Ron Wanttaja wrote:

So, Shiver, what are you building? If you're not building, what are you
thinking of building? If you're not planning on building, what's your
favorite homebuilt? Why? What kind of "mission" do you have and what kind
of planes do you think will meet them? What kind of panel would you
install? What do you feel about the longevity of the various materials?
How do the homebuilding rules in your country differ from those in the US?

Ron Wanttaja

Well Ron my days of building are pretty much over.

Like many armchair pilots and lurkers I enjoy the general discussion
aviation in general, particularily homebuilding.

Now if I was in a position to actually build a plane, considering I
live in Canada with lots of lakes and rivers I would look at some sort
of amphibian as my first choice... like a Coot perhaps, or else
something like a Bearhawk on floats or amphibs.

Now my curious question back... and perhaps Del could take a shot at
this considering where he lives and the fog and weather that he would
encounter in some of the coastal and inland regions.

How about a FLIR installed. Pointing forwards obviously.

Cost aside.... What sort of benefit could a pilot get from being able
to see what's ahead of them by having a FLIR display in the cockpit.

The more I watch these cop shows with the eye in the sky clearly
showing the bad guy, cars, streets, buildings, etc., the more I wonder
if and when something like that is going to be available in the cockpit
of both commercial and general aviation planes.

Del (or anyone) what if you had to fly between to large hills, down a
fiord, low in foggy weather with a radio tower nearby, blah blah blah.

Could a FLIR system show a radio tower with guy wires ahead of you on a
dark and foggy night, or in a snow storm or thunder storm.

Are these systems available, because I can see a day when they will be
available in cars. Imaging coming across a foggy patch of road and
flipping on the old FLIR system to see where the curve in the road is
or whether there's a bunch of cars piling up in front of you.