An IFR pilot's wet dream? Maybe. But VFR?

You know it's only a matter of time... Same for human operation of automobiles.

And it also means the end of strapping on your airplane/dirt bike/car and going where you want, when you want without Big Brother riding right there with you.

But... Still awesome technology, and there have been many thousands of hours I've sat there in single pilot IFR, or pretend VFR, wishing I had exactly this to find my way home.

Gump

I agree, awesome technology, and I assume it has a price to match. Even if it was free I don't want one. It would be useful In some areas but not where I usually fly. I want a T-shirt with a garmin glass panel and a red circle and slash over it, with the words "I fly an airplane, not a video game".

Oops, too bad it didn't show him the deer on the runway...

Thats dumb

I have to agree with Gump - I've been single pilot IFR when I was picking up unexpected ice and they gave me an approach I wasn't expecting so I had to thumb through papers to find the right procedure and had to keep reminding myself that the plane I was in had a flight director so the needle didn't reverse sense while on the ILS back course. Too much going on created high stress for this kid. Anything to simplify the process would have been most welcome. That said, I can't imagine leaning on this technology under the same conditions and then having the glasses fail at the last minute and have to transition back to panel references. Particularly if the panel was analog and I'd been deeply immersed in a digital wonderland. I don't fly much IFR now, for a reason, but sometimes it sure is a handy tool to have. What I think doesn't matter much, this technology is on its way. Interestingly, Elon Musk (the Pay Pal/Tesla/Space X guy) discussed the dangers of AI in a bunch of interviews last week. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-may-be-more-dangerous-than-nukes/ I doubt those warnings will have much of an impact either.

That said, I can't imagine leaning on this technology under the same conditions and then having the glasses fail at the last minute and have to transition back to panel references. Particularly if the panel was analog and I'd been deeply immersed in a digital wonderland.

You don't have to imagine, it's already here. There's a whole generation of pilots out there totally dependent on their GPS and other electronics to fly anywhere other than their home airport traffic pattern. And even then they probably have a diagram on their lap to get prompted for the base to final turn.

Of course the radio range guys said the same thing about the new fangled VOR system, as did the bubble sextant boys, and the dead reckoning masters before them. But... I think the basics were still better taught than they are now, with exceptions of course.

My student pilot grandson was grumbling the other day about having to learn about "maps" to navigate. I told him to quit whining and start working, so he could function when his GPS quit. His response was, "So what! I'll just use my iPad."

Oy............

Gump

Their website says you can sign up as a beta tester for $1k. Not too bad if that includes all of the equipment seeing as how the iLevil sw alone is $1200.

GumpAir wrote:...as did the bubble sextant boys, and the dead reckoning masters before them. But... I think the basics were still better taught than they are now, with exceptions of course....
Gump

Bubble sextant? Did you use a soap stone as well to find the sun? Damn Gump ur older then me!

I still have the sextant I used to navigate across the Pacific in a small boat. It isn't a bubble sextant, but I did use the air navigation tables to derive my lines of position. I have to admit that I prefer modern navigational systems...

I pulled mine out of it's case the other day, and looked through the tables dated from about 1976 like I remembered one iota of how to use the thing. Then I lit up my Star Chart on the iPad, and sat there and thought... "If I only had this app back then."

Gump

LMAO Gump.

Okay guys, this out to warm the cockles of your heart. Wonder how many of the kids even know what any of this is. Check out the title for Part Six.

I like the depiction of airspace boundaries around the plane. Suppose it can do porn on long XC at high alts?

Barnstormer-

Those books are way cool! Do you have them scanned by any chance?

gunny

I am certainly no Luddite, I love my iPad/ADS-B receiver combo, BUT I tried these things at Oshkosh and I was not that impressed...what I saw in the glasses was nowhere what they depict in the video...may get there....I'll wait for now

Some parts of that are pretty darn cool, I like the airspace feature! Flying thru the boxes would drive me crazy, don't like that at all.

Regarding those sextants, I have a Davis Model 25 for sailing, not that I actually ever sail that far that I cant see the shore and know exactly where I am. That's part of the joy of navigation. Of course, as a ham radio guy I also like the sound of morse code ( CW ) for Identification.

Does anyone actually use a sextant as a back up say for back country flying or anything at all? Just curious?

I'll get to use a bubble sextant for cockpit evaluation in the next few weeks if I choose. I'll likely wind up using a protractor and a string though.

Just a slight thread drift.