Sporty's PIREPs

The Aviation Consumer aims to help pilots fly with the best, so each year they look for standout products in aviation that pilots need to know about. In the rapidly changing market where new products pop up every week, it's hard to sift through the mundane to find helpful and well-designed products. Here’s how Sporty’s stacked up against the competition in their most recent issue.

There's no perfect flight bag for every pilot - it depends on the type of flying you do, the aircraft you fly, and your own personal preferences. With prices ranging from under $50 to well over $200, there are a lot to choose from. In this Product PIREP Video, Sporty's John Zimmerman reviews some of the best-selling options.

Choosing your first aviation headset is a tough decision. Do you choose ANR or passive? Bluetooth or not? In this detailed video, JC Mayerle and Doug Ranly from Sporty’s explain what to look for, then they take four popular models flying to compare them in the cockpit of a Cessna 172. Which one will come out on top?

Sporty's has a long history of giving back to aviation, with a particular focus on young people and the future of aviation. We simply think it's the right thing to do. In 2007, we formalized our philanthropic efforts by establishing The Sporty's Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting worthy aviation causes. In 2018, for example, the foundation donated over $225,000 to programs - and all with no overhead (Sporty's Pilot Shop underwrites all expenses).

This is the third in a series of articles where we'll highlight individual programs we support at The Sporty's Foundation. Our goal is to shine a light on some great organizations and encourage other pilots to support them.

The ability to view datalink weather on your iPad has been one of the most significant advancements in portable avionics in recent decades. Whether you fly with ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, WingX, or FltPlan Go, you can now monitor NEXRAD radar, METARs, TAFs, TFRs and much more. But first you need to choose the right receiver. Use this guide to compare all the options, from ADS-B to SiriusXM satellite weather, and find the best fit for your flying.

Performance + Durability = Game Changer

We first arrived in the Iraqi desert early in 2004. The invasion dubbed “shock and awe” happened in 2003, so our battalion was part of the rebuilding phase. This was well before all the fancy armored vehicles appeared in theater. The “armor” on our trucks and humvees consisted of sheet metal we cut via torch and welded together. This armor “worked” for bullets, but not so much for IEDs. We would later learn the hard way that the IEDs were a much larger threat.

The Sporty’s Foundation issued its most recent annual report this week, detailing activities during 2018. The philanthropic arm of Sporty's Pilot Shop made bequests of over $225,000 in 2018 to fulfill its goal to attract young people to the aviation community both as a career and a lifestyle. The Foundation also supports organizations and museums that preserve the rich history of aviation for future generations. 

Gearcreep: When stuff is left laying around and starts getting in the way of important tasks.

For anyone who has kids, gearcreep is a daily adventure. Books, bags, lunchboxes, one blue sock, and clarinet reeds somehow can’t cross the forcefield that is found approximately 10 feet inside my front door. Eventually, the forcefield can’t hold back the massive piles of junk and the gear starts creeping across the floor, only to be found at 2 am while stumbling down the hall to the bathroom.

Sporty’s Founder shares his regret at not wearing headsets

I’ve been flying for over 50 years, in everything from single engine Pipers to twin engine jets. But for the first 30 years of my flying career, those flights did not involve an aviation headset. Communicating with Air Traffic Control meant listening to a scratchy cabin speaker over the roar of the engines, and then, if I was lucky enough to understand the instructions, replying with a hand-held microphone.