Pilot Products: PS Engineering PAR200B
Who needs a second nav/com?
This third-generation box fixes the user squawks of previous versions and adds a few new tricks capped off with a more readable display. Further, the company is also offering a slide-in upgrade path for owners of previous versions for a retail price of $1,695. Under this plan, you slide out your PAR200 or -200A head unit and replace it with the B model and sign it off. No trade-in is necessary. For new buyers, the package comes with a remote-mount Trig TY91L com radio, tray, and installation kit for a retail price of around $2,600.
First, PS Engineering addressed user complaints that included making the tuning knob detents larger and stiffer to avoid easily overshooting frequency selection. In the case of the B model, the dedicated radio tuning knob on the right side of the chassis has been eliminated and is now combined with the volume knob on the left side, closer to the pilot. And yes, the knob detents have been fixed. Another complaint was that the older versions’ green LCD screen was not easily readable from an angle. The new LED display is easier on the eyes and readable from all angles.
New features include IntelliAudio, PS Engineering’s name for three-dimensional audio effects. What sounded gimmicky to me at first is now one of my favorite features. If using a stereo headset, IntelliAudio allows audio from Com 1 to be targeted at your 10 o’clock position while audio from Com 2 appears to come from the 2 o’clock position. This spatial orientation effect makes it easy to distinguish which call gets priority. Stereo headsets are required for this feature.
Multiple inputs, both wired and Bluetooth, allow the PAR200B to play music or podcasts from multiple sources or take phone calls through your headset. It will even display the caller ID right on the display so your phone can stay in your pocket. The sources can be used and split many ways among pilot and/or passengers. For example, back seaters can listen to separate music from those in front. Pilot/crew isolation can be selected, and muting level choices include Off, Radio, and On.
In our Cessna 172, we connected the PAR200B via Bluetooth to an iPad Mini running the Foreflight Mobile app. Since the iPad is connected to the audio panel, not just a single headset, all occupants can hear traffic alerts from the app and will know where to look for the target. If music is desired in addition to the Bluetooth, there are two wired jacks in the panel to plug in a phone or iPod.
From a big-picture standpoint, the PAR200 has satisfied many owners’ desire to have a second com radio without its being hitched to a second VHF navigation radio. After all, who needs two nav radios when light airplane navigation relies mostly on GPS? The ubiquitous second nav/com, long the gold standard of any serious IFR package, is quickly heading the way of the dinosaur. But the PAR200B’s marriage of audio panel and com radio opens a lot of panel space while providing a feature-rich audio panel/intercom.
Review
No sweat, portable ground transportation
Folding electric bicycle from Montague
By Jim Moore
Pedal power is optional,as are courtesy cars, if you stow this full-size, folding bicycle with an electric motor in the airplane for your next adventure. Designed by the company that David Montague founded in 1987 while he was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the M-E1 bicycle is the newest iteration of a design that earned him a contract in 1997 to build folding electric bicycles for the U.S. Marine Corps, and later a non-electric version called the Paratrooper. Montague Bikes also worked with General Motors Co. to design a Hummer Tactical Mountain Bike that folds to fit in the back of an H2.
The M-E1 combines a full-size, folding frame; high-end components including hydraulic disc brakes; and a 250-watt electric motor paired with a battery large enough to power nearly 50 miles of pedal assistance. Two stats to consider: It is not an inexpensive bicycle, at $3,599, and it weighs 55.2 pounds. (The removable battery accounts for 5 pounds of that total, a company spokesman noted, which somewhat improves its aircraft weight-and-balance compatibility.)
The upsides are noteworthy, including an easy-folding design and a forked kickstand that allows the bike to be folded without being lifted. It can also be rolled while folded.
“We set out to build an electric bike that can go where others cannot. Pilots, travelers, and so many outdoor enthusiasts have been deterred from owning an e-bike due to space constraints and a lack of portability with the current designs,” the company said. “The M-E1 offers pilots a compact folding design for easy storage that unfolds in seconds to deliver a full-sized electric bike to take them anywhere they want to go. Pilots need an e-bike that can handle the trails in the remote areas they fly to, and still stow in a tight space at the end of the day. Small wheel folding bikes won’t cut it, but the M-E1 can do it all.”
Rated for a maximum motor-assisted speed of 20 mph, the M-E1 can be used on bike paths where faster electric bicycles and mopeds may be prohibited.
Depending on available useful load (in literal as well as financial terms), the M-E1 may lure a few pilots away from airport courtesy cars or other ground transportation options.
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