Parking Radar gets its own website

ParkingRadar now has its own dedicated website and Facebook page. If you find the app useful, spread the word 😋

Attention carpark owners / operators

Are you the owner /operator of a carpark ? If you were to provide the GPS coordinates of your lots, it would be a benefit to you by having exposure of your lots, plus a benefit to the Parking Radar community (iOS and Android) by having more complete coverage.

Here is a simple web-form for submitting GPS data.

Parking your way to fitness

You don't need a car to participate in Parking Radar (for iOS and Android). When out walking, running, cycling, etc., whenever you see a parking spot not already on the map simply grab it (by tapping the I'M PARKED HERE button). Takes only a few moments, and helps everyone by enhancing the database by including more and more potential parking spots -- and good for you, too, if you do ever happen to get in a car again. You might get some funny looks when grabbing spots-- but it is surely worth it for the thrill of being plugged-in to The (Parking) Matrix. And remember to KEEP SAFE. You do not need to step on to the road to grab a spot. Anywhere within 3m (10 feet) of the spot will do fine.

Guide to Parking Spot validity

Please only "grab" spots that meet the following criteria:

• Must be a legal parking spot as defined by local laws and regulations
• Must be publicly available in principle, either free (including disc zones) or paid
• NO private driveways
• NO reserved parking spots (or spots restricted to clients of a specific business)
• Generally accessible all year, not just for special events
• Must be suitable for cars (i.e., not just motorbikes etc.) 

By adhering to these guidelines you well help ensure the quality control of the database.

Sywell Formation Sectors

Click here for a moving-map browser app containing the Red, Green, and Blue Sywell Formation Flying Sectors for Chipmeet. I have transcribed them from these originals, available via the Chipmeet website.

This moving-map browser app (ReallySimpleMovingMap) can be used for in-flight situational awareness in the cockpit -- by displaying your current aircraft position relative to the sectors -- using any mobile device with a browser (e.g., iPhone, Android phone, iPad, etc). The app requires an internet connection to load and refresh the maps, but does not require an internet connection to track your position on the map once loaded (this just requires that you have Location Services enabled on your device). I therefore recommend that you load the map into your mobile browser, at the appropriate zoom factor, before you take off. Then with the map be pre-loaded, it will stay visible even if your internet connection fades when airborne. Here's what it will look like if you pre-load and zoom to allow the display of all three sectors.

"Turbine Legend" - Crazy, Beautiful, Thing

I was down at the Isle of Man airport grabbing some tools to fix my dishwasher the other day, when this crazy, beautiful, thing was parked next to my hangar. It is a "Turbine Legend" -- a US Experimental aircraft, on a ferry trip to its new owner in Germany, having just crossed the North Atlantic from the US.

• Tandem two-seat turboprop
• "Walter" engine, 724 SHP
• 275kt cruise
• 6000 ft/min climb rate
• 700 nm range with ferry tanks
• Approximately 50 of them in existence
• Pick one up for approximately $500 k

Spectacular looking machine.

Navigate to Eclipse 2017 USA with ReallySimpleMovingMap

Are you planning to view the Total Solar Eclipse in the USA on 21 August 2017? If so, here's the trajectory in the web-browser version of ReallySimpleMovingMap. Just drive/hike/etc(!) until your real-time location marker hits the line!  You can also load the eclipse trajectory via the iOS or Android App version of ReallySimpleMovingMap. In the App, click Shapes, check Show Shapes on map, click ...from Cloud, select Eclipse 2017 USA from the available Shape Groups from Cloud, and confirm OK to load. Note: this requires you to have logged-in to the App.

The trajectory data is reproduced courtesy of NASA, who have published a GoogleMaps version of the trajectory here, showing the exact times of the eclipse along the trajectory (obtained by clicking anywhere on the trajectory).  Use ReallySimpleMovingMap to help you navigate to the precise location, then check the NASA map to get the timings.

RAF Henlow "100" Bulldog & Chipmunk Flyby

I recently had the pleasure in participating with my Bulldog in the RAF Henlow "100" (centenary) flyby. Together with 10 Chipmunks, we flew over the base in the shape of "1 0 0" (viewed from the ground). Here are a collection of photos and videos from the event. I'll add more materials if/when I receive them e.g., the photos from the official "camera ship" and from the official photographer on the ground.

At one point, due to thunderstorms preventing aircraft from getting through to Henlow in the days leading up the the flyby, we thought we would not have enough aircraft for "1 0 0" so we were aiming to resort to "Plan B" which would have replaced "1 0 0" with "C" (for the classically-educated). However, the storms cleared, and on the day, we had 11 aircraft: 10 Chipmunks and my lone Bulldog, enabling 4 aircraft for each "0" and three for the "1". My Bulldog's position was lead aircraft in the "box" formation of 4 aircraft in the outermost "0" i.e., the front/centre of the "0". It's always more challenging with mixed types: the Bulldog wants to climb at 80kts, the Chipmunks at 70kts. Even with "inter" flap, the Bulldog was on the verge of stalling when climbing at 70 kts -- the stall-waning horn chirping away is quite a distraction when climbing-out, low over the perimeter trees and hedges, having survived the bumpy formation takeoff run along the grass runway. In the end, we compromised on 75 kts which was far more comfortable.

