Hasta La Gadget!

While commercial pilots might not use this kind of watch to replace the computers they work with in Jumbo Jets, frequent travelers and private pilots might enjoy the goodies features on this latest Garmin watch.

The Garmin D2 Pilot Watch has everything you’d expect from an aviator watch, with the added bonus of Garmin GPS tech. It has the ability to load a flight plan and view it in real time on the watch face. Its dedicated NRST button can also guide you to the nearest airport. There’s also a compass, horizontal situation indicator, ground speed indicator, and altimeter. The watch can also be used to set timers and vibrating alerts for in-flight tasks. It can even be used to wirelessly control Garmin’s VIRB action cameras.

All these features don’t come cheap, as the watch will cost you $449(USD), but if you’re into aviation, it’s an impressive amount of tech packed into a wrist watch.

Starting September 1st, people flying Hawaiian Airlines will get the chance to spend some R&R time with an iPad mini thousands of feet in the air. It’s all thanks to the company contracting Blue Avionics to switch its existing in-flight entertainment systems (IES) with 1,500 miniature iPads on 14 Boeing 767-300 planes. Business class passengers can stream movies and shows for free, but unlike American Airlines’ Galaxy Tab program available only to premium seats, anyone onboard can rent a teensy tablet. Sure, it’ll cost them $15 for the perk — $17, if they decided to do so on a whim while already on the plane — but the existing system will cost them the same amount anyway. iPads on planes aren’t anything new — AA and Alaska Airlines have both ditched flight manuals for their digital counterparts, while Qantas and Jetstar Airways have been renting them out for years. However, HA is the first U.S. airline to offer iPads for in-flight entertainment, and some patrons might see that as a welcome change.

Filed under: Tablets, Apple

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Via: 9to5mac

Sure, the Terrafugia Transition took to the skies for the first time at the 2012 NY Auto Show, but it has yet to fly and drive in front of an audience — until now. The “driveable plane” did two laps around the field at this year’s EAA AirVenture airshow in Wisconsin, once up in the air and once on land, as you can see in the videos past the break. In between the laps, it transforms from an airborne into a land vehicle by automatically folding its wings flush against its body. Despite the successful demo, it’ll take a while before we see a Transition on the road — Terrafugia plans to build a third prototype of the $279,000 plane / car before it begins production. Millionaires and supervillains, take note: you can pay a $10,000 reserve fee for one, but don’t expect it to grace your driveway or hangar until 2015 or 2016.

Filed under: Misc

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Via: Autoblog

Source: Journal Sentinel

There are some things in this world we’re not sure are improved by the 3D printing process, like firearms and food. Aircraft might also be on that list, but no amount of dubiousness will stand in the way of MakerPlane’s open source plane. The aviation company’s ambitious Indiegogo campaign went live last week (check out the video below), but its quest for funding looks like it’s going to be a major uphill climb. At the time of this writing, the campaign had yet to breach the $800 mark, a far cry from its $75,000 goal. While part of the reason for the slow funding can be chalked up to a certain level of skepticism when it comes to a plane made with 3D printed parts and open sourced avionics software, the lack of plane-related rewards might also be holding the company back from reaching its endgame. For example, a $10,000 pledge will only get your corporate logo on the display craft’s fuselage. That being said, somebody’s got to dream big. Just don’t ask us to get in your homemade plane.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: Wired

Source: Indiegogo, MakerPlane

Solar Impulse has successfully hopped its way across the US, completing the final leg of its journey from Washington Dulles International Airport. While today marks the end of the effort at New York’s JFK airport as expected, the solar-powered aircraft landed a roughly three hours early — this, due to an eight-foot tear in its left wing discovered over Toms River, New Jersey. According to the crew, the breakage posed no significant threat to pilot André Borschberg, but it did mean a planned fly-by of the Statue of Liberty had to be nixed.

If you’ll recall, this was the first US-based trip for Solar Impulse, which the team used largely to raise further awareness about energy efficiency. Aside from that, you can bet some extra publicity can’t hurt before a future model is set to make a flight across the world in 2015. Relive Solar Impulse’s Across America start at Mountain View, CA here and get more info about the full endeavor at the source link. Livestream wrap-up embedded after the break.

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Solar Impulse