Standard Pilot Blog

Thursday, April 25, 2013

From Aero-Expo in Friedrichshafen, before going to the show

I'm attending Aero Expo in Friedrichshafen, Germany. I just arrived at my hotel late last night. The show has already been running for a day. My plan is to visit it today and tomorrow, then perhaps an hour or two on Saturday morning, then head home. More here on Aero: http://www.aero-expo.com/.

Jet lag is always an issue. After a fitful short night of rest on the plane from Chicago to London, I flew on to Munich, then rented a car for the drive down to the Friedrichshafen area. The joy of the Autobahn. Yes, yes, yes, it's a thrill. Please don't tell my wife, but I didn't go much faster than 200 in my clean Skoda with a manual six speed; and it's thrilling to be passed by Über fast cars who clearly want to get somewhere very, very quickly. You're reading this so I survived. :-) That's a speed even Larry K. could appreciate.

Even with jet lag, I got a near solid 8 hours of sleep (thanks to a Tiny Little Sleeping Pill my Doc prescribed before I left Wichita). Here in Germany, it's already a new day, and the weather is perfect again, the sun is shining, so it's my first day full day on the ground.

I had quite an adventure trying to figure out how to set an alarm last night. The hotel room has no clock. So I had to get an alarm from either my new phone, my Kindle, or my computer. Well..... the phone wouldn't download an alarm app, due to the poor connectivity. The computer could get one by download from the internet, which I did, but it would also run out of battery power overnight, because my wall socket adapter wasn't the correct size. Same problem for the kindle. (I had brought the wrong euro adapter!)

So last night, before I went to bed, I cut the end off a U.S. power cord, stuffed the raw ends in the Euro wall socket, and *voila*, the computer started to charge. Attached the kindle to the computer, and it started to charge too. Set a newly downloaded alarm on both, popped my Tiny Little Sleeping Pill, and went to sleep (very quickly). Reminds of my days with HotPlug at WiebeTech. (For which I have a patent.)

And it worked. Computer's battery didn't die. Neither did the Kindle. Alarm woke me up. Otherwise, who knows how many years I would have slept in my coma-like sleeping pill induced haze.

Just had breakfast which they provide in a dining room upstairs. Basic european fare - rolls, coffee, breakfast meats, boiled eggs, cereal, fruit, juice. I just had some rolls with butter, very good, then with several cups of their great coffee. This is one part of Euro travel I really enjoy. I sat in the dining room, listening to the languages flow through the room like cream mixing in a cup, enjoying three cups of that coffee.

I'll be off to the show in 45 minutes or so.

My email in basket has copies of recent patent filings which were done on my behalf. In order to expedite the claims, they were done with what is called a provisional patent application. Two new sets of claims filed back in the states. Awesome. I'm looking forward to explaining that.

Finally, I really like the little hotel I selected. I am staying at the Garni Eden in Meersburg.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Best deal in the world right now for a small airplane kit. Giveaway Multi Function aircraft instrument.

Multi Function Instrument for Belite, Free. With a catch.

Here is the 'catch', or 'Terms and Conditions'.

1. The Angle Of Attack is not included, but is an option ($700) to this free instrument. For $700, you get the sensor, the vane, and the separate AOA computer that plugs into the back of this instrument.

2. The unit includes an inclinometer as shown above. You can upgrade to the Turn Coordinator for $150 more.

3. A blank instrument panel is included, ALSO FREE. This blank CNC cut panel has a custom cutout for the MultiFunction instrument and four 2.25" round cutouts. The panel is supplied unpainted. Here is the panel, as typically installed in a plane, with additional instruments:

Multi Function Instrument in Belite metal panel, free*. *Check T&Cs.

Painted Blank Panel, part of free*. offer from Belite (supplied unpainted). *Check T&Cs.

4. You must buy our Belite UltraCub kit to receive the free MultiFunction Instrument. The Belite UltraCub is also specially priced; normally $8500, it is priced at $6995 until May 15, 2013. If you include the value of this instrument, it is about a $550 additional value. So over $9 grand of Belite Stuff for $6.995 grand plus + shipping. (Check with Kathy for your shipping quote).

With a little work, along with an engine, prop, etc..., you can make your kit look like this:

Belite UltraCub with 4 stroke 1/2VW engine.

