AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013 - 34

PRODUCTS

Remotely controlled electrical switches
A convenient way to warm up
B Y I A N J. T W O M B LY
ON THE INTERNATIONALLY recognized scale of torture, waiting for an aircraft
engine preheater to work its magic as you stand in sub-zero temperatures
lies somewhere between fingernails on a chalkboard and Los Angeles traffic.
Relief is now here in the form of remotely operated electrical boxes.
We reviewed the FST, LLC. Regal WDR and the Switchbox, two devices
new to the market. Each contains a cellular card (SIM) with a dedicated phone
number. Plug each into an outlet, and then plug your aircraft preheater into
the box. Then you can call, text, or open up a dedicated iPhone application
to turn on or off the connected device. Thankfully there are two outlets on
each, so your coffee maker, portable hangar heater, light, battery charger, or
any other device can be ready when you get to the hangar as well.
Comparing and contrasting the two is difficult because they are very similar.
The Regal WDR seems to be better built. It’s metal, has a substantial carrying handle, and a cord long enough that it will sit flat on the ground. The Switchbox’s cord
is too short to allow it to sit on the ground, creating the need for an extension cord
(it’s too heavy to hang from the plug). But it’s much less expensive.
Both iPhone applications are good, although the Regal WDR application
is more intuitive and easier to use. In both cases the outlets can be activated
individually, be turned on or off remotely, and run for a set period then turned
off automatically.
In our testing both boxes performed flawlessly. The possibilities with
these are endless, with applications going well beyond aircraft preheaters.

FST, LLC Regal WDR
Contact: www.fstllc.com
Price: $435

Switchbox
Contact: www.pilotportraits.com
Price: $299

PRODUCT NEWS

The folks at Adventure Pilot recently
introduced the iFly 720 portable GPS,
which they claim is a vast improvement over the 700. Some of the new
features include a better processor,
terrain awareness, airspace alerts,
georeferenced approach plates and
airport diagrams, better sunlight
readability, and compatibility with
a number of third-party ADS-B,
traffic and weather units. We were
impressed with the 700, so it stands
to reason the 720 is even better.
CONTACT: www.adventurepilot.com
PRICE: $699

34 | AOPA PILOT February 2013

Zululog.com is now on version 5.0.
The application tracks pilot flight
time in an electronic logbook, as well
as aircraft maintenance and expense
items. There are far too many features to fully name, but they include
colored icons for aircraft readiness,
customizable maintenance scheduling, and life-limit part tracking.
The program exists in the cloud, so
there’s no software to download.
CONTACT: www.zululog.com
PRICE: $25 a month for maintenance

tracking

TEST PILOT
TEST PILOT

BRIEFING

| BY BARRY SCHIFF

1. What is unusual about the control
tower at Wellington International Airport
in New Zealand?

2. Who was “Chicken” Kamikaze?
3. There were five space-shuttle orbiters
that circled the Earth: Atlantis, Columbia,
Challenger, Discovery, and Endeavor.
What was the total number of orbital
missions launched, and during how many
years were they flown?
4. Pilots know that 0 degrees Celsius
represents the freezing point of water.
What is the significance of 0 degrees
Fahrenheit?
5. What was the first turboprop airplane
to enter production in the United States?
6. A VFR pilot with seaplane and landplane ratings takes off from a lake in an
amphibian, flies for an hour, and then
lands on a hard-surface runway. How
must the flying time be logged?

a. all as seaplane time
b. all as landplane time
c. half seaplane, half landplane
d. It does not matter.

7. From reader John Schmidt: Why did
British Spitfires regularly take off for
battle with bright red patches of tape on
their leading edges?
8. True or False: Excluding the effects of
magnetic deviation, the magnetic compass in an airplane points to the magnetic
north pole.
ANSWERS on page 38

http://www.fstllc.com http://www.pilotportraits.com http://www.Zululog.com http://www.zululog.com http://www.adventurepilot.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013

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