iPad/iPhone/ForeFlight questions

Camera's, GPSs and other Gizmos (please let me know if you find an existing thread to be moved into this NEW section)
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andy
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Post by andy »

I'll be working a lot during fire season November through mid-December but I'm up for a mini-homecoming in our area after that.
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Post by Mountain Doctor »

UPDATE:

I bought the new iPad Air 2 with the low reflection screen and all the other do-dads and I think I like it. I also got the 6+ phone, and I like it too.

I downloaded the trial version of Foreflight on the pad, I think I will do the same on the phone.

I've only tinkered with it a little so far, on the ground (between patients) and I think I am very impressed.

It is a formidable piece of technology that I think will require some serious effort to get the maximum benefit from, but I think it will help my workload, situational awareness, and safety.

I've give a Pirep after I flight test it tomorrow, hopefully on a cross country out to The Dalles.
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Post by gbarrier »

Was just thinking about you and wondering what you finally did. Will be eager to hear how the 6+ works in the cockpit.

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Post by Mountain Doctor »

The nice thing about the 6+ is that it's always with me, like a sidearm.

Its small, but as we say better the .380 on your hip than the .45 in your glove compartment...

I think that the 6+ would serve well with a yoke mount, although obviously not as well as the iPad.

With that said the screen on the 6+ is at least as big as the screen on a 430 or 396...
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Post by andy »

I just ordered the Verizon upgrade for my iPhone 4s to an iPhone 6 but it hasn't been delivered yet. I have ForeFlight Mobile HD on both my iPhone and my iPad 3, so I'll transfer it to my iPhone 6. The only issue that I have with ForeFlight on my iPhone is that I made the mistake of letting Verizon give me a free iPhone 4s with only 8GB of memory. ForeFlight takes up about 1.7GB with minimum downloads. On my 32GB iPad with quite a few downloads it takes up twice that. I'm constantly having to remove files from my iPhone to make room for ForeFlight downloads. The new iPhone 6 will have 64GB of memory - problem solved. I think you need at least 16GB of memory on either an iPhone or iPad to run ForeFlight as well as the usual other stuff. If you store a lot of pictures, videos or music, I'd recommend 32GB.

The only problem with a small screen is if you need to see larger maps, approach plates and so on. It's one of the reasons that I haven't gone with the iPad mini instead of the iPad 3. Approach plates are a particularly difficult thing to see adequately on a smaller screen without zooming and panning around. My vision with glasses is still good enough for my 2nd class medical, but I don't find it relaxing to squint at a small display in bad lighting while flying an approach in IMC.
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Post by captnkirk »

thank you ipad now I can read all those pesky little notes on charts. zoom is a wonderful thing
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Brenton C
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Post by Brenton C »

I know it's a bit of an old thread, but thought I'd report on a ForeFlight update... Artificial . . . Darn...forget what its called. Forward looking terrain simulation.

Its to be available as an add on for an additional $25 per month. I can see the value if flying IFR, but I dont really see the value for daytime VFR.

Ive been using an ipad mini, ram mounted to the panel. It workd very nicely.

One niggle--Im planning a sight seeing flight West of Calgary tomorrow, taking us inbetween some big hills. No matter hie carefully I lay out the route over the valley floor, it's reporting terrain conflicts based (it seems to me) the miuntain tops.

This could make planning mountain flights.. . Difficult.

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Post by VA Maule »

Artificial.... Darn = synthetic vision.

VFR scudd running it may or may not help keep you out of the Trees and Moutan sides .
IFR staying at or above MEA ,strictly adhering to the approach plate and a good instrument scan with trust of the instruments is the rule to live by.

Granted,it's a reality neat wis-bing gagit,IMHO compared to the rest of the benefits of iPad avation apps this feature has too much potential foster "head in cockpit syndrome "

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Post by Brenton C »

Synthetic vision. That's it.

I totally agree with your thoughts about this for IFR, and probably also nice for night time excursions.

One update to my "niggle" complaint. I found there actually are terrain conflicts at 7500 along my flight path, as the profile view in ForeFlight warned, even though the colour shade of the terrain I was over flying had me expecting 3000 to 5000' max elevation.

I thought I must have read the map wrong, but "confirmed" my expectation using the colour altitude key from my last printed map. The thing is, those colours from the printed map aren't exactly the same shades as on the map legend in FF.

It would be handy if FF had a pop up colour key from their legend to appear in the margin, so you could confirm your flight path right next to it. What you have to do now is hunt around for the legend somewhere on the FF map, and try to hold onto a memory of the right colour shade, as you swipe your way back to the flight path.

This is bound to be error prone, because the process relies on memory at the sensory impression level ("iconic memory"), and is extremely fleeting, and rapidly masked/over written by the next incoming visual stimulus. If it didn't work this way, our vision would always be a blurry smear of images.

Oh brother, I've gone on about this too long. I've already begun to bore myself!