In other words: you get the Belite UltraCub kit, including the Turtledeck kit, along with a blank panel and this MultiFunction Instrument. All for $6995 + shipping. Best deal in the world right now for a small airplane kit.

5. The Multi Function instrument is available ONLY as configured as shown. It includes the airspeed indicator with the speed range set as shown; the inclinometer; the fuel gauge (compatible with capacitive or resistive senders), and the AGL altimeter. The power switch has three settings: Off, On/dim, On/bright. The power switch has detents which prevent accidental powerdown. The dim and bright refer the LED brightness. Also included are 3 general purpose alarm LEDs. All alarm LEDs are brilliant red when turned on. They may be attached to anything: when grounded, they turn on. In our Burgundy demonstrator, one is attached to the engine oil pressure switch.

6. We ran a similar promotion one year ago which was very successful. This is even better: the airplane has improved, engine options have improved, and the free instrument set is much better. And a free metal panel is included.

7. Like last year, we did not repeat this promotion after the deadline had ended. This offer will terminate no later than May 15, 2013.

8. You have to place a nonrefundable deposit of $2500 to get this offer. You can schedule delivery of your kit for anytime later this year, but not later than Dec. 15, 2013, but the deposit is due on May 15.

9. This offer is also available on Ready To Fly aircraft: Just tell us that you want the free Multifunction Instrument upgrade for your RTF plane when you place your order. Next delivery slot is open for August, 2013. Check our website for pricing and model configurations. Prices on our aircraft range from $15995 up to $40K (or more) and this offer is available on any configuration. You must specify it to receive it.

10. Just because the multi function unit includes an "AGL" altimeter does not preclude you from adding a conventional altimeter, such as our high resolution digital LCD unit. It would install in any of the open 2.25" instrument holes. For example:

Digital LCD altimeter from Belite. $249.

11. This offer may be withdrawn or changed at anytime without notice.

Windows 8 Is Horrible. There, I said it.

Please note: James' blog has moved to a Wordpress site. To access it, please visit http://jameswiebe.wordpress.com/. All posts have been transferred to the new site, and all new posts will only be accessible via Wordpress. Thank you for your interest!

I'm calling timeout from airplanes and computer forensics to make a few comments on Windows 8.

Hey, I'm so sick of Windows 8 that I've decided to write a few short paragraphs about it.

First of all, let me make a recommendation: Your decision to buy a computer should include whether or not it has Windows 8 installed. If it does include Windows 8, reject that computer and move on. That's how I feel about Windows 8.

I put a game face on with my recent purchase of Windows 8 laptop from HP. I really hadn't studied Windows 8. I knew it was different, but hey, if Microsoft was willing to risk it all, I'm just a sucker consumer and willing to give it a play too.

It had the new interface style --- "Metro" I think is what Microsoft calls it.

I was able to load my old apps and run them without difficulty.

Then I began to realize the quirks and oddness. I had to keep 'passing' through the Tile Screen, for lack of a better word, to get to a way to launch my apps.

Okay, that's annoying. I might have been able to live with it.

Then more Windows 8 irritants popped up. When running apps, I would scoot the cursor over the screen, and suddenly ****POOF**** the screen would switch from an app to something else, like a PDF file or a picture. I have no idea why. I've seen it happen now dozens of times, and every time it does, I have to move the cursor to the upper left corner of the screen and drag back what I was working on.

More on cursor movement. Often, in applications (think Adobe Lightroom) I rapidly move the cursor to the right side of the screen so that I can utilize controls. In Windows 8, if the cursor happens to hit the upper or lower corner of the screen, it pops up an annoying bar of controls from the right side of the screen. You then have to shuffle the cursor back to the left, make the annoying bar go away, and then more carefully move the cursor back to the control you were trying to manipulate.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

Then, at some point, it will ****poof**** you to an application you weren't expecting.

I chatted with HP on the issue, and threatened to never buy a HP computer again. They indicated I could downgrade to Windows 7, "but is never recommended" or some such BS, and told me I'd have to buy my own copy of Windows 7 to make my computer appropriately functional and not the productivity sucker it has turned into.

I then chatted with Microsoft -- more of the same. They said I needed to talk to HP if I wanted to downgrade, and that Microsoft would not provide a copy of Windows 7.

I didn't save the chat session texts. I should have. Oh well.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

My $.02 on Windows 8; your mileage may vary.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Something else from Belite takes off...

Belite YouTube Video Views over the last year