Ventubes Replacement Air Vent

The front air vents in my Cessna 182 have been quite annoying, and I think they are for many people. I had heard of these Ventube replacement air vents, and thought it was worth a try since they are pretty inexpensive. So far, they have far surpassed my expectations. So I thought I would write a quick review of my experience.

The Ventubes Replacement Front Air Vent are available at this Vantage Plane & Plastics ventube page and also from Aircraft Spruce ventube page for under $100 for a pair. And they work for most models of Cessna single engine aircraft: Cessna 120, 140, 150, 152, 170, 172, 175, 180, 182, 185, 190, 195, 205, 206, 207, 210 thru F, and 305's.

One thing I wondered was what they would look like in my plane. I did not see any pictures of it. So here are a couple pictures.

Here is one with it closed and locked. It looks pretty similar to the original except it has the bumps around the side to help twist the outside.

Here is a picture with it out and extended. It once again looks pretty similar to the stock one.

The big difference in the way this works is in the sleeve that the new vent fits into. The stock vent does not have this sleeve and leaks cold air between the wind screen and the white molding. The molding stops the air flow a bit, but not that well. We had started stuffing paper towels and such to try to improve the leaking air flow with the old vents. The new vent and its sleeve stops the air flow completely. Very nice!

I read the instructions which looked pretty easy, and my A&P put them in. He said it was easy. I had him transfer the temperature probe over from the old vent as well which was simple for him. There is a 337 Form to file for the STC, but that is not too hard for an A&P.

So the plastic ventubes do not look fancy, but they work great and look pretty similar to the original vents. If you have the original stock vents, I highly recommend you get a pair.

/Brian

Spot Tracking for Pilots

Last long trip I went flying on, I used my SPOT Satellite Messenger with an FSS Aviation Flight Plan, and I felt an added bit of safety. On my trip to Disneyland from Colorado to California, there are sections where I am flying over pretty remote areas, especially in Arizona and California. This new method made me feel a bit better.

Initial Thoughts

I got the SPOT Satellite Messenger primarily for trips like my Idaho backcountry trip last year. You are down low in the mountains for multiple days of flying with no access to FSS or ATC. If something goes wrong, you want some way of sending out an emergency signal. The other thing I like it for is flying around the Rocky Mountains here. I put the device on top of the dash, and click the "I'm OK" at the beginning of the flight, put it into tracking mode during the flight, and click "I'm OK" at the end. This makes the web tracking work best. If something happened on the flight, I would immediately hit the "911" button before even emergency landing.



Look around for deals for the service, I was able to get mine free if I signed up for a 1-year subscription including tracking. I have at least heard of discounts since then, but not free. The tracking is an extra fee, but it seems worth it.

There are lots of reviews out there on the SPOT satellite messenger. Here is a good SPOT review on equipped.com and another SPOT review on gpsmagazine.com.

Use on Long Trips

Then I thought of an even better way to use this during long trips. There is a "Remarks" section in the flight plan form. I figure there ought to be a way to let FSS know I have one of these things.

Before my flight, on the Spot Web Site, I logged into my account, click the "Share" tab. Here, you can either create a new shared page for showing your tracking path or find a previously created page. Once you are viewing the page, capture the long, convoluted link and make a smaller link using tinyurl.com. You can make up whatever smaller url link you want or tinyurl.com can make a random one for you.

The next part is to put this newly created tinyurl.com link into your "remarks" section of the FSS Flight plan. I think the duat.com did not like the ":" in "http://", but was fine with the rest of the link. I also talked with FSS on the phone on one of my legs and told him about adding it to my remarks section. He was intrigued by the concept and said he would watch my flight on the web as it progressed. That is very cool to hear; somebody in FSS watching your flight from the ground.

Then I track the flight with the SPOT like I mentioned above. Note: you have to do the "I'm OK" at the beginning and end or the web tracking does not work right.