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Post by andy »

Thought I would resurrect this thread and report on the ForeFlight/Synthetic Vision/iPad/Stratus II system.

I upgraded ForeFlight Mobile to get the synthetic vision option and bought an Appareo Stratus II ADS-B receiver. This model receiver also has the built-in AHRS.

The pros:
1. ForeFlight does a really good job of integrating the Stratus II and synthetic vision into the application. Connection between the Stratus II and the iPad is easy and reliable.
2. Switching between HUD-like half page synthetic vision and full page synthetic vision that use the AHRS input is quick and easy and very impressive looking.
3. The built-in Stratus II WAAS GPS is better and more reliable than the built-in iPad GPS. If you have a wi-fi only iPad, the external WAAS GPS is essential.
4. The additional synthetic vision cost per year of $25 is a great deal.
5. The Stratus II AHRS is VERY sensitive - much more so than the steam gauges.
6. I recommend the vertical suction cup mount for the Stratus II. I use it on my right side rear window to avoid blocking my view out of the windshield. It works great in that spot. The unit comes with a high-friction glare shield mount but I don't like loose objects flying around the airplane in turbulence.

The cons:
1. Calibrating the Stratus II AHRS is fairly easy but I find that it needs to be re-calibrated several times to accurately reflect straight and level flight. Part of the problem is that the vertical suction cup mount isn't permanently attached to the rear window so every time I install it, the unit has to be re-calibrated.
2. Folks who live in populated areas won't have any trouble picking up ADS-B ground stations but I live in the mountains of Western North Carolina where there are only 3 ADS-B ground stations. Two of them are at Charlotte Intl. airport in the flat lands 60nm east of my home base. There are lots of places in the mountains where I have to be at 8,500 MSL or higher altitude to pick up an ADS-B ground station. These are also the places that have no cell phone coverage so ForeFlight won't display weather. There's really no substitute for a satellite based weather service but that involves a different (expensive) WX receiver and a costly monthly subscription. The FAA may eventually install more ADS-B ground stations but I can't imagine that they are getting the same coverage right now with ADS-B as they do with their radar systems for aircraft flying below 10,000 MSL.
3. I think ADS-B has years to go before it provides benefits over the current technologies either to ATC or to pilots. A lot more ground stations are needed and the FAA needs to relax the stringent certification process so that ADS-B-Out equipment prices can come down to a reasonable level. The most promising ADS-B-Out equipment coming out looks to be the L3 Lynx box, which should be available in a few months. It's an all-in-one box like the Garmin GDL-88 but less expensive with a built-in WAAS GPS module as a position source. In my opinion ADS-B-Out should be a matter of swapping out your old transponder with a new one that has a WAAS GPS module and GPS antenna. The ADS-B antenna needs to be on the bottom of the aircraft while the GPS antenna needs to be on the top. If you already have a WAAS GPS then you can connect it to the ADS-B box and save $1,000 or more in purchase and installation.
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Post by Loogie »

How does the weather display using the stratus? does it only display weather when it sees an ADS B receiver?
Loogie

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Post by MrHRC »

Brenton C not sure if you know this but while looking at the profile tab you can click on the setting button (beside "profile" button) and change the "Corridor Total Width" to 1/2 Nautical Mile. It is above 1 Mile (the default I think). Scroll up to see 1/2 mile.
This may help.

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Post by Brenton C »

I didnt know that. Thanks for the tip!

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Post by Beamerpilot »

I totally embrace all the new tech.

Ipad loaded with ForeFlight / Svision - Ram mounted high on the windshield cross bar of the M4 co-pilot side - minimal obstruction.

"Air Track" for conversions and calculations

"InFlightFuel" for fuel awareness

"GoPro" App for camera control in flight

Iphone (5S for now 6+ soon) on belt for backup.
Garmin 296 on yoke.

Some of us went from watch / map to this...
As for the head inside argument...how many of us read the paper upon reaching altitude? or in flight meal? Once you master all the functions, it's no different than scanning the panel. Situational awareness has never been so painless IMHO.

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Post by andy »

Loogie, weather from the cell phone network or the Stratus II displays the same in ForeFlight Mobile on the iPad. The only thing that tells you that you are getting weather from an ADS-B ground station through the Stratus are the words "Stratus, N towers" under the time in the upper left of the map display. The N will be the number of ADS-B towers and the message will be in red (0), orange (1) or white (more than 1).

You can also touch the settings gear icon and select Stratus if you want to see the ground stations that are being received. The map display will also show the locations of the ADS-B towers as white icons with lat/lon displayed if you have the "ADSB Towers set to ON" in the Stratus settings.

The timestamp in the upper left of the map display tells you how old the weather data is. If you are not displaying any signal strength dots in the top left corner of the iPad display, then you are not receiving weather information through the cell network. The first indication of this on the map display is that the radar information is hashed out if you have it selected in the weather products.

The ForeFlight online Pilot Guide has a great deal of information.
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