Since I just did an aviation post, I might as well keep the good times rolling.  More than anything, this post is a reminder for me: Quiet Technologies' Halo headset has gotten rave reviews from any private pilot trying them on.  They offer passive noise reduction vis-a-vis in-ear monitors, rather than the alternative, which is a giant bulky headset which usually runs 1.5-3x the cost of the Halo.

At the price, it might not be beatable, and the fact that they're likely a ton more comfortable than can-style, they'll likely be the product for me, at some point in the future.  Extra bonus, you can keep your hat on while wearing them.  In Phoenix, that alone is worth the price.

I was presented with an interesting site that rents out and mails videos direct to the customer, providing a postage-paid envelope for returning the video.  Sound familiar?  It's not Netflix, but AVNac.com, self-billed as "Aviation's video rental store."

What I find interesting about this service is that there are many markets that offer videos which Netflix does not cover.  Aviation is certainly a good example, where thousands of films are produced annually for training, but there are other groups that produce niche videos, including dance and music instruction. 

Bravo to AVNac for filling a void, but I wonder if it wouldn't be better to rent some of these products and view them online?  Seems like a better revenue model to me.

Today, Garmin announced Synthetic Vision certification for the Garmin G1000 flight deck tools.

Even if you're not a pilot, this technology makes perfect sense.  Here's the idea: you're flying along when you're surprised by bad weather.  (This can happen for many reasons, but usually is due to out of date weather reports.)  In the clouds, even the best trained pilots will fall prey to their inner ear telling them something that their eyes can't confirm, so you might get led off course.  Unfortunately, in the general aviation (GA) world, this often leads to confusion causing the pilot and airframe to become a permanent fixture atop some mountain at his or her cruise level.

What's a pilot to do?  Well, if they have Synthetic Vision, she only needs to look down at the panel to see a virtual picture of what the outside looks like.  More flying + less crashing == safer flying.

GPS technology has borne many great tools, but "synthetic vision" is the best implementation of that technology.  The idea is that given good digital maps, GPS, and a technology called WAAS, pilots can determine their position in the US to an accuracy of less than 3 meters.  If you map this position on a monitor, you can pilot your aircraft without needing to see out the windows.  This doesn't need to only happen in the middle of a cloud; flying over large bodies of water or simply flying at night can cause disorientation.

Synthetic Vision has existed prior to this announcement but required the addition of more hardware (think tiny tablet-PC) in an already cramped workspace.  Consequently, adding this feature to already existing hardware (in the software world, this is called "overloading") is the perfect solution.

Congratulations, Garmin!  I look forward to seeing this product first hand.

Links:

More pictures from Garmin (blog)

I came across this blog created by the new owner of a Cirrus SR22, a beautiful modern general aviation aircraft.  He's going through his thought process of why he purchased this make/model versus others out there, including Cessna, Columbia, and Diamond. 

I hope to one day join the ranks of Cirrus pilots, if not outright owners.  Cirrus makes a beautiful aircraft, and given the current dismal state of our national airlines, it might just be the way to get around the southwest with the family.