Flight service

[Jim K]

Slightly off topic...but Alexa is why I am not invited to anyone’s house anymore. I was visiting friends and they started showing off their Alexa device. Alexa, what was the temperature today? Alexa, tell me a joke. Etc.

Finally, a moment of silence, so I said, “Alexa, order 1,000 cases of Spam.”

The spinning blue light on top lasted a lifetime while the device tried to process the order. Meanwhile, my friends looked like they would surely stab me if the order went through. Thankfully, the response finally came back that Alexa can only order a dozen of something.

Mental note.... if I ever am at a house that has one of those silly things, order 12 packs of SPAM....

 

[Piperonca]

Listening over the VOR, while transmitting on 122.1, is a left-over from way back. Back when installing an additional transceiver at a VOR was expensive and when many airplanes had a fixed number of frequencies on which they could transmit. The transmitters would support a small number of frequencies and you'd buy the crystals for the frequencies you wanted. One would be 122.1.

My Dad operated a small airport in TN many years ago. Had a couple Tri-Pacers among other old planes, and this is what they had for navcomm: