New device increases safety for general aviation pilots

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HolyMicro

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General Aviation News Published an article about SkyVoice Alert 500, a takeoff and landing height announcer with LiDAR range of 590ft and repeated Gear Warnings from 560ft until the gear is down and locked, approved to install in all general aviation aircraft under the FAA’s Non Required Safety Enhancing Equipment (NORSEE) program.

Read More - New device increases safety for general aviation pilots​


SkyVoice-alert-product-black-500x500.jpgSkyVoice_Alert_500_Faa.png
 
HolyMicro said:
General Aviation News Published an article about SkyVoice Alert 500, a takeoff and landing height announcer with LiDAR range of 590ft and repeated Gear Warnings from 560ft until the gear is down and locked, approved to install in all general aviation aircraft under the FAA’s Non Required Safety Enhancing Equipment (NORSEE) program.

Read More - New device increases safety for general aviation pilots​


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“...Most private pilots do not have enough logged hours to measure this height with their eyes on a visual basis...” I dunno 'bout that.
 
Interesting...and I'd rather have something like this than one of those stupid auto-gear-extenders...
 
This product seems to be intended to advise the altitude is low enough that a landing is intended, and the gear is up.

I doubt that fixed gear owners will have much interest.
 
Skip Miller said:
Holy Micro,

And your relationship with this company is …?
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"Frank started a company, Holy Micro!, to produce the alert device and is now on the air show circuit, exhibiting at the 2024 SUN ’n FUN Aerospace Expo, the Alaska Airmen Association’s Great Alaska Aviation Gathering, and plans to be at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024."
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Eh, unless you’re landing on frozen lakes or desert, I can’t see this being much of a benefit. Never had a bad landing because I didn’t know how high I was over a runway. I simply flared too much / too little because of poor control touch.

Just the RADLT at work, I rarely look at the thing. 99% of the areas I land, external references are good enough to easily judge my altitude.
 
Velocity173 said:
Eh, unless you’re landing on frozen lakes or desert, I can’t see this being much of a benefit. Never had a bad landing because I didn’t know how high I was over a runway. I simply flared too much / too little because of poor control touch.

Just the RADLT at work, I rarely look at the thing. 99% of the areas I land, external references are good enough to easily judge my altitude.
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I could see how it would be very useful during an emergency…and/or at night
 
While I'm not really crazy about the thinly veiled advertising, I do love the concept of this device, and the price ($1450 from the article for those wondering) seems reasonable. The gear annunciatior is the selling point for me, and having the height annunciation would be nice in an emergency situation as mentioned above. I'll he talking to my mx shop about this and Frank I'll look for you at Oshkosh. I hope you stick around.
 
And how many lives is this expected to save? I haven't heard of any cases where people were killed or even injured after failing to extend the landing gear. Some WANT to have died, but.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
luvflyin said:
“...Most private pilots do not have enough logged hours to measure this height with their eyes on a visual basis...” I dunno 'bout that.
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I read that line and stopped reading the “article “
 
Personally I think it's a neat product.
I'd probably disable the gear-reminder (if that's possible) and just use it as a fairly inexpensive radar altimeter.
 
Does it work over water? Landing an Amphib with the gear down usually leads to a sinking aircraft and sometimes fatalities.
 
X3 Skier said:
Does it work over water? Landing an Amphib with the gear down usually leads to a sinking aircraft and sometimes fatalities.
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My understanding is lidar doesn't generally work over water, although it can depending on what wavelength is used. Unfortunately I think @HolyMicro was a drive-by poster, never to be heard from again.
 
“Unfortunately, small plane crashes happen too frequently,” he says, noting one reason is that pilots have difficulty determining their accurate height above the ground."
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I would like to see the statistics that back this claim up.

I don't recall seeing a single accident report with "Probable cause of accident: Pilots failure to determine height above the ground"
 
As an alternative:
https://landingheight.com/product/landing-height-system-200-c/
More or less same thing, though earlier to market and cheaper by the sounds of it. We installed one in the R182. Figured if there's a remote chance it saves us a gear up it'd pay for itself pretty quick. We tend not to bang patterns out in that airplane, and honestly I like the height callouts(which you can turn off). I'm not about to install one on a cub.
 