My Last Trip Tracking

It is also fun to see the track of your trip. Below is a picture of my track from my Spot Tracking page. This one has all the labels:



You can turn off the labels to make it more readable:



There is an altitude profile as well that you can show, but I am not sure how accurate that is:




Other Emergency Beacons

The SPOT satellite messenger goes through the SPOT system and not the government ELT methods, so I do wonder about getting a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) sometime in addition. This works similar to the ELT in your plane and works with 121.5Mhz and 406Mhz and provides GPS coordinates to accurately find you. No subscription plan is needed for these devices and it works world-wide. The one I am currently looking at for the future is the McMurdo Fast Find PLB Model 210. But there is no tracking capability and no "I'm OK" button. It only works as an emergency device.

Summary

I think everybody should have some sort of SPOT or Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). For the plane and for the outdoors. I have a friend who got stuck in a blizzard overnight and really wishes he had one of these things. I really like the idea that it can show your track even before you have a problem. What happens if your ELT does not activate when you go down, with this device search and rescue could get a lot closer to where you are. Within about 10 minutes of flying time since it tracks every 10 minutes. If you file a flight plan, they just know your approximate route and no idea where you went down. One way to help this is to file PIREPs or do Flight Following, but this is not always practical.

/Brian

IFR Hood Reviews

For a long time, I have been in search of the best hood. Yes, those pesky things we have to put over/around our eyes to pretend we are in the clouds. Most of them have one problem or another. I have not seen a good comparison of IFR hoods, and I think it could be useful. So, I thought I would post a review of different IFR hoods I own or have borrowed and used. Most on-line shops have some in their catalog. I found a decent selection of hoods at pilotstore.com and a decent selection of hoods at aircraft spruce and a decent selection at MyPilotStore with reviews, but not a consolidated view of a person who has tried many.

IFR Hoods I Have Used:

• Best Ifr Hood (Own it)
• Viban (Own it)
• Hood Lamb (Own it)
• Foggles (Used it)
• Asa Overcasters (Own it)
• Asa Jiffy Hood (Used it)
• Francis IFR Hood (Used it)
  

Things To Look For In A Hood

Most of all, it should restrict your vision to only the instrument panel. That is the whole purpose, and if you plan to really use your IFR in the clouds, you want to simulate that effect as best as possible. Cheating and seeing outside only hurts your practice of your abilities, and real IFR is not forgiving.

Under the hood, it needs to be comfortable to look at the instruments. To me this has been a factor as well. I find that two things have caused problems with this.

For comfortable view of the instruments, I find that black hoods are not as good as white hoods. Black causes a big contrast between the hood and the instruments and is not similar to outside unless you are at night.

The other thing for comfortable view is I do not like items that block the vision near my eyes. It messes with my eyes focusing a little bit. Most of the time it does not, but my eyes can try to focus on the near object instead of the instrument panel. It is subtle, but I do not like this. This occurs with Foggles, Overcasters, but not full hoods; Vibans are in between.

Next is to look for one that is comfortable. You sit with these things on for a while, and the last thing you need is a distraction from your main task of navigating by the instruments. If the hood is heavy or does not interact with your headset well, it can be a pain literally. I find that some cause pressure points around my ears under the headsets and others do not interact well with sunglasses.

Also, it is best if the hood is easy to take on and off. You have to only do that mainly at the beginning and the end, so it is not quite as important. But it is a pain if it is awkward. In the beginning, it might also be useful to take off when you are at your minimum altitude, but you can always leave it on and move your head and peak at the runway.

Finally, storing the hood is hopefully not hard. It is nice if it is not bulky and is not easily damaged.

Comparison Table:

Click Image for better view.

My preference:

Right now, my preference is the Best IFR Hood. It is my favorite because it seems to do well with all the categories. It goes on easy after you get used to it, it is not heavy, the strap goes on over your headset, works with/without sunglasses, and folds up smaller than any other hood. It is cheap and I think everybody should try a pair at the bargain price of $5 with shipping. And I have no ties to this company.

Next choice would probably be the Viban for me. I was using this before getting the Best IFR Hood.

And of course, remember to get some time in the real clouds! Nothing substitutes for the real thing. Of course, after the appropriate practice and/or with an instructor.

If you have other experiences and feelings on hoods, please let me know especially if you have tried some of the ones I have tried.

