Do you use an iPad in your flying? If so, how? What apps are on your iPad? What tricks or tools have you found that make it work better for you? Submit your comments below or send them to [email protected] and they may be featured in the Sept. 27 print issue of General Aviation News.
General Aviation News
Because flying is cool
Ipad 4 w/ FlyQ efb
Looking at CAP Grid – FlyQ efb does not have an SAR grid system for searche.
Foreflight, iPad mini, Stratus II in Cessna 150 – this really enhances my cross country flying. Worth every penny of the investment.
I am using iFlightPlanner. I have found it very easy to use to plan my flights and use during my flight on my iPad mini. I also use the Notepad to write down my clearances. iFlight Planner has been very easy to communicate with as I have been learning how to use it. They are also very open to my questions and suggestions to add to their updates. I have been very happy with iFlight Planner!
I use an iPad to run/display ForeFlight for flight planning, in-cockpit charts and writing down my clearances on their ‘scratch pad’. It is especially nice to make the charts big enough to be able to read the ‘fine print’, which for me is nowadays everything!
I use http://www.SocialFlight.com for destination planning. They send me an email every week with events occurring within a radius of home that I selected. I now find that I am using my plane more and having fun doing it, as I usually take friends along with me.
iPad/iPhone – Foreflight on both. Use the iPhone with Foreflight for longer distance trips in my Pietenpol (paper maps in open cockpits suck!). iPad gets used in my Waiex. Been using Foreflight for 3 years now and love it.
The stupidity of both the FAA and the AOPA when the iPad was released and I quote, “The iPad is a new and revolutionary device for aviation!”. Windows has had tablet PC’s for nearly 15 years prior to the iPad. Two of them were and are FULL DAYLIGHT VISIBILITY…on the beach! Some of the tablets were also hardened. You could stand on them, drop them from 50 feet. And aviation software vendors had numerous charting and flight planning software products that ran on tablets. So all you folks who fell for it (thousands of you), you could have purchased any number of Windows Tablets that had the same or better functionality for the same price YEARS AGO. Even today, on eBAY you can get Panasonic TOUBHBOOKS and MOTION LS-800′, both full daylight viewing for around $200. Even so, Steve Jobs was a true innovator and is still admired by us Windows folks.
Yes…I use the iPad Mini in the Ram iPro Navigator iPad Mini Yoke Mount Kit.
I have Foreflight, Wing X Pro 7, FlyQ efb, AnywhereMap, SkyDemon, i1000, and Garmin Pilot. I intend to let the AnywhereMap, SkyDemon, i000, and Garmin Pilot subscription lapse when they are due.
I find Foreflight to be the easiest of all to use and it has a lot of feature that make it attractive. But, Wing X Pro 7 and FlyQ efb have features that Foreflight does not, ie: Split Screen, Weather depiction as related to your aircraft and winds aloft depicting which ones favor you direction of flight (FlyQ efb), Terrain Profile, Search and Rescue with Grid Search (Wing X Pro 7) and numerous other features that are great to have.
I only fly VFR.
I fly a Grumman AA-5B Tiger and the cockpit is a little cramped for the full sized iPad, but the Mini fits on the yoke just fine.
Georgia Ambassador for social flight, it’s a free app so check it out and find out what all is going on in the aviation community.the United States and Canada. Thanks for your support.
Georgia Aviation Association Inc.
I’ve been using an iPad since shortly after Foreflight became available. I have now switched to an iPad Mini and use the following: Foreflight and now MyWingMan for VFR & IFR Charts/Plates, WX etc. AeroWeather application for quickly looking at Metar/TAFs. Air Sports Net (shortcut to website) for a great visual of the NOAA forecast. SocialFlight is a great application that shows events in your area making it easier to find an excuse to go flying and we all need that to keep this industry afloat! I also use the Earthmate application from DeLorme for texting through an inReach unit while in the air.
I’m still using a dedicated XM reciever for weather but will likely try an ADS-B portable for comparison in the future.
If you’re just looking for fuel prices “on the fly”, here’s one:
http://www.fbofuelprices.com/
I discovered SocialFlight about a year ago and want to share with you that this app is the best source for finding out what’s happening in the aviation community. I look forward to the weekly email of what aviation event is happing in my area for the upcoming weekend. If your readers aren’t using this free app, then they are missing out on loads of opportunities and fun.
I use an IPad and Pilotscharts. I am day, VFR, and they serve me quite well. Bought an L-16A
In New York and flew it back to Chicago with them.
I have used the iPad and foreflight for over 2 years now. I flew my plane from Virginia to our new home in Tucson, AZ. using the Foreflight charts and approach plates. No problems at all. IPad is a bit of a pain when flying into the sun, as the screen is hard to read. Other than that, I find it much easier to use than paper charts. I do have another panel mounted gps.
I use an iPad Mini with 15GB of Ram with ForeFlight and another Navigation Software / Device Company. The other software is in beta testing and has not been released to the public yet so no further details are available. Stay tuned !
I am a alpha and beta test of corporate and gov’t software and also hand held devices including Android and Apple.
I have not used my ipad yet; however my chief CFI has used his ipad and I plan to check it out and determine if the apps will provide Backup to my Garmin 430 and also point out weather & guidance information in case of Electric &/or vacuum is lost!
Without question it is a useful tool
Being new to flying in the past uear and a half, i learned from my 24 year old instructor about IPAD and Foreflight early. Now with ADS-B I can cross country, have metars and tafs at my finger tip, and radar practically has pointed out tstorms well in advance in flight. I also use it for Socialflight, gatherings. Though I fly a Cherokee 235 I have found the Aviation W and B app helpful for being aware of weight limits and distribution of weight.
Being a somewhat “seasoned” pilot I was reluctant to make the switch from the old tried an tested paper charts. I experimented with a few different flight apps and finally settled on ForeFlight. My wife and I then took a several day trip from Washington State through several other states using only the iPad but with paper backup in the cockpit. I am now a convert. The situational awareness is simply amazing in comparison to the stone knives and bearskins I used as a fledgling aviator. Geo referenced charts, approach plates, and the various other tools certainly add to the overall safety, situational awareness,, and pleasure of flight. Adding the Angerole mount in my Bonanza to properly position the iPad was a welcomed bonus.
Keep those charts and “archaic” tools available. I have been using computers for MANY years, having been in the IT/QA business. From my experience, when you REALLY need them to work, that can be the time they stop working and let you down ! 🙂
Yes, ForeFlight and Bad Elf GPS.
I have Xavion.
Please tell us more about your experience with Xavion. Austin Mayer is a local resident and has given presentations to our EAA chapter. It looks very impressive and almost like a safety feature that should be in every plane.
Yes, I use ForeFlight.
I use an iPad with foreflight. I fly a king Air 200 and have it “mounted” on the yoke, right in front of me. It does not block my view in anyway. I also have the new stratus. Works perfectly! Boss wanted an “air show” in the plane and with the stratus and an iPad for him, I saved him $25,000! I use it for all phases of flight. So nice to have my approach plates right in front of me and actually showing the plane on them with less than a meter of accuracy! This has replaced all my paper charts, plates, and the $5,000 a year subscription for those plates. Not to mention the hours of constant updates! Neatest thing since Loran was first used in airplanes!