PilotEdge Forums

Blow this away if it's inappropriate here, pretty cool story and something I think the community here would like.

A close friend of mine was able to ride along with his father on a pretty unforgettable flight. Mr. Platzer pursued and obtained a PPL when he was younger, but has been unable to fly for years due to being legally blind. He's a firm believer in not letting his condition hold him back and, most recently, had an opportunity to fly again out of Smith Field (KSMD) in Fort Wayne, IN. Pretty cool video that gave me chills when I saw it the first time.

http://vimeo.com/110650445

He didn't even have to pull the chute.

Quite incredible. It's giving me chills and I don't even know the guy.

The thought occurs, it wouldn't be hard to build a system which presents several buttons, all of which trigger a verbal annunciation of a particular flight condition, such as:
- KIAS
- roll and pitch state (in degrees)
- vertical speed (ft/min)
- % power
- heading / track (degrees)

Or, a single button which detects rapid clicks (1 click for speed, 2 for roll/pitch, etc). It 'fires' when the last click occurred more than XXX milliseconds before (this would be tuned to his desired response rate, similar to setting double click tolerances in Windows/MacOS).

The instructor would still be present to monitor, of course, but it would allow him to get the data he wants. This would allow the instructor to simply monitor and provide critical data.

Yes, he could use the autopilot, but assuming he wants to manipulate the controls, this could be a useful solution. Ty, if you think this would be useful to him, pass it on. This is all totally doable.

That's some pretty good thinking. I'll send it over.

Wow, awesome!