Airplane Geeks Podcast

The Executive Vice President at Lightspeed Aviation talks about their new video series inspired by the people, business, and adventure of aviation. We also get caught up with FlightLink and ANR helmets. In the news, a new aircraft carrier is named for a WWII hero, the US Navy disrupts GPS systems, an autonomous A350-1000 take-off, Garmin electronic steam instruments, and the Delta 777 fuel dump over a populated area.

Teresa De Mers, Lightspeed Aviation Executive Vice President.

Teresa De Mers is Executive Vice President of Lightspeed Aviation responsible for marketing and corporate development. She is also a member of the company’s board of directors. Teresa earned her PPL in 1997 and an instrument rating a few years later. She loves flying small airplanes and the freedom that general aviation provides. Teresa joined Lightspeed in 2012 and she combines her passion for aviation with her passion for creating innovative products and market opportunities.

Lightspeed is focused on pursuing product innovation that brings new technology and genuine value to the aviation community. Their business model gives customers a personal and exceptional experience. The company also is privileged to give back through projects funded by the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation. 

As a way to help showcase the company’s passion for aviation, Lightspeed has created an episodic YouTube series titled Aviation – No Tie Downs. Recent episodes have featured an in-depth interview with retired Major General Hank Canterbury, some aerobatic flying with this former Thunderbird pilot, a tour of the museum of the US Air Force with friends from Sporty’s, a behind the scenes “day in the life” of an aerial formation team that flies general aviation aircraft, and a variety of interviews with international business leaders in the general aviation marketplace.

We talk with Teresa about the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation Foundation and some of its initiatives that are focused on growing the aviation population. The Foundation has partnered with AOPA on the Rusty Pilots program and the You Can Fly initiatives, and with the EAA and the Ray Aviation Scholarship program for young people who want to become a private pilot.

Teresa explains the Lightspeed FlightLink app that lets your iOS device act as a cockpit voice recorder. Recent changes include the ability to transfer files with Airdrop. We also hear about active noise reduction for helmets.

• New FlightLink release launched with improved user experiences and updatesFlightLink 3.0 gets an update
• ANR for Helmets

Find Lightspeed Aviation on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The Lightspeed Aviation Foundation is also on Instagram.

Also, check out the Lightspeed Blog with interesting articles by contributors, such as the Mountain Flying multi-part series by Colin Aro.

In 2020, look for Lightspeed Aviation at HAI Heli-Expo, Sun ‘n Fun, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and AERO Friedrichshafen, the German trade show dedicated to European general aviation.

Aviation No Tie Downs: Pulling some Gs with Major General Hank Canterbury.

https://youtu.be/HOkzgE96cVs

A new aircraft carrier is to be named for a mess attendant who assisted wounded sailors during the attack on Pearl Harbor and manned a .50-caliber machine gun on his stricken ship. The carrier will be the first one to be named after an African-American.

A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) was issued by the FAA warning about GPS disruptions in the US Southeast. Navy Carrier Strike Group 4 is conducting “GPS interference testing” off the extreme southeastern coast of Georgia. This has the potential to disrupt commercial and general aviation. Also possibly affected are the Wide Area Augmentation System, the Ground Base Augmentation System, and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system.

Last December, Airbus tested an A350-1000 that was able to take off automatically, without pilot input. The Airbus system utilized image recognition technology and is part of the Airbus Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off, and Landing (ATTOL) project on aviation autonomy. Automatic vision-based landing and taxi sequences are planned for mid-2020.

Press release: Airbus demonstrates first fully automatic vision-based take-off

Video: ATTOL: Autonomous Taxiing, Take-Off and Landing test flight

https://youtu.be/9TIBeso4abU

Garmin announced the GI 275 electronic flight instrument that directly replaces legacy primary flight instruments in the cockpit. The GI 275 is suitable as a direct replacement for a variety of instruments including attitude indicator, attitude directional indicator (ADI), course deviation indicator (CDI), horizontal situation indicator (HSI), and engine indication system (EIS).

Delta Flight 89, a Boeing 777, experienced an engine-related issue inflight and returned to LAX less than 20 minutes after takeoff. The airplane dumped fuel at about 2,000 feet over a heavily populated area. Reportedly, ATC was not notified of the fuel dump.

See also, Los Angeles teachers sue Delta after jet fuel dump over schools, playgrounds.

Vanderhoof International Airshow 2020, Vanderhoof, BC Canada, August 1 and 2, 2020.

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