New Way To Measure And Record Pilot And Aircraft Performance

Redbird’s unique new way of measuring and recording pilot and aircraft performance coupled with hands-free data transfer has moved to field testing at Virginia based flight school.

Aviation Adventures Flight School and Redbird Flight Simulations will begin flight testing Redbird’s new Sidekick data collection and transmission device at Aviation Adventures’ four Virginia locations beginning in October.

“As you can imagine, we are thrilled to have the opportunity put the Sidekick to the test with Aviation Adventures, an award winning flight school and leader in technologically advanced aircraft training with a reputation for driving efficiency with the smart application of technology,” said Jerry Gregoire, founder of Redbird Flight Simulations.

Sidekick is a notebook size array of sophisticated sensors and telemetry that can be thrown in the back seat, requires no physical connections to the aircraft, not even a power connection, and automatically sends data directly from the airplane to the data repository at the school. In spite of having no physical connections to the airplane (meaning no installation costs), Sidekick can sense and report data well beyond the usual GPS coordinates, including who is flying the airplane, what airplane the unit is currently flying in, what time the engine started and shutdown, rpms, maneuvers flown, number of landings, stresses on the airframe, g-forces on landing, and a wide variety of other things. Data transmitted to the database can then be used to automate the record keeping for students, aircraft logs, and even invoicing.

“We got very interested in this project because of Sidekick’s potential to deliver vital data we simply couldn’t gather up until now,” said Bob Hepp, owner of Aviation Adventures, “Sidekick, if successful, represents a truly valuable new tool for us and our customers.” While field testing of Sidekick doesn’t begin until October, a live demonstration of the technology will take place at Oshkosh during Michael Goulian’s aerobatic performance. A Sidekick device in Mr. Goulian’s Extra 330 will broadcast live telemetry of his flight to the Jumbotrons on the flight line giving the audience a chance to see what’s happening from the pilot’s perspective.

(Image provided by Redbird)

FMI:  www.redbirdflight.com, www.aviationadventures.com