Talking Varios

[glider[_2_]]

If Hallmark can make a Birthday card talk, why can't we have a talking
vario? Meg Ryan voice from Harry met Sally.
"Yes, yes, YES".... for climb.
"Are you through".... when in sink.
GA

[Jim Logajan]

glider > wrote:
> If Hallmark can make a Birthday card talk, why can't we have a talking
> vario? Meg Ryan voice from Harry met Sally.
> "Yes, yes, YES".... for climb.
> "Are you through".... when in sink.

Well - I don't know about that, um, choice. But I was under the impression
that Vario designers think like this:

"Hey, what is the most annoying sound we can think of that would remove any
possibility of a glider flight being a serene endeavor? Hmmm - its kind of
like a robot, like, um R2D2. Yeah - that's it! We'll make it beep and boop!
And then we'll throw out all sorts of legit rationale and they'll buy it!"

Sometimes I think playing something like "Ride of the Valkyries" whose
tempo or volume are played proportional to the lift. Or just about anything
composed by Philip Glass (e.g. "Glassworks") ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imbwn6iVryQ

If you're going to soar on the wind, why not choose audio for a vario (for
what is otherwise a utilitarian purpose) that makes your soul soar too?

[John Cochrane]

On May 17, 3:55*pm, glider > wrote:
> If Hallmark can make a Birthday card talk, why can't we have a talking
> vario? Meg Ryan voice from Harry met Sally.
> *"Yes, yes, YES".... for climb.
> *"Are you through".... when in sink.
> *GA

More seriously, voice chips are cheap, and it would be quite easy for
vario designers to put quantiative informaton in voice form.

For example, when thermaling, the pointer and tone are good for the
fast vario, since that information comes quickly and the actual number
is less important. But the averager could report the number ("3.2
knots....3.4 knots...") every 20 seconds or so. The averager is a
reading where the actual number matters. Then you'd never have to look
at the panel!

Similarly, glide information is quantitative, so a good candiate for
voice chip. "263 feet over Mc 3....242 feet over Mc 3....152 over Mc
3..." every 30 seconds or so.

Safety warnings are much better with voice than with tones. "Lower
Gear! .... Lower Gear!" is so much better than the famous "What are
you guys calling me on the radio about? I can't hear you there's some
stupid buzzer going off in here!"

The ClearNav has implemented this for airspace. A lovely voice comes
on and says "airspace, airspace". I've been bugging them to add the
above; maybe if others do so as well they'll do it. (I bug them about
a lot of stuff!)

John Cochrane

[Darryl Ramm]

On May 17, 4:18*pm, John Cochrane >
wrote:
> On May 17, 3:55*pm, glider > wrote:
>
> > If Hallmark can make a Birthday card talk, why can't we have a talking
> > vario? Meg Ryan voice from Harry met Sally.
> > *"Yes, yes, YES".... for climb.
> > *"Are you through".... when in sink.
> > *GA
>
> More seriously, voice chips are cheap, and it would be quite easy for
> vario designers to put quantiative informaton in voice form.
>
> For example, when thermaling, the pointer and tone are good for the
> fast vario, since that information comes quickly and the actual number
> is less important. But the averager could report the number ("3.2
> knots....3.4 knots...") every 20 seconds or so. The averager is a
> reading where the actual number matters. Then you'd never have to look
> at the panel!
>
> Similarly, glide information is quantitative, so a good candiate for
> voice chip. "263 feet over Mc 3....242 feet over Mc 3....152 over Mc
> 3..." every 30 seconds or so.
>
> Safety warnings are much better with voice than with tones. "Lower
> Gear! .... Lower Gear!" is so much better than the famous "What are
> you guys calling me on the radio about? I can't hear you there's some
> stupid buzzer going off in here!"
>
> The ClearNav has implemented this for airspace. A lovely voice comes
> on and says "airspace, airspace". I've been bugging them to add the
> above; maybe if others do so as well they'll do it. (I bug them about
> a lot of stuff!)
>
> John Cochrane

SeeYou and Winpilot have had audible alerts for Airspace (and traffic)
for several years.

Darryl

[Matt Herron Jr.]

Careful what you ask for... you might get it. Does anyone remember
"Your door is ajar...". I would like nothing less than to hear "300
feet under final glide...340 feet under final glide...410 feet under
final glide..."

Matt

[Bruce]

On 2010/05/18 09:21 AM, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> Careful what you ask for... you might get it. Does anyone remember
> "Your door is ajar...". I would like nothing less than to hear "300
> feet under final glide...340 feet under final glide...410 feet under
> final glide..."
>
> Matt
Maybe we could record Brian Loader going "Oh-dear, oh-dear"

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

[John Cochrane]

On May 18, 2:21*am, "Matt Herron Jr." > wrote:
> Careful what you ask for... you might get it. *Does anyone remember
> "Your door is ajar...". *I would like nothing less than to hear "300
> feet under final glide...340 feet under final glide...410 feet under
> final glide..."
>
> Matt

Now you're talking! At 500 feet, using the approprate terrain model to
discover quarry and forest below, the voice chip changes to "Oh Sh*#&"
saving you the trouble of exclaiming every pilot's last words.
John Cochrane

[Steve Koerner]

ClearNav designers:

Please continue to ignore Cochrane's idea for numeric data by voice.
Devices that do that are horridly annoying. It does not work; voice
is painfully slow compared to a glance to the panel and it is
disruptive to thinking as the information arrives at the convenience
of the machine rather than when the pilot wishes to receive it.