Anyway, here are the pics so far. Videos to be added later (once processed).

Flightline

Training flight #1

Training flight #2

The "1 0 0"

The "Royal Chipmunk"

RAF Henlow -- Isle of Man connection

Parking Radar goes LIVE

Updated 1 October 2017: Parking Radar gets its own website

Updated 12 September 2017: iOS version now available

Today we are pleased to announce the release of the Parking Radar App on the Google Play Store and Amazon App Store , and the App Store for iOS. Parking Radar is a free (and ad free) crowd-sourcing service for you and the community.  By interacting with the app, you are able to designate parking spaces by telling the app that you have parked at your current location. This information is then available to the community in real-time via a moving-map display.  When traveling and looking for a parking space, the app can help you find your next parking space with greater ease. The app is the brainchild of Steve Adler (of Sacred Chocolate) and Yusuf Jafry (of FlyLogical). Steve and Yusuf met almost 30 years ago when they were engineering grad students at Stanford University, California. Their first project together, at Stanford, was to design a re-usable re-entry space vehicle: Steve designed the heat-shield from Chinese White Oak, and Yusuf designed the orbital trajectory to guide the vehicle to touch down on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, for ease-of-recovery. With a mutual fascination of the emergence and convergence of Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Crowd-Sharing, Parking Radar is their first joint foray into this new and exciting space. If anyone says it isn't rocket science, it is, actually : )

Parking Radar Support

If you have any support queries pertaining to the Parking Radar mobile app, please send a comment via this page. We will get right back to you.

On the stability of drag-along baggage...

For the past few years I had intended to analyse the dynamical problem then write a paper with the title  "On the stability of drag-along baggage..." to investigate why two-wheeled luggage can develop instabilities, which can be very annoying when rushing to catch a train, plane, etc.

But researchers in Paris have recently beaten me to it! Their conclusions are interesting and (at least initially) somewhat counterintuitive. I also found an earlier, related, paper here.

So, job done! Can strike this from the "to do" list : )

SkyVector revisited

Happened upon SkyVector again recently. I like the new weather layers and the new route export functionality.

Reading their forum, found an old question again coming up:

"How can I import FPL files (etc) into SkyVector ?"

Here's my response, basically using the same approach I developed quite some years ago now

https://skyvector.com/comment/4432#comment-4432


....Hope you find it useful

Formation circuits in Bulldogs

Many thanks to Alex Henthorn for sending through these pictures he took of our Bulldogs doing formation circuits on the Isle of Man a few weeks ago.

Really Simple Moving Map Mobile

Really Simple Moving Map is now available for mobile. Get it here for iOS, Android (Google and Amazon App Stores). User Guide here.

Really Simple Moving Map Support

If you have any support queries pertaining to the Really Simple Moving Map mobile app, please send a comment via this page. We will get right back to you.

Spinning

Had fun spinning the Bulldog a couple of weeks ago

FlyLogical Apps Update

What's New ?

In a nutshell, the following changes have recently been rolled-out to the FlyLogical suite of  web- and mobile- apps:

Really Simple Moving Map

• A mobile version of the web-app has now been published. There is a nominal fee for the app, and it is available on iOS and Android
• the Really Simple Moving Map web-app is still active and free

iNavCalc

Looking at the usage patterns over the past few years, it has become clear that the iNavCalc web app and mobile app interfaces are much more popular than the email and Twitter apps. As such:

• the iNavCalc mobile app has been completely rewritten and streamlined, removing all under-utilized features, retaining only the core command-line-based VFR Nav Planning functionality, and extending to Windows 10 (Universal Windows Platform) in addition to iOS and Android. The app is still free, and no longer requires you to have a FlyLogical account (though you have the option to utilize your FlyLogical account, enabling access to your library of personal waypoints when creating routes).
• the iNavCalc email- and Twitter- apps & services have been discontinued (due to under-utilization)
• the iNavCalc web-app is still active, free, and widely used.

Just MET

From the usage patterns, there is a clear demand for a simple METAR & TAF service, without all the additional information produced by iNavCalc. In response, the Just MET mobile app has been published. It "does what it says on the tin", providing an uncluttered interface for obtaining just METAR and TAF briefings for a specified list of airfields (ICAO codes). There is a nominal fee for the app, and it is available on iOS, Android, and Windows 10 (UWP).

Just NOTAMS

Likewise, from the usage patterns, there is a clear demand for a simple NOTAM service. In response, the Just NOTAMS mobile app has been published. It "does what it says on the tin", providing an uncluttered interface for obtaining just NOTAM briefings for a specified list of airfields (ICAO codes). There is a nominal fee for the app, and it is available on iOS, Android, and Windows 10 (UWP).

Get the Apps

Click here for more information on each app, and for links to the respective iOS, Android, and Windows App Store pages. 

Just NOTAMS Support

If you have any support queries pertaining to the Just NOTAMS mobile app, please send a comment via this page. We will get right back to you.

Just MET Support

If you have any support queries pertaining to the Just MET mobile app, please send a comment via this page. We will get right back to you.