It’s not often that a product is introduced that could potentially increase the chances of a successful landing – one that you can walk away from – in the case of an in-flight emergency. Recently, I had a chance to check out a product that fits that description called the VP 400 from a company called Vertical Power. The VP 400 was installed in an RV-7 owned by Vertical Power’s president and co-founder Marc Ausman.
On a very hot day, we took off from Van Nuys Airport and flew west toward the cooler coastal area. As we were climbing out over the San Fernando Valley, the moving map part at the bottom of the display showed a darkened image with a lighter circle around our location. This indicated that there was no airport within gliding distance.
