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Donna Holman of Orangeburg, South Carolina, is the latest recipient of a $2,500 scholarship awarded through her membership in Sporty’s Flight Crew program. Donna plans to put this money toward her flight instructor certificate so that she can continue to share her passion for aviation with others.
Posted in PIREPs
A good aviation headset is an essential part of any pilot’s flight bag. While the most advanced models can cost over $1,000 they also do an incredible job of protecting your hearing and enhancing the clarity of airborne communications. With proper care, headsets can also last for 10+ years, so it’s a smart investment.
Taking off in a general aviation airplane usually means leaving your connected world behind. Emails, text messages, and phone calls are not options at 7,000 feet in your typical Cessna or Cirrus. More seriously, some GA trips can take you off the grid even after landing - few cell phones work in the backcountry of Idaho or the remote islands of the Caribbean.
Posted in 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.
Posted in PIREPs
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.
Posted in PIREPs
It has never been easier or less expensive to add the latest avionics innovations to your panel - even if your airplane is 50 years old. The big change in recent years is the availability of modular options at lower prices. It's no longer a choice between 1970s-era analog instruments and fully-integrated glass cockpits costing over $30,000; the latest equipment from Garmin, Aspen, Appareo, and others offers significant upgrades at reasonable prices. Here's a compelling example.
Posted in PIREPs
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?
Posted in Headsets
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.
Posted in PIREPs
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.