Kitplanes Magazine SPOT article from EAA AirVenture 2008

In more EAA AirVenture 2008 news from Oshkosh, Kitplanes magazine has done a good and brief writeup of SPOT. Visit Kitplanes for the whole article. 

Here’s an excerpt: 

“Spot, originally developed for backpackers and back country skiers, is a natural in the airplane. “The first thing I did with it was throw it in my Cherokee 140,” says Wilkenson. “It worked. When I pressed the OK button it sent a message, via text and email, to let people on my list know the lat/long of my departure and that I was OK. There’s also a link to a private Google Maps page where they can track me. Hold that button down again, watch for flashing lights, and I know it has gone to tracking mode,” he says. “Then it issues updates every 10 minutes or so, with my lat/long. When I reach my destination, I hit the OK button once more and it sends a message so people know I’ve landed safely. But that’s just the tracking mode. What makes this little device great are the HELP and 911 buttons. Push HELP and you’ll send out a non-emergency, ‘you need to come get me’ notice. It’s very popular with glider pilots who might land out. Push 911 and we will activate search-and-rescue in your vicinity immediately,” he says. ”

EAA News: AVweb podcast interview with SPOT PR Manager Derek Moore

In EAA Airventure 2008 News, AVWeb posted an interesting interview with SPOT PR Manager Derek Moore, recorded in OshKosh. 

http://www.avweb.com/podcast/podcast/EAAAirVenture2008_AudioPodcast_DerekMoore_Spot_198407-1.html

Track planes going to EAA 2008; B-17, Ford Tri-motor, J.W. French

 

EAA AirVenture 2008 logo

 

 

For the EAA Airventure 2008, the SPOT has outfitted key planes with SPOT satellite messengers for GPS tracking and flight following. Starting immediately, aviation fans can follow along online in real time at the SPOT website.  http://www.findmespot.com/eaa.aspx

Planes to track include:

 

B-17 Flying Fortress Thunderbird (Lone Star Flight Museum)

Click the title or picture to see the SPOT shared page. The B-17 Flying Fortress was used by the Army Air Corps to fly strategic bombing missions over Europe during World War II. The four-engine, heavy-duty bomber was armed with .50 caliber machine guns and 5,000 pounds of bombs. Over the course of the war, 13,000 B-17s were produced, of which only 13 are still airworthy today.    Thunderbird currently resides at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, and is painted in the colors of one of the aircraft from the 303rd bomb group.

 

 

Ford Tri-Motor 4AT-A (Greg Herrick/Golden Wings Museum)

Courtesy of Airport Journals Click the title or picture to see the SPOT shared page.  The Ford Tri-motor, nicknamed “The Tin Goose,” was an American three-engine civil transport aircraft first produced in 1925 by Henry Ford. The Ford Tri-motor used an all-metal construction, which was beyond the standard in the 1920s. Its wings were made of aluminum and corrugated for added strength. More than 100 worldwide airlines flew the Ford Tri-motor while it was in production. Before Greg Herrick acquired the 4AT-A, it was flown by Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, and made the first commercial flights from the U.S. to Mexico City and over the Canadian Rockies. After obtaining it in the mid-1980s, Herrick began restoring the tri-motor after years of preservation. As of 2006, the Tri-motor has been in flying condition and restored to its December 1927 appearance. Herrick’s Tri-motor is the oldest flying type example of the 18 remaining aircraft in the world.

 

Visit http://www.findmespot.com/eaa.aspx for a complete list.

New search for Steve Fossett GPS tracked online with SPOT messenger

 

On September 3, 2007, Steve Fossett, the multi-millionaire record-breaking aviator, went missing when his single engine plane disappeared in Nevada. A month later, the official search was called off. On Monday, July 14, 2008, a team led by Dr. Simon Donato set off to tackle the Sierra Nevada Mountains to find the wreckage and put closure to this mystery. 

http://adventurescience.ca/follow-the-team.html Track Simon and his team as they use SPOT technology for safety messaging and location updates. 

Dr. Donato will lead his small crew in a high intensity 8-day long ground search for Steve Fossett’s crash site. They will test Donato’s hypothesis that the wreckage is in their search area. They will be pushing their physical and mental limits as they cover hundred’s of kilometers during the search and aim to set a new standard in search and rescue. The team possesses the mental toughness and physical fitness to conduct large-scale ground searches quickly, which is what sets this team apart from ordinary folks. They will pack lightly, move quickly, and suffer extremes. They will explore the unexplored.

Although the team will use all-terrain vehicles when possible, the majority of the search will be conducted on foot in order to allow the team to explore difficult areas where vehicles and previous searchers were unable to reach. Conducting the search this way will allow them to reach the areas shrouded by tree cover, shaded by towering cliffs and canyons that prevented satellites and aircraft from successfully surveying.