Pilot Products

Flight Guide for Success: Tips & Tactics for the Aspiring Airline Pilot

Begin with the end in mind.

Whether you're just beginning your flight training toward a professional pilot career -- ready to look for your first commercial flying job -- or you've been through the mill and want to refine your approach, Karen Kahn's Flight Guide For Success: Tips & Tactics for the Aspiring Airline Pilotl gives clear insight into how you can reach your goal.

Kahn, an occasional contributor to this magazine who happens to have an article in this issue, is an airline captain and master flight instructor with an aviation career counseling business, and she knows what she's talking about. She lays it on the line, from getting started and finding your first flying job, to marketing yourself and preparing for the interviews you'll go through on your way to your dream job, whatever that may be -- although she focuses on preparation for a flying job at a major airline. Her no-nonsense prose also illustrates the underlying fact that honesty and integrity -- along with transparency and humility -- matter in an airline interview and in life.

Price: $19.95 plus shipping and handling. For more information: 805/687-9493; www.aviationcareercounseling.com

Zuluworks Knee Cup

Zuluworks founder Rob Honeycutt let a demonstration on spatial disorientation inspire him to create a new accessory for pilots. "It's the one where they put you in a full-motion simulator and, once you're in, they start rotating the simulator on its vertical axis," says Honeycutt. "They come on the headset then and tell you you're at 5,000 feet and to turn to a heading of 060 degrees, and to climb and maintain 7,000 feet. A few moments later the guy comes on and says, 'You've dropped your pencil. It's on your left side. Look down and pick it up.' The sensation is nothing less than startling."

It's easy to lose your sense of up and down when you have to forage on the cockpit floor for a pen, and Honeycutt thought Zuluworks could address the safety issue with its new Knee Cup. It's a pen and flashlight holder that you strap on just below your knee, and it gives you that extra room, easily accessible, so you won't have to hunt around for a pen when you need it.

Zuluworks has also come out with several new Zulucards (see "Pilot Products," August 2003 AOPA Flight Training) to aid instrument students. And there's also a new card for students (and any pilot, really) to write down the local frequencies where they fly the most.

Price: $14.95 for Knee Cup; Zulucards are $1.49 each. For more information: 510/393-5444; www.zuluworks.com

A Pilot's Guide to Safe Flying

When he set out to write A Pilot's Guide to Safe Flying: A Manual for General Aviation Pilots, Australian author Sander Vandeth's objective was to summarize the conventional wisdom for minimizing the risk of accidents caused by pilot error. The result is a well-researched 200-page, spiral-bound softcover book that provides a comprehensive reference to the key topics of almost any aspect of general aviation safety. Student pilots, new pilots, and active flight instructors will find it a valuable library addition.

A Pilot's Guide to Safe Flying makes extensive use of lists -- sometimes as checklists, other times as bullet points -- to convey much of its wisdom. This approach makes the book a useful reference, rather than a tome that will spend most of the time on a shelf.

Vandeth organizes the information logically, often by hazard (fuel management, weather, icing) or phase of flight (ground operations, takeoff and landing). A chapter is dedicated to health risks, addressing dehydration, fatigue, hypoxia, medication, and stress, among others. He also acknowledges important issues like survival, which often are omitted or receive only a passing mention. And his points are practical: Are you dressed for the weather outside the cockpit along the intended route?

For student pilots, one of the book's most valuable sections may be Appendix 2, "Preflight Planning Checklist." This section takes the structure of an aircraft checklist -- along with the consistency it provides -- and extends the concept to key flight-planning considerations.

Concerned that a book by an Australian who has flown for more than 30 years there and in Canada will be difficult to comprehend? Don't be -- it's written in an easy-to-read style. The author avoids quoting regulations from any of the countries, which would tend to confuse readers who live elsewhere. Instead of being a liability to U.S. pilots, Vander's background has allowed him to draw from the best safety information available here, as well as in Canada and Australia.

Price: About $35 from Sporty's Pilot Shop. For more information: www.mcove.com -- Mike Collins

Pilotmall.com soft leather convertible carry all

Maybe your flight bag has seen better days, or you want to dial your aviation fashion statement up a notch: Pilotmall.com recently debuted its latest pilot bag, the Soft Leather Convertible Carry All.

The carryall is manufactured from top-quality cowhide with a Cordura lining. It features two detachable headset compartments that convert into a separate headset bag. The main compartment is large enough for pilot training materials and tools, while other features include an exterior section that can hold up to 10 charts and a zippered compartment to carry a logbook on the side. Two adjustable dividers and a detachable shoulder strap complete the bag, which comes in black, café, and natural. The carryall measures 24 inches by 10 inches by 10.5 inches.

Price: $249.95. For more information: www.pilotmall.com

QUICK HITS

Aviation Tutorials hosts a special program on its Web site designed to help you learn how to decode and interpret METARs (routine aviation weather reports) and TAFs (terminal aerodrome forecasts). The free program runs through each section of the report, and allows you to select various weather conditions and see how the condition would be reported in the METAR or TAF. An audio segment vocalizes the portion of the report, which may also help you to understand a flight service station weather briefing.

Price: Free. For more information: www.avtutorials.com

Sennheiser has introduced a portable battery pack with an auto shutoff feature for its HMEC300 and -400 NoiseGardT headsets. The new pack provides 15 hours of operation on four AA batteries, according to the company. The pack is included with the purchase of a new headset, or can be purchased separately.

For more information: www.sennheiserusa.com