BUGGED BY A lack of progress in modernizing general aviation cockpits, a team of pilots with backgrounds in technology has introduced WingBug (www. wingbug.com), a portable, self-contained pitot static measuring system that can provide precise flight information to the pilot via an iOS app.About the size of two fists put together, the battery-powered WingBug hardware can be attached under a wing or on a wing strut with a typical action camera mount. A pitot tube on the leading edge combined with the 12-hour rechargeable battery and other sensors inside provide the air data attitude and heading reference system (ADAHRS) data necessary to safely fly the airplane. The data is sent via Wi-Fi to the Apple device running the app and is displayed as a conventional six-pack of instruments, including actual airspeed, an important differentiator from apps that only display groundspeed. An upcoming change to the app will also allow it to show the information more like a modern EFIS glass-panel display, with airspeed and altitude in a tape format, for example.
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