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Any Flight Sim or Pilots in here? Check this!
- Thread starter PracticalMac
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I spoke with Jepp about this, they said "they may be working on something"
A little vague I know, but better than "no"
Would be awesome. An iPad with world wide jepps would be better than any efb I can think of!
A little vague I know, but better than "no"
Would be awesome. An iPad with world wide jepps would be better than any efb I can think of!
Any US pilot should consider skycharts pro, it's a great app for viewing sectionals, lo ifr charts, and tac charts. (They also have plates, but they are not georeferenced) If apple ever allows bluetooth gps to connect with the iPad it will make a very good VFR backup to the certified systems in the plane.
Foreflight also looks great, I just haven't spent the money yet, too many great aviation apps are coming out to buy them all at once.
Foreflight also looks great, I just haven't spent the money yet, too many great aviation apps are coming out to buy them all at once.
I don't know. My charts and plates get the you know what beat out of them. Plus they are all night friendly. I fold them, throw them on the dash and generally treat them poorly. I could just see fumbling with the iPad trying to find the published missed approach instructions after the screen has gone to sleep. Not only would the back light be blinding (potentially anyway) but the ergonomics of turning the thing on while in the goo would screw with my scan. Even during the day, using the ipad in the cockpit could be an issue. Has anyone ever tried reading an ebook with this thing in the sunlight? It's not the easiest thing to do. Just my 2 cents. For day VFR stuff, there may be potential, but when it comes to IFR I'm a little reticent. On the up side, having movies for long cross countries would be nice 
I don't know. My charts and plates get the you know what beat out of them. Plus they are all night friendly. I fold them, throw them on the dash and generally treat them poorly. I could just see fumbling with the iPad trying to find the published missed approach instructions after the screen has gone to sleep. Not only would the back light be blinding (potentially anyway) but the ergonomics of turning the thing on while in the goo would screw with my scan. Even during the day, using the ipad in the cockpit could be an issue. Has anyone ever tried reading an ebook with this thing in the sunlight? It's not the easiest thing to do. Just my 2 cents. For day VFR stuff, there may be potential, but when it comes to IFR I'm a little reticent. On the up side, having movies for long cross countries would be nice
Of course there are several opinions on this... but as an IFR pilot, I do not want general purposes devices for use during IFR operations. I want my avionics IFR certified, and bolted into the panel.
/Jim
True, you need IFR gear for IFR flight. Still, I could see the advantage of pulling out a iPad with every approach plate on it, as stuff happens.
(I was flying a jet a couple of years ago, the captain had thrown out a Memphis ILS plate by mistake, and of course we were assigned that runway.... It sucked to admit to ATC that we threw out the plate by mistake, so we needed the approach for the other runway...)
I would never count on it for primary nav, planning, etc., but for a diversion, or just to pull up the aopa directory for an unplanned fuel stop, would be great.
Add a moving map, and it would be just as functional as a more expensive Garmin unit. (Now, think of a whole datalink setup via XM radio......) We already have electronic flight bags based on the PC software, so this would simply be a cheaper, better working alternative.
(I was flying a jet a couple of years ago, the captain had thrown out a Memphis ILS plate by mistake, and of course we were assigned that runway.... It sucked to admit to ATC that we threw out the plate by mistake, so we needed the approach for the other runway...)
I would never count on it for primary nav, planning, etc., but for a diversion, or just to pull up the aopa directory for an unplanned fuel stop, would be great.
Add a moving map, and it would be just as functional as a more expensive Garmin unit. (Now, think of a whole datalink setup via XM radio......) We already have electronic flight bags based on the PC software, so this would simply be a cheaper, better working alternative.
So do we, and to be honest, I'm not impressed. I'd love to have an iPad as an EFB since I feel like they'd be way more stable over anything window's based. I had one freeze on me while on approach and couldn't get back to the approach chart. Luckily it was VFR...
I haven't used foreflight, but I do like Skycharts Pro. I had the regular iPhone version, which the author stopped development on Skycharts at v1.6, then continued with Skycharts Pro that is universal (up to version 1.9.)
One interesting thing is that Skycharts has experimental support for a Posimotion G-Fi, which should allow GPS without having a 3g iPad, and doesn't require any jailbreaking of the iPad. If it works, it should allow GPS without worrying about positioning the iPad with a view of the sky, and also work in airplanes that don't have a cigarette power plug (which all of the stand alone GPS antennas, such as the tom-tom require, and lots of rental aircraft are not equipped with.)
Skycharts doesn't have the flight planning of foreflight however, but it does allow downloads of L charts (with all the airports plates on that chart), Sectionals, & TAC charts.
I wrote the makers of Foreflight to ask if they will have G-Fi support as well, haven't heard back (but I just emailed them today.)
(Of course, a better solution would be to allow either plug in or bluetooth GPS units to act as if they are native, but apple doesn't allow that. I checked around the internet, and bluetooth GPS is not currently part of the beta version of the iPhone OS 4.)
One interesting thing is that Skycharts has experimental support for a Posimotion G-Fi, which should allow GPS without having a 3g iPad, and doesn't require any jailbreaking of the iPad. If it works, it should allow GPS without worrying about positioning the iPad with a view of the sky, and also work in airplanes that don't have a cigarette power plug (which all of the stand alone GPS antennas, such as the tom-tom require, and lots of rental aircraft are not equipped with.)
Skycharts doesn't have the flight planning of foreflight however, but it does allow downloads of L charts (with all the airports plates on that chart), Sectionals, & TAC charts.
I wrote the makers of Foreflight to ask if they will have G-Fi support as well, haven't heard back (but I just emailed them today.)
(Of course, a better solution would be to allow either plug in or bluetooth GPS units to act as if they are native, but apple doesn't allow that. I checked around the internet, and bluetooth GPS is not currently part of the beta version of the iPhone OS 4.)