the evolution of PDA's

[teenix]

On the early days of survey flying, we used them for flight guidance along the survey lines.

One place we used them, a temperature warning popped up saying the battery may fail (probably catch fire) and to turn it off. It was 55 degrees C in the cockpit, plus the raw sun through the windshield. It was around 30 degrees C before the sun came up. We usually did 45 to 60 degree banked turns to intercept the next line and with the heat this couldn't happen without a possible stall - not much fun 80 or so feet from the ground.

cheers

Tony