/Brian

My Cessna 182 and Avionics Panel

Here are some of the avionics and other items I have in my plane and some small reviews of each of the avionics. Somebody asked me about some details of my plane, so I thought this post would be a good thing to add. If you have anything you would like me to write on, please let me know, and I will do my best to do a post on it.

You see pictures of the outside of the plane on the front page of the blog, but here is a picture of the inside of the avionics panel.


My plane is a 1974 Cessna 182P. I have had it for almost 4 years now. It has the standard 230hp Continental O470R. There are other details that can be found about the C182 in general on Wikipedia.

Here are some options I have with small reviews of each:

• Horton Stol: good for getting the plane into back country strips.
• Garmin 430W : Incredible for situation awareness and IFR approaches. Includes terrain awareness with the WAAS option.
• Michell MX-170B with glideslope: A decent older backup NavCom. At least it is digital and has standby frequencies. The VOR indicator has needed occasional fixing, but the main unit has been ok.
• Bendix King Transponder: KT-76C: Nice to have digital access and a VFR button.
• Shadin Miniflow-L: Very nice. Very accurate in predicting how much fuel you have used on a trip. Linked together with the 430W, it accurately predicts your reserve fuel left at your destination. Makes it obvious when you haven't leaned.
• Stormscope WX-900: Detects lightning strikes. Very nice in IFR and on a stormy day. This is an early model that does not track when the plane moves and does not display on the Garmin 430; these features would be nice if I did not already have this one.
• Stec 55 with altitude preselect, electric trim, and control wheel steering. Nice, but I value the heading track mode the most. Next I value the altitude hold, but this is not too necessary in a 182 since it trims to altitude so nicely. The other options are nice, but not must have. Although if I didn't have them, I would probably be jealous. I only have the Stec 55 and not the 55X, so I do not have the GPSS (GPS steering)
• EI UBG-16 Engine analyzer with Mux-8a: Very nice to see the engine is doing well when you are in IFR or over the mountains. Good for leaning. Has noticed a plug that was starting to foul before the engine made any sounds of it.
• PS Engineering audio panel: PMA7000M-S: PS Engineering has nice units in general. I really like this specific model for two things. It can split the radios so pilot can use one frequency and the copilot can use another frequency; very handy for talking with ATC and having my wife check ATIS. The other thing is crew/passenger/pilot switch; with kids in the back it is crutial to shut them out and let them have their own conversation. This model is not around any more, hopefully they have these features on a newer version.
• Precision Vertical Card Compass: This is a nice alternative to a compass. I have heard some people have problems with them, but mine has worked well. Be careful to not put magnets near by or adjust with anything but a brass screwdriver. It tracks in the same direction as the Directional Gyro instead of the opposite direction which a compass does.
• Precise Flight Standby Vacuum: not too useful at high altitudes, but still nice to know I have. It uses the vacuum in the air intake system so it is important to have a difference between outside air pressure and manifold pressure. So at 10,000' MSL which has about 20" outside pressure, you would have to use something like 15" MP to have it work. At lower altitudes it is not a problem. It also has a big warning light for vacuum which is nice.
• Glare Shield /internal dimmable flood lighting: Nice, but I think I like the NuLites better.
• Indicator lights with NuLite Instrument Lighting System: This is very nice. Makes a similar look as the new Cessnas.
• F&M Enterprises Oil Adapter: I highly recommend for anybody that still has an oil screen. Filters make the difference on some engines between 1500TBO and 2000TBO. It does not officially do this for my engine, but I know it helps. Inspecting the filter is nice.
• New interior and new paint: Nice and makes the plane look much newer than a 34 year old plane. Passengers who have not been in small planes before appreciate this.
• Carb Temp guage: I have noticed mild carburator icing on a clear day. C182 carburators are very susceptible due to their location on the engine. So I like this. It also makes the engine a little happier with temps at 50F.
• CD/AM/FM player: I don't use this much since I am often doing flight fallowing or IFR and talking with ATC. The PMA7000M-S audio panel will fade the music in and out when ATC talks, but this is annoying to me.

