Student pilot Nick tries the Icarus device against traditional Foggles for helicopter instrument training. He found it easy to assemble and effective, though the weight on the bill needs hat adjustments. Instructor Chris agrees it's a cost-effective tool worth considering.
What, what's. What can you see looking outside right now? Like how far out you think Realistically? Probably about three miles.
Okay, so we're doing a quick follow up video here. Chris Nelson went out in his R22 with Chris Hauser, one of our instrument instructors. And they did their first impression of Foggles versus the Icarus device. And I'm going to let Chris kind of tell you what he's been doing, which this is a. Makes a fun story because you just started doing instrument training. Most of us started out with standard old foggles. And then what did you choose to do as you started to learn about training?
Yeah, so I came up with the solid. These are customizers, a website online. You can go on and you can customize your Foggles. But with the standard ones, I found that I could still see through the glazed area on top and it was still cheating to me. So I went out and I, I called them personally and I said, hey, I need something I can't see through but still be the Foggles. And they came up with this for me to lessen that area of opportunity to look around and find those openings. So that was kind of what I did to help myself with the standard foggles.
Yeah. So he goes, the standard tries that. And then like I said, I wanted to shoot this video while it was fresh because they just came back.
Right.
So it's like, well, tell us. So we went out or they went out and Chris put this on the hat. And the other Chris is two. Chris's. Chris gave him some instruction and operated the app. And so just your opinion, kind of a summary from what you did in the video. What did you think then, using the.
Device for first impressions? I thought it was great. We literally grabbed it out of the box, put it together, we went out and flown. I think, you know, everybody should give themselves an hour or two to kind of adjust to it and, and learn the ins and outs of it. The one thing that I would like to do differently next time is have a better fitted hat. The reason for that was with the weight of the Icarus device on the bill, because the hat was loose, it was causing the Icarus device to sag down. Nothing against the Icarus device whatsoever. That's just something I got to fix for myself as the pilot. But overall I thought it worked really well. I think for somebody that has never used the standard Foggles, it'll be a very smooth transition. For me, it's a little bit of adjustment because I'm used to these now and then Having to go to this is going to take me a little time, but definitely somebody starting off fresh from zero will fall right into this one and have no issues. Yeah, I thought that, you know, for a first time, take out of the box and go, it worked very well.
Howser kind of did his wrap up at the end of the video that you guys did where he said, hey, good job, Nick, you know, and he said it's something that we need in the training world. Right? You can. Training is training. Simulating and simulating. It can always be so it can only be so good. It will never be the real thing. However, using that and trying to do instrument training versus using that, to me it's no brainer. So I agree.
And for the price point that they're at, I don't see why every flight school wouldn't have one.
That's what I said. For the money that we spend operating aircraft, his cost on this drop in the bucket when it comes to the money you're spending on ratings. I think great tool. So we'll put a link down below. I think Nick did an incredible job and he's a good marketer because he convinced me and got my attention with it and he's done a great job. So we'll put a link down below for Nick's device and one more plug for Private Pilot 101. We'll put a link down that below as well. You can get a free PDF and you can also get the paper paperback at a link down below as well.
Where are we going to be in November?
Well, if you see this before November 11, 2024, we're going to be in Las Vegas doing book signing on top 10 checkride tips. North Las Vegas Airport at Air Smart 3:30 to 6:30pm I shipped 100 copies of this down there that we're going to give away and Taz and I will be signing them for you. So if you want to visit, show up. We'd like RSVP so we get an idea how many people are coming. But 100 books first. Hundred people get there, get a book, we'll sign them for you. Reach out to Heather at 574-767-1797 and she can get any more details for you because you might want to fly with us in Vegas too. Or you might want to come here and fly the R22 that will be arriving soon. You can text Heather for that as well. Links below with the number down below too.
Peace.
Peace out.
When you feel the pressure to fly, but know the right decision is to stay on the ground, hit the hogs no go and live to fly another day. Helicopterground.com.
