Videos Archives - Page 3 of 46 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Videos: How to mount and fly with an iPad in the cockpit

Jason Schappert, the pilot blogger behind MzeroA.com, has recently made a couple of useful videos about how to mount and use an iPad in the cockpit. In the first video, Jason takes you into the cockpit of his Cessna 150 to show you how he uses his iPad with a kneepad (instead of a yoke mount). Keep in mind that Jason is TALL, as in 6 ft 4 inches or 193 cm’s, and the cockpit of a Cessna 150 is SMALL:

In this other video, Jason shows you some tools he uses and the ways he uses an iPad in the cockpit. This includes on how to run a split screen on the iPad:

It should be mentioned that Jason has a couple of iPad in the cockpit videos under the posts, Check Weather On The iPad and Flight Plan on the iPad. In addition, we also have a number of posts here covering all aspects of iPad usage by pilots, including whether or not to upgrade one, what apps to use and general tips or tricks for pilot users.

Video: Spectacular sideways flying in a Sukhoi 31

Back in the 1980s, Lithuanian born pilot Jurgis Kairys apparently set the standard for how competitors on the international grand prix flying circuit are judged for their flying skills, but in this really cool video posted on Facebook (apparently a segment from the official Australian International Airshow 2005 DVD), he makes his Sukhoi 31 fly sideways about half way through the video:

When asked how it was done, Jurgis just smiled and said: “You know maybe it was a mistake!”

A quick look at Jurgis’ website reveals a couple of other really cool flying videos along with a photo gallery showing some of his stunts at various air shows or aerobatic competitions from around the world.

The OppiKoppi Music Festival’s beer drone technology

If you thought there was nothing drone technology could do that would impact your life in a meaningful way (other than to perhaps spy on it!), think again because at South Africa’s Oppikoppi Music Festival, concert goers could use an app combined GPS technology to have a drone accurately drop plastic cups full of beer:

Since getting to the Oppikoppi festival, which is held on a dusty farm in the northern Limpopo, is a challenge in and of itself due to the poor condition of the local roads, the organizers probably wanted to make it easy to deliver beer to concertgoers.

Carel Hoffmann, director of the Oppikoppi festival, has said an app registers the position of users using the GPS satellite chips on their phones:

“The delivery guys have a calibrated delivery drone. They send it to the GPS position and drops it with a parachute.”

For the sake of safety, Dean Engela, the co-founder of Darkwing Aerials which is the South African company that is providing the beer drone for the festival, told CBSNews.com:

“There’s going to be one campsite designated to the beer drop. The campsite will be notified that there will be drones in the air.”

The octocopter will only fly outside of the festival area while it makes its way to “District 9” to deliver beer while those inside the campsite will be told in advance that a drone will be flying above them during the show. Currently, the drone is hand-guided, but the developers say they will eventually fly on a GPS grid.

The South African built drone was nicknamed “Manna” after the Old Testament story of bread that fell from the sky to feed the Israelites travelling through the desert following their exodus from Egypt. Hoffmann has also told the media: “It’s an almost Biblical thing that beer is dropping from the sky.”

Even Rand Paul, the United States Senate’s foremost critic on drones and drone surveillance, has tweeted a link to an article about the beer delivery drone, adding: “Perhaps I am not against ALL drones!”

The Jetlev: Soar with this water-propelled jetpack

If you are looking for a way to combine water activities and flying, look no further than the Jetlev – which can lift a person 30 feet or about 9 meters high by pumping water from a backpack through a hose connected to a small, unmanned boat:

The Jetlev is starting to show up for recreational rental in warm water vacation spots like San Diego, Key West and Cancun, Mexico, but they have also been a source of concern in Hawaii according to the AP.

Specifically, University of Hawaii coral scientist Bob Richmond has told state officials he is concerned about the noise the devices make because fish avoid areas that are too loud plus he is worried that fish and coral larvae could get pumped through some of the equipment the watercraft uses and die. There have also been complaints from fishermen.

These concerns have prompted the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to call a public meeting last month to discuss the devices. At the meeting, the department’s top enforcement officer expressed alarm over unsafe Jetlev maneuvers, such as riders dive-bombing into the water next to moving boats.

Jeffrey Krantz, the owner of H2O Sports Powered by Seabreeze, which operates the sole Jetlev in commercial use on Oahu, has suggested the state set aside special areas for jetpack use. His company takes about 10 people on Jetlev rides daily at a rate of $179 for 15 minutes while a quick look at the Jetlev’s maker’s website reveals the new 2013-model year JETLEV R200x starts at around $68,500 – meaning Jeffrey has a pretty good rate of return on his investment in the device and he won’t want to see it get banned.

Video highlights of AirVenture 2013 in Oshkosh

AirVenture 2013 in Oshkosh ended last weekend and despite the lack of current military aircraft participation due to government budget cuts, officials with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) say about half a million people attended this year’s show – roughly the same number of attendees as last year. Official figures also counted 2,115 international visitors registered from 64 nations, with Canada (562 visitors), Australia (257), and South Africa (187) being the top three nations (but these figures only include visitors who registered at the International Visitors Tent).

In addition, more than 10,000 aircraft arrived at the Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin and the total showplanes numbered 2,341, including 867 homebuilt aircraft, 858 vintage airplanes, 343 warbirds, 130 ultralights, 92 seaplanes, 27 aerobatic aircraft and 24 miscellaneous showplanes. There were also 821 commercial exhibitors – a record.

If you were not able to attend AirVenture 2013, there are already a couple of great videos highlighting the best of what is arguably the most important general aviation airshow in the world. To begin with, there were plenty of lights, pyrotechnics and smoke to make the night airshow at AirVenture on July 31 a real spectacle as you can see from the following videos:

Another highlight of the show was the flypast of Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy, also known as “Jetman,” in his custom-built jet suit along side of a B-17 bomber:

Finally, the Terrafugia Transition “flying car” also made its first public debut flight:

Next year’s AirVenture promises to be even more exciting because 2014 will include the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and the 75th anniversary of the jet engine.

Video: A Spanish F/A-18 Hornet doing a crazy flyover

We have posted videos in the past of Argentine pilots doing crazy flyovers (see Crazy flyover by an Argentine Air Force IA-63 Pampa pilot video and Argentinean pilot videos: Showing bravery or plain stupidity?), but David Cenciotti of the Aviationist blog has found and posted this old video of a F/A-18 Hornet belonging to the Spanish Air Force performing a very low level flyby along a taxiway at the Gando airbase on the Canary Islands:

Of course, we can’t post such videos without commenting about whether such stunts are appropriate from a safety standpoint (as they usually aren’t). Admonitions aside, it definitely takes some very good flying skills to pull off such dangerous maneuvers.