally the design of these new variometers began in September 2010 at the start of the Queensland State gliding championships (later cancelled due to weather – it rained) when I saw an Oudie for the first time.
Antares Fuel Cell Research Project
by Bill Elliott •
Editors’ Note: Thanks to Guenter Pelz for sending us this report.
“In regard to more “green propulsion systems”, I would like to bring your attention to a 6:31 video report from a German television station (SWR3) that focuses on clean energy. In this report, they show the status of the Antares H2/H3 research project by using fuel cells to operate the Antares 20 meter sailplane as the testbed to gain experience in fuel cell technology.”
