Conquering aviation, one landing at a time.
AviatiorApps.com, the new and improved aviation application list for the iPhone and iPod Touch launched today. The list I’ve been maintaining here on this site will soon be going away, but don’t worry, I think you find the features on AviatorApps.com much more useful. So please update your bookmarks.
I am happy to say that AviatorApps.com grows closer to launch every day. In the past two weeks I have registered the domain, purchased hosting, designed logos and banners, created a database in mySQL and now built a web page using PHP that will display the contents of the database. All of this while holding down a day job, raising a child, and building an airplane. =8^)
The initial 1.0 release of the site will be a simple list of the applications, but successive releases will allow you to sort the list by price, developer, data added, and even category. I’ve also created a separate blog, or news feed, on the site which will allow you to be notified when new applications are released and added to the list.
Not all of these features won’t be available in the initial release (1.0), but I’ll get there over time. So as the saying goes… stay tuned! No promises, but I am hoping the site will go live within a week of this post.
To wet your appetite a bit, here’s a preview of one of the page banners…
I still haven’t blogged about my AirVenture 2009 trip, but this fantastic video pretty much sums it up. Only 346 days to go until AirVenture 2010!
With the growing popularity of my iPhone and iPod application list for aviators, it was time to make a change. I’ve been intending to do this for a while, but I finally bumped it to the top of the to do list. In the next few weeks the iPhone / iPod app list will be moving from my blog to a home of it’s own… www.AviatorApps.com.
This move will free me from the limitations imposed the terms-of-service I agreed to when I registered this blog with WordPress, and will allow me the flexibilty to provide additional content in any form I wish. Don’t get me wrong, I have no complaints with WordPress and their (free) service, I just want more control and I don’t want to be limited to non-commercial use.
So there you have it… coming to a computer screen near you will be the new and improved directory of aviation related applications and web sites for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
iPhone and iPod Touch users can listen to Live ATC at Oshkosh (and many other airports) by downloading and installing a new and inexpensive application provided by our friends at LiveATC.net. Their LiveATC app costs a measly $3 and allows you to listen to ATC feeds from around the world… I love it!
While I don’t know what sort of latency or delay is introduced by the streaming process, it will be fun to be able to sit in the grass at KOSH next week and watch the arrivals all while listening to the tower’s transmissions through the iPhone. Ain’t technology great!?!?
Wow, my last post here was some time ago and I think it’s time for me to get back into the swing of things here.
Unfortunately, during my hiatus I really haven’t flown too much. I’ve take an lunch flight once or twice but that’s been about it, and I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t done any IFR flying or flown any approaches in over 6 months. Sigh.
The good news is that while I haven’t been aviating, I have been making progress on my RV-7 and as of last week I have a fuselage to show for it. It’s long way from being complete, but after many months of work I was able to flip the fuselage (or canoe as RV builders call it) upright, which is generally considered a major milestone in the RV building world. You can see pictures of my progress on my other site.
Another piece of good news is that I have scheduled myself a flight in the Arrow (PA28-200) tomorrow with Nick. I want to shoot a few approaches, and this will be my first ever flight (as pilot) in a retractable gear aircraft. I’m thinking I might get a Complex endorsement and checkout in the Arrow as the school has two of them, and they both have my favorite toy; a Garmin GNS 430.
Does this mean I’ll be back here posting as frequently as I did last year? Probably not as frequently, but I am going to try to do a better job of staying current and more importantly proficient while I build the RV, which means you’ll probably see more new content from me than you have in the past few months.
Blue skies!
No word better describes the weather we’ve been having for the past week. It has been a wonderful combination of cold temps, heavy rain, thick clouds, and gusty winds. While we desperately need the rain and snow, it’s no fun being couped up in the house for days. Yes, I know that’s a bold statement when much of the country is locked in winter for months… deal with it!
I had an IFR curreny flight scheduled yesterday but old man winter had other plans for me. Unfortunately, those plans involved the hall floor and a grout brush, but that discussion is outside the scope of this blog.
While I am instrument rated, and I do want some time in actual IMC, yesterday’s combination of heavy rain and low freezing levels did not allow for a safe and legal flight. In addition, the winds aloft between 3,000′ and 6,000′ were really cooking along with stations in the area reporting between 30 and 45 knot winds.
Needless to say, I did not going flying yesterday but I don’t think anybody else did either. Oh well, I’ll try again soon.
