Flight Computers - which one?

[Illini Pilot]

I have the ASA one and you CAN store (i think up to 5) aircraft specific numbers in the W&B part, you can input any two of the three of Weight, Arm and Moment, and then also set how many different stations you want (even negative ones for fuel burn and moment shift due to gear retraction)

 

[mattpilot]

thanks Illini ... would you recommend the ASA one?

Is it useful?

 

[flyer172r]

For those that use the PDA E6B programs, what is the program called and how did you get it?

 

[Lead Sled]

For what it's worth, I'm of the opinion that you'd be better off with the cheapest one you can find - once you're finished taking the various writtens it will most likely be put in your flight bag and forgotten. I guess that's not entirely true - I actually have a whiz wheel that I keep in my "oceanic bag" along with various and sundry navigational tools that I'm obliged to carry during oceanic crossings. (You never know when you're going to have both a triple simultaneous nav failure along with a failure of the backup handheld GPS.)

Seriously though, if you go with a battery powered unit, try and find one that uses alkaline batteries and carry some spare batteries. Alkalines have a shelf life measured in years; nicads start losing their charge the moment you remove them from the charger. This advise is especially important if you're shopping for a handheld com or nav/com radio.

'Sled

 

[Vector4fun]

Some of you new guys make this all sound so complicated.

My Skyhawk carries me, the wife, and all the bags that fit,

Or three normal adults,

Or four adults and half fuel.

Unless I have a fuel leak, it runs for 4+30 hours on full tanks, which I never test because I have a 3 hr bladder, max.

It flies 100 kts mas o menos

Anybody who got thru 9th grade can figure those numbers in their head.

(JAFI, you didn't see this.... )

 

[Lead Sled]

Some of you new guys make this all sound so complicated.

My Skyhawk carries me, the wife, and all the bags that fit,

Or three normal adults,

Or four adults and half fuel.

Unless I have a fuel leak, it runs for 4+30 hours on full tanks, which I never test because I have a 3 hr bladder, max.

It flies 100 kts mas o menos

Anybody who got thru 9th grade can figure those numbers in their head.

(JAFI, you didn't see this.... )

That's precisely why there are so many unused electronic flight computers stashed away in dresser drawers.

 

[midlifeflyer]

For those that use the PDA E6B programs, what is the program called and how did you get it?

There are a few of them. The one I use is CoPilot
http://lauriedavis9.tripod.com/copilot/

Primarily it's a Palm-based flight planning program but has a lot of E6B functionality.

Plus, you can get a full national or international database for it at

http://xcski.com/~ptomblin/CoPilot/

 

[dmspilot00]

I use my graphing calculator (TI-83). You can likely find programs off the internet to enter into your calculator that do aviation related calculations. I programmed mine to do temperature conversions and density altitude. I could put more in but probably wouldn't use them. So, anyway for the same price you can have a device that is actually useful.

 

[mattpilot]

hm.. i got a Ti-83+ ...

what cable would i need to get stuff from my 'puta to the calculator?

 

[CougarAviator]

I have the Sporty's E6B. It is easy to use.

I don't like the ASA, version. With only two nav arrows, it can be quite inconvienent...........

 

[dmspilot00]

hm.. i got a Ti-83+ ...

what cable would i need to get stuff from my 'puta to the calculator?

Usually the store that sells TI calculators will also sell the cable that goes with it (it should say on the box what models it is for.)

However, you could just enter the programs yourself without the cable--that's what I did. The manual for the calculator will tell you how to do that. It's a little awkward at first but then you get used to it. I wrote the programs myself but I did get the formulas online.

I will post the code for the temperature converter below, if you want I'll also post density altitude and wind correction angle/groundspeed. The words that are not in all caps come from various menus, most of them PRGM except for "Fix 2" and "Float" which come from MODE. The -> is the STO key.

:ClrHome
:Fix 2
:Disp "1 = *C TO *F"
:Disp "2 = *F TO *C"
:Disp ""
:0->W
:While W < 1 or W > 2
:Input "ENTER 1 OR 2: ", W
:End
:ClrHome
:If W=1
:Then
:Disp "ENTER TEMP"
:Input "DEGREES C:", T
:T*1.8+32->N
:Disp ""
:Disp "FARENHEIT:"
:Output(4,11,N)
:Else
:Disp "ENTER TEMP"
:Input "DEGREES F:", T
:(T-32)/1.8->C
:Disp ""
:Disp "CELCIUS: "
:Output(4,11,C)
:End
:Float

When executed the program would look like this:

1 = *C TO *F
2 = *F TO *C

ENTER 1 OR 2: 1

ENTER TEMP
DEGREES C: 15

FARENHEIT: 59.00