Digifly Flyer 2 Software Update

Digifly has quietly released new firmware for the Flyer 2 vario. The new firmware makes the Flyer 2 functionally identical to the Archimede, but without the new labels on the buttons. There are several useful improvements and if you have a Flyer 2 this shouldn't be passed up. The new software is here. Manuals and VLTools for the Flyer 2 and other models are available here.

CompetitionPilot

For those of you with old Palm Pilots sitting in the closet collecting dust, Vincenzo Piazza has created a great piece of software that, when coupled with your GPS, turns it into a fully fledged competition-grade flight instrument. Very cool. Check it out here.

Tini Tutorial

This is an attempt to consolidate the instructions for compiling and running Tom Payne's Tini utility for OS X. It's designed for people who have little or no experience with the OS X Terminal. Tini is a small application for downloading logs from Flytec and Brauniger flight instruments.

First, make sure you have the OS X Developer tools (XCode) installed. It comes with every copy of OS X but may not be installed by default. Just run the installer again to make sure XCode is installed.

Second, download the Tini source code, not the "OS X Binary". The latest version is always available here. Once it's downloaded, unzip the archive, and put the resulting folder on your Desktop.

Third, make sure your OS X Root account is enabled.

1. From the Finder's Go menu, choose Utilities.
2. Open Directory Utility.
3. Click the lock in the Directory Utility window.
4. Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.
5. Choose Enable Root User from the Edit menu.
6. Enter the root password you wish to use in both the Password and Verify fields, then click OK.

Fourth, open the Terminal. It's in your Utilities folder which resides inside your Application folder.

1. Type 'su' and hit return. At the password prompt enter the password you set for your Root User.
2. Type 'cd ' (with a space after 'cd'). Find the Tini folder on your desktop and drag it to your terminal window. It should enter the full path to that folder in the Terminal. Back in the Terminal, hit return.
3. Type 'make' and hit return. It'll list a few files, then give you the # prompt again.
4. Type 'make install' and return. It should be successfully installed!

If you would like to avoid some typing later, follow the directions below. They will replace step 3 above. This is optional!

• If you're using a Keyspan USA-19HS (most of us are, it's written on the back of the adapter) it's easy. Replace 'make' in step 3 with 'make DEVICE=/dev/cu.USA19H3d1P1.1' and hit return. That will set the Keyspan adapter as the default every time you run Tini.
• If you're not using an adapter, and have a Compeo+ or 6030, replace 'make' in step 3 with 'make DEVICE=/dev/ttyUSB0' and hit return.

Fifth, it's time to set up your serial port adapter because the default probably won't work. You'll have to do this every time you run Tini unless you followed the italicized directions above when installing Tini.

• If you're using a Keyspan USA-19HS (most of us are, it's written on the back of the adapter) it's easy. At the # prompt type 'export TINI_DEVICE=/dev/cu.USA19H3d1P1.1' and hit return.
• If you're not using an adapter, and have a Compeo+ or 6030, type 'export TINI_DEVICE=/dev/ttyUSB0' and hit return.

You should be ready to rock-n-roll! Before downloading type 'cd /' and return to set your current directory to the top level of your Hard Drive. Now type 'tini' and it should download all the tracks to the current directory, or in this case, the top level of your HD. For tini help type 'tini -h' and it will list additional commands.

Tini

Tom Payne has produced a nifty command-line tool for downloading tracklogs from Brauniger and Flytec instruments that runs on OS X, Linux, and the BSDs. Many of us have been waiting for this for a long time (no more booting into BootCamp or having to use Parallels!) and somehow his work has gone mostly unnoticed. You can find it here!

Site Guides

I'm posting the site guides that I usually hand to students or visiting pilots with the hope that more pilots visiting Ojai/Santa Barbara see the guides, and understand that renegading on these sites poses a risk to themselves and the site. These three guides only cover Chief's Peak in Ojai, and Alternator and Skyport in Santa Barbara but more will be forthcoming. I have purposely left the coordinates of all the launch sites OFF the guide to discourage pilots from showing up unguided.

Alternator.pdf

Skyport.pdf

Chief's.pdf

Performance Calculator v.2.6.2

2.6.2 makes a few big changes. I've added S2F Gain to the arrival altitude chart. It shows how much higher you would arrive if you flew at the proper Speed-To-Fly. The Time chart also shows times for S2F. The Polar curve graph now no longer allows the S2F indicator dot to exceed the 100% speed-bar value. That applies to the S2F table as well. The Polar Curves Table and Input tables have been changed to allow for different weights for each glider. That will allow two pilots to compare two different gliders, rather than one pilot looking at what their performance would be on each of the 4 gliders.