DreadPirateWill said:
As an alternative:
https://landingheight.com/product/landing-height-system-200-c/
More or less same thing, though earlier to market and cheaper by the sounds of it. We installed one in the R182. Figured if there's a remote chance it saves us a gear up it'd pay for itself pretty quick. We tend not to bang patterns out in that airplane, and honestly I like the height callouts(which you can turn off). I'm not about to install one on a cub.
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Ahh... thanks for that! I thought I had heard of this product before, but apparently it was the one you linked.
 
I wish we could customize the voice calls on FF- so it gave just an audible “request” when it announced “500 agl” to “500 agl- check gear down” - nothing is fool proof but would be a handy lil change to tech I already have on board.
 
“Most private pilots do not have enough logged hours to measure this height with their eyes on a visual basis.''
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This makes no sense to me.

Anyone here mistake 5 feet for 50 feet.??
 
donjohnston said:
I would like to see the statistics that back this claim up.

I don't recall seeing a single accident report with "Probable cause of accident: Pilots failure to determine height above the ground"
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Not only that, but the ability to determine height above ground is immaterial. Judging the GLIDE PATH is important, knowing whether you're 100 feet or 200 feet above the ground doesn't matter. There are external visual aids (VASI, etc.) to help pilots attain the right glide path.

This reminds me of a typical newb mistake, such as claiming the tires should be pre-spun before landing. Wonder if the person marketing it is even a pilot?

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
This reminds me of a typical newb mistake, such as claiming the tires should be pre-spun before landing.
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You aren’t familiar with the gravel kit for certain jets? (Citation is the one I know of for sure.)
 
donjohnston said:
I would like to see the statistics that back this claim up.

I don't recall seeing a single accident report with "Probable cause of accident: Pilots failure to determine height above the ground"
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The inventor was apparently inspired to create the device because he couldn’t judge height above the runway and took many many hours to earn his ticket. I suspect most of the ad copy (article) was influenced by his challenge.
 
wanttaja said:
reminds me of a typical newb mistake, such as claiming the tires should be pre-spun before landing. Wonder if the person marketing it is even a pilot?
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Apparently took him almost 100 hours to solo.
 
Initial Fix said:
The inventor was apparently inspired to create the device because he couldn’t judge height above the runway and took many many hours to earn his ticket. I suspect most of the ad copy (article) was influenced by his challenge.
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“50, 40, 60, 70, 30, 60, Zero..”
“GAME OVER…WAH WAH WAHHHHH”
 
It was a Paul Bertorelli video (from AVweb) where he noted that a lot of aviation accidents could be avoided "if pilots would just learn how to land the airplane."

I think he's on to something ...
 
Pilots land with the gear up despite any number of beeps, buzzes, or voices.

I can’t imagine having so much trouble figuring height in a Cardinal, but I learned to fly at 30. Maybe it’s one of those things that’s harder to learn when you get a later start.
 
Daleandee said:
It was a Paul Bertorelli video (from AVweb) where he noted that a lot of aviation accidents could be avoided "if pilots would just learn how to land the airplane."

I think he's on to something ...
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A real help in that regard would be a device that said, “too fast!” “too much crosswind; find another runway!” “eyes outside!” or “more right aileron! NO! RIGHT!!!”
 
OneCharlieTango said:
A real help in that regard would be a device that said, “too fast!” “too much crosswind; find another runway!” “eyes outside!” or “more right aileron! NO! RIGHT!!!”
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We have those ...
 
Jim K said:
While I'm not really crazy about the thinly veiled advertising, I do love the concept of this device, and the price ($1450 from the article for those wondering) seems reasonable. The gear annunciatior is the selling point for me, and having the height annunciation would be nice in an emergency situation as mentioned above. I'll he talking to my mx shop about this and Frank I'll look for you at Oshkosh. I hope you stick around.
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See you at Oshkosh Jim.
 
MauleSkinner said:
You aren’t familiar with the gravel kit for certain jets? (Citation is the one I know of for sure.)
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Another gravel kit installation, according to a friend of mine who flew them, was a gravel box mounted on the nose wheel strut of the F-84F, a noted land lover. A string was routed to the cockpit with a pull ring on the end. On a hot day and at the end of a Loooooong takeoff roll to the last 500 ft, the string was pulled, gravel was dumped, the plane thought it was in the overrun, it rotated and off into the blue.

No tech data was available in my search. Must have been a field mod:D:D:D.
 
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