Voice is a good idea only as a brief alert to something important that
the pilot should be advised of that he might not know. Good
application is: AIRSPACE stated exactly once and then not again for
the same airspace segment for say 5 minutes. It only takes once to
make the pilot aware of the issue so that he can monitor it.
Similarly LANDING GEAR stated exactly once please. Another
applications for voice would be below 2000 feet near an airport CTAF
ONE TWENTY TWO POINT FIVE ZERO. Or perhaps a voice battery warning
BATTERY ELEVEN POINT FIVE stated once until sometime later BATTERY
ELEVEN POINT THREE. When below 300 feet AGL and below a threshold
airspeed the computer might warn AIRSPEED.

[Alan[_6_]]

In article > Steve Koerner > writes:
>ClearNav designers:
>
>Please continue to ignore Cochrane's idea for numeric data by voice.
>Devices that do that are horridly annoying. It does not work; voice
>is painfully slow compared to a glance to the panel and it is
>disruptive to thinking as the information arrives at the convenience
>of the machine rather than when the pilot wishes to receive it.

I would agree for many bits of information, especially those that are
known and expected. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell which is unexpected.

Even so, expected messages seem to be used in the big iron; from what I
understand, voices announce altitudes above ground during final approach.
They must have thought about the best approach for safety, and know something
about it.


>Voice is a good idea only as a brief alert to something important that
>the pilot should be advised of that he might not know. Good
>application is: AIRSPACE stated exactly once and then not again for
>the same airspace segment for say 5 minutes. It only takes once to
>make the pilot aware of the issue so that he can monitor it.

I disagree. If you don't want to be explaining it to the feds, you
might want to have a second (third, etc.) warning of something you
didn't hear because of other distractions.


>Similarly LANDING GEAR stated exactly once please.

It should state what needs to be done, and repeat it regularly until
done. If busy, stressed, or otherwise distracted, one may need all the
help available. These alerts are most useful when other problems may
be causing distractions, and hopefully not needed when all is going well.


> Another
>applications for voice would be below 2000 feet near an airport CTAF
>ONE TWENTY TWO POINT FIVE ZERO. Or perhaps a voice battery warning
>BATTERY ELEVEN POINT FIVE stated once until sometime later BATTERY
>ELEVEN POINT THREE. When below 300 feet AGL and below a threshold
>airspeed the computer might warn AIRSPEED.

Yes, but it needs to be clear that it is LOW AIRSPEED, PUSH NOSE DOWN.
Just saying AIRSPEED leaves the pilot to figure out why it said it, and
what to do.


Alan

[John Cochrane]

On May 18, 10:06*pm, Steve Koerner > wrote:
> ClearNav designers:
>
> Please continue to ignore Cochrane's idea for numeric data by voice.
> Devices that do that are horridly annoying. *It does not work; voice
> is painfully slow compared to a glance to the panel and it is
> disruptive to thinking as the information arrives at the convenience
> of the machine rather than when the pilot wishes to receive it.

Well, to each his own. I don't want to "glance at the panel" any more
than absolutely necessary. Glance means look down, refocus, look up,
refocus. I want to look OUT especially in a gaggle, but I want to know
my average quite often; at least once every turn or two. And hearing
an averager say "4 knots" or "4 up" every 20 seconds wouldn't bother
me.

But surely if this comes to pass there will be a checkbox to turn it
on and off or a volume control, so there is no point to arguing about
it if you don't like it

John Cochrane

[bildan]

On May 19, 7:13*am, John Cochrane >
wrote:
> On May 18, 10:06*pm, Steve Koerner > wrote:
>
> > ClearNav designers:
>
> > Please continue to ignore Cochrane's idea for numeric data by voice.
> > Devices that do that are horridly annoying. *It does not work; voice
> > is painfully slow compared to a glance to the panel and it is
> > disruptive to thinking as the information arrives at the convenience
> > of the machine rather than when the pilot wishes to receive it.
>
> Well, to each his own. I don't want to "glance at the panel" any more
> than absolutely necessary. Glance means look down, refocus, look up,
> refocus. I want to look OUT especially in a gaggle, but I want to know
> my average quite often; at least once every turn or two. And hearing
> an averager say "4 knots" or "4 up" every 20 seconds wouldn't bother
> me.
>
> But surely if this comes to pass there will be a checkbox to turn it
> on and off or a volume control, so there is no point to arguing about
> it if you don't like it
>
> John Cochrane

Agreed.

I would also point to the ominous ticking of a Borgelt vario when
sinking at more than 5 knots. It seems to me that Mike could offer an
optional vario sound of "tic's" when climbing and "toc's" while
sinking the frequency of which would indicate the rate. Perhaps each
"tic" or "toc" might indicate an altitude change of one meter. It
seems to me this would be much less annoying than a screeching vario
tone.