What Is That Thing On The Co-Pilots Yoke??

[GeneralT001]

Can anyone tell me what that "ball" looking thing is on the co-pilots yoke?

 

[redbaron1982]

might be an attachment for a RAM device to hold an iPad?

[Vance Harral]

That's a Nite-Ize "Steelie Ball" mount for phones/tablets.  https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-Original-Steelie-Magnetic/dp/B01JJP5JAW/.  Note that this link is to the larger, more expensive size, designed for tablets.  Don't confuse it with the smaller, less expensive size, designed for phones only.

We have one of these mounts on each yoke in our airplane.  It's far and away the best phone/tablet yoke mount I've found, for a couple of reasons.  First, there's nothing faster than a magnetic mount for attach/de-attach.  Just pop the device on/off the yoke in a half second.  No clamps, no tabs to click in, etc; just on and off, immediately.  Second, a ball mount allows you to swivel your phone/tablet around on the yoke.  Very handy if you want to switch from portrait to landscape orientation, or just make a slight adjustment when the sun happens to hit an angle that causes glare and/or a blinding reflection.

[GeneralT001]

25 minutes ago, Vance Harral said:

That's a Nite-Ize "Steelie Ball" mount for phones/tablets.  https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-Original-Steelie-Magnetic/dp/B01JJP5JAW/.  Note that this link is to the larger, more expensive size, designed for tablets.  Don't confuse it with the smaller, less expensive size, designed for phones only.

We have one of these mounts on each yoke in our airplane.  It's far and away the best phone/tablet yoke mount I've found, for a couple of reasons.  First, there's nothing faster than a magnetic mount for attach/de-attach.  Just pop the device on/off the yoke in a half second.  No clamps, no tabs to click in, etc; just on and off, immediately.  Second, a ball mount allows you to swivel your phone/tablet around on the yoke.  Very handy if you want to switch from portrait to landscape orientation, or just make a slight adjustment when the sun happens to hit an angle that causes glare and/or a blinding reflection.

Thanks

[ZuluZulu]

27 minutes ago, Vance Harral said:

That's a Nite-Ize "Steelie Ball" mount for phones/tablets.  https://www.amazon.com/Nite-Ize-Original-Steelie-Magnetic/dp/B01JJP5JAW/.  Note that this link is to the larger, more expensive size, designed for tablets.  Don't confuse it with the smaller, less expensive size, designed for phones only.

We have one of these mounts on each yoke in our airplane.  It's far and away the best phone/tablet yoke mount I've found, for a couple of reasons.  First, there's nothing faster than a magnetic mount for attach/de-attach.  Just pop the device on/off the yoke in a half second.  No clamps, no tabs to click in, etc; just on and off, immediately.  Second, a ball mount allows you to swivel your phone/tablet around on the yoke.  Very handy if you want to switch from portrait to landscape orientation, or just make a slight adjustment when the sun happens to hit an angle that causes glare and/or a blinding reflection.

Did you name your Steelie Dan?

[Vance Harral]

12 hours ago, ZuluZulu said:

Did you name your Steelie Dan?

Not until just now! 

 

[FlySafe]

maybe its a steering wheel spinner for those days you are feeling adventurous 

[cliffy]

How does your wet compass like those big magnets?

[Vance Harral]

1 hour ago, cliffy said:

How does your wet compass like those big magnets?

Fair question, and one of the things we checked when deciding to install.  With the balls on the yoke and the compass up on the center post, the distance is large enough not to have any effect.  No, I didn't do a full before/after compass swing.  But before attaching, I moved the ball mounts from "far" away, up to the yokes, wiggled them around in the yoke area, and didn't see any visible movement of the wet compass.  This is not an acid test, but no worse in practice than avionics shops which never re-swing the wet compass after installing new gizmos, even though it's technically required.

Data point: I have a magnet of similar strength on my key ring, and I put the keys on the glare shield during preflight, which tends to wiggle the compass.  I worry a (very) little bit about buggering the compass that way, but I confess I just do it anyway.  That key ring magnet needs to be within about 12" of the wet compass to actually produce any visible movement.  If I put it on the far edge of the glare shield, the field strength just isn't big enough to matter to the compass.  Makes you appreciate how strong the "weak" magnetic field of the earth really is.