Lucidity
UFO Pilot
For the record, I thought this was pretty cool, but Techinstein geeked out over it the way I did over the Smith & Williamson RC weather balloon. So, I stepped aside and let him do the interview – and I was really glad that I did, because he asked better questions than I would have.
This isn't a staggering technological achievement, but it is an incredibly useful tool for aerial cinema professionals to be able practice their craft in a risk-free environment. When you've got a $15,000 bird lifting a $50,000 camera, that isn't an opportunity you can necessarily take for granted.
Our friends at the Society Of Aerial Cinematography (SOAC) reached out to the German maker of the software (called NEXT) and asked them to add this capability to their existing rotorcraft simulator... Well done, guys!
That is exactly the sort of thing a trade association, an industry alliance or whatever you want to call it should be doing: taking the lead on projects that will benefit everyone, but which no individual would likely take on themselves to accomplish.
And the best part is, the NEXT software package is available at a pretty reasonable price in US dollars right now. I'm not sure if that's because of the collapse of the euro over the past couple of weeks, or maybe it's just an inexpensive piece of software.
More good news: you can use your current practice transmitters (that you got with RealFlight, for example), with this piece of software, as well. Check it out!