Things I dream about:

• Aspen Avionics EFD 1000 Pro: An incredible looking system at a reasonable price for older planes. As close as it gets to glass cockpit retrofit at a reasonable price.
• GPSS (GPS Steering) This looks great especially with the Garmin 430. It will fly the entire IFR approach with procedure turn and holds. STEC has a GPSS model for this that I have thought about. But if I ever get the EFD 1000 Pro, it is included in that.
• PPonk Engine or Forced Aeromotive SuperCharger maybe.
• Fairing to improve speed. Mentioned in my blog on Cessna 182 Speed Enhancements.
• New Ventube Air Vents: cheap, improved air vents to take the place of the the original equipment leaky ones.
• Maybe the Zaon XRX traffic alert system or something similar.

Other items I have and small reviews:

• Anywheremap ATC with XM weather : The weather information is fantastic especially when flying through the clouds. Here is a blog post and review I did on the AnywhereMap ATC.
• Aerox 4M Portable Oxygen System with case : Nice for higher altitudes. I don't get headaches anymore and I feel a lot better at the end of the trip.
• Bose headsets: These came with the plane and I do like them.
• EZ Power tow: This came with the plane too. It makes moving the plane around easy when I am by myself.

They say it is best to buy a plane with all the options you want. If you put an autopilot in afterwards, I think it can cost 2x or more to put in yourself versus buying with the plane originally. It cost me a little bit more to buy originally, but I think I found one well fitted for my desires. I did not have much to buy after getting it.

If you have any questions about these, send me an E-mail or leave a comment.

/Brian

Review: AnywhereTravelCompanion (ATC)

I have been wanting a device to display weather in the cockpit for a while. I have a Garmin430, so the GPS part was not an immediate concern. The main ones I have been considering the Garmin 496, Control Vision AnywhereMap, and True Flight Flight Cheetah.

All of them seem to have pluses and minuses and most of them expensive.

• Garmin 496: Good stable device, but not upgradeable and no touch screen.
• AnywhereMap: Good but not as stable. Upgradeable and touch screen. Interface really needs a stylus. Display is not quite bright enough.
• True Flight: Good stable device. Upgradeable and touch screen. Interface somewhat needs a stylus. Lots of options. Bright display, faster processor. This was the one I was leaning towards.

Then, ControlVision AnywhereMap came out with a new device: AnywhereMap Travel Companion (ATC). It has improved on many of the concerns of the old system:

• large on screen buttons that do not need a stylus.
• Dedicated interface to GPS. The Windows CE interface is hidden which actually helps. Software is permanently loaded by the factory.
• GPS receiver built in and internal antenna supposedly good enough for no external antenna. This means only one cable for power.
• Only one bluetooth device for weather.
• Brighter display than the past.
• Newer more powerful processor
• Larger 800x480 screen.

After having this for a week or two, I think this is a winner. It has a few small things to work out, but it is good easy to use, and stable.

Here are some pictures of my system. Only one wire from the ATC system for power.

Here are the connections for the WX box. Not too clean yet, but still fairly managable. It all fits in the side pocket in the plane with the WX antenna up on the visor. I might get the suction cup holder for the WX antenna later.


Large Buttons

So far the soft buttons appear to be very usable without a stylus. Only occasionally do I think about a stylus and even then I can use my finger tip. In light turbulence it is even easy.

Dedicated to GPS Navigation

This has made everything nice and easy and not as convoluted as a Windows interface. I have made a mistake or two and it has recovered nicely. I pulled out the battery and replaced and no big deal. I removed the flash card when I was in driving mode and it caused a long boot time, but came back fine. I hear that previously the programs were installed in RAM and now it is in Flash; I think this helps a lot. Before I think if you did the things I mentioned above, you would have had to reinstall the software using an attached computer.

No External GPS Antenna Needed

So far the internal antenna has done very well. Occasionally, it was a little confused finding satellites when I booted. I am not sure about this yet; maybe related to starting the device inside a building and then going outside. I think it is happier when you start it outside. But it does even operate when I am inside my house. I have a Cessna 182 and it does not appear to need an external antenna. One less wire; very nice. In the end, I only need one wire for power and that is it!

