John Zimmerman

Rob Reider is a renaissance man: he's a well-known airshow announcer, honorary Blue Angel, Van's RV-7A owner, 5-time Emmy award winner, and an accomplished musician. In this wide-ranging episode, Sporty's John Zimmerman asks Rob about all of these topics, from the behind-the-scenes world of airshow performers to commuting by light airplane to his brief role in a legendary movie. In the fast-paced "ready to copy" segment, Rob talks about his favorite airshow food, the best banjo players, and his idea of the perfect flight.

Why is flight training so strong, even after a pandemic that stopped airline pilot hiring? What do flight instructors wish students knew about learning to fly? Eric Radtke answers these questions and many more, in the first episode of Sporty's Podcast. Eric and host John Zimmerman also talk about what it's like to be an airline pilot, why flying with family is the best, and whether YouTube is good or bad for student pilots. In the "ready to copy" segment, Eric talks about the best Cincinnati chili restaurants, whether he prefers steam gauges or glass cockpits, and his favorite airplane.

At the top end of the market, three headsets dominate: the Bose A20, the David Clark ONE-X, and the Lightspeed Zulu 3. All three are great ANR headsets that will serve any pilot well for many years, but there are important differences. Here’s a look at each one, with comments from our team of pilots and from our customers.

Radios have been used by pilots since the days of open cockpit biplanes, so it's no surprise they have been part of Sporty's offering since the very beginning of the company. In fact, the first product Hal Shevers sold from the trunk of his Studebaker was a Realtone Voyager radio (model TR-970). Since then technology has advanced and prices have dropped, but we still design our own radios. Our goal is to make the easiest-to-use, most reliable radios for pilots. Here's a look at some of the many radios we've sold over the years.

This year marks a milestone in the history of Sporty's: we're celebrating 60 years of serving pilots worldwide. Sporty's wouldn't be here without the incredible support of our customers over the past 60 years, so we invite you to join the celebration. Each week we'll be sharing special savings, new product introductions, and customer contests.

Starting February 25, 2021, chart subscribers (and pilots everywhere) will notice an important change to the effective dates of charts. The FAA is shortening the update cycle for VFR charts to match the dates on IFR charts. This means that, whereas sectional charts used to be updated every six months, now all FAA charts will be updated every 56 days.