Bluetooth

I have heard of some problems with Bluetooth and AnywhereMaps. I have not had one, so I am not sure of the details. In this new case with the ATC, there is only one Bluetooth device. At present, you do have to manually connect to the WX box at startup. This is supposed to be solved in the future and be automatic. It is very easy to do, so I do not think it is a big deal. I have had some situations of loosing the Bluetooth connection to the WX box, but I believe I have isolated the problem. If the 1st gen WX box looses power by wiggling the cigarette power adapter for a tiny instant, it drops the Bluetooth. I am sure this can be solved and I might just wire it into my avionics switch and bypass the cigarette adapter; this was done before for a handheld GPS previously in my plane. When being careful to not disturb the connector, it remains connected forever. It is possible the newest 2nd gen Wx boxes are better about this, but I do not know.

Taxi and FBO information

The FBO information seems nice with the latest fuel prices, nearby hotels and restaurants, and full taxiway information. I have not tried the taxiway information yet, but it is supposed to show your position on the airport diagram. My home airport is small so it does not have a diagram. But it is a no brainer to navagatate around. I will be curious when I go to the nearby Class Delta Airport next time.

Display

The display is very bright. I can see it outside in bright sunlight. If you put it in the worst sun glare it gets a little hard, but I think every device have a problem there. Angle a little bit and it is once again very readable.

The 800x480 display seems a nice size and is larger than a Garmin 430 display with much, much more resolution and colors. I really like that the Class Bravo altitudes are displayed on the ATC; this is not the case on the Garmin 430.

Processor Power

So far I have not had any problems with processor power. When you first start the Flying mode, it can take a half minute. But next time you push the power, it is just coming in and out of a standby mode and is very fast.

Refresh rate seems to be about 1/sec for normal GPS with minimal weather. I hear that the rate can go down a bit with a lot of Radar in the picture. Maybe to once per 3 seconds. This 1/sec rate works for me. I purchased this for weather and this rate is fine for me. I think the Garmin 496 is supposed to be a faster update rate, but I have not seen it. I wonder if it slows down with weather as well. The keys respond instantly without any lag. Maybe this is due to the dual processor? After a zoom change, the first refresh takes about 2 seconds.

Driving Mode

So far I really like the driving mode. I saw some complaints about it on-line, but I have not experienced any problems there. Route recalculation is fast and good. If you do not like the route it picks, you can tell it to pick a route "via" a new intersection. This works very well. I noticed one time at the "via" point it told me to go right instead of left and I think that was a strange artifact of the "via" point. Easy to deal with.

I am amazed at the business database it has inside. It has every business I could want in it. Hopefully it is updatable in the future.

I did not read through the manual to figure all the features out, so I had to fumble a little while in some places. But not that I have figured out how to set up start/destination/via and searching businesses, it is very nice.

Battery

The battery lasts a little while. Maybe an hour or two. So it is good in emergency or short trips, but other wise use the power adapter which works easily.

Price

The price is pretty unbeatable. I even managed to get it during the introduction period for $695 including the device including GPS and the ATC software. I then got a used 1st Generation Wx Box for less than half price and had it updated by AnywhereMap for $95. So in the end, I had gps and weather in the cockpit for just over $1100 dollars. This is much, much cheaper than other systems; most are $2500 or more. Even if you pay the normal price for the ATC components, I think it would be a good deal.

Summary

It is a good solid device. I would recommend getting one. Check around and see other peoples' thoughts. If you do try one, be aware of their return policy; it is a little strict with a 10-15% penalty for returns. But hopefully you will like it and not have that concern.

Some Errata being worked on by AnywhereMap:

There are few minor things to know that are planned to be fixed. Others are just things you need to be aware of. They are minor and I think the improtant ones will be fixed soon.

• Need to manually connect to weather each time you boot
• State lines to be fixed. System slows down with them activated.
• Don't access the USB looking drive from your computer. If you do, be very careful and check with ControlVision. I do not think it is recommended.
• Don't upload contacts. This might be fixed.
• Watch the power connection for the weather box. Can loose the Bluetooth connection if power blips.
• PocketPlates for approach charts is not quite available yet, but soon.

A couple things I read about to be careful of:

• Don't remove the flash card while the flying portion is on. Preferrably any time.
• Close out the flying mode before downloading updates