Software Archives - Page 5 of 7 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

An old-school pilot’s love-hate relationship with VFR sectional charts

Todd McClamroch has recently written a short post on his My Flight Blog about his return to steam gauges, his love-hate relationship with VFR sectional charts and finally a useful tool (SkySectionals) for other old-school pilots who also have a love-hate relationship with their VFR sectional charts. At the beginning of his post, Todd wrote that as a cost cutting measure, he is now foregoing time in a G1000 and has been flying aircraft with good old-fashion steam gauges. Moreover, some of his recent flights were flown without the benefit of GPS but he did note that he has enjoyed his recent flights – even if it means sticking his head out of the window to try and spot landmarks.

However, he has since rediscovered his love-hate relationship with VFR sectional charts and he noted that while its fun to spend hours looking at them before a flight (“dreaming of all the cool places to fly, choosing routes and spots to fly over, plus I like the smell of sectionals even more than a magic marker…..”), its not easy to keep them folded in a nice and useful shape.

As a possible solution, Todd then mentioned a useful tool called SkySectionals that was developed by Eric Boles. SkySectionals can be downloaded and printed on demand and Todd proceeded to mention their pros and cons with the biggest con of all being all of the printer ink you will use to print them out.

At the end of his post though, Todd concluded:

All in all I think it is a creative solution and for the uber-organized it is probable a gift from above. I think for my needs I will likely stick with the standard sectional, something about the smell of them I just can’t live without.

Nevertheless and if you are an uber-organized pilot, you may want to check out Eric’s product.

FlightPrep iChart for the iPad review

John Ewing has written a lengthy post for his Aviation Mentor blog where he provided a detailed review of FlightPrep iChart for the iPad. He began his review by pointing out that FlightPrep has been selling Windows-based flight planning software and electronic flight bag products for a number of years and now they have joined the iPad bandwagon (they also have plans for an iPhone version) with their FlightPrep iChart software.

John then wrote that instead of offering a whole array of features and capabilities, FlightPrep iChart instead does a few things and it does them well. This includes storing and displaying charts like VFR sectionals and terminal area charts, IFR low-altitude en route charts and terminal procedures. However, there is no support for high-altitude IFR en route charts or for getting weather briefings, route planning or displaying routes on the charts. Nevertheless, John noted that this straightforward and easy-to-use interface approach makes the FlightPrep iChart application easy to use.

At the end of his post, John concluded:

There are iPad EFB apps out there that do more stuff, like display weather, do route planning, georeference your position on the chart, and so on. But those products are also inherently more complicated to use in flight. FlightPrep iChart does a few things and does them well for a reasonable price.

Moreover and if you like the 30-day demo of FlightPrep iChart, you can then choose to purchase a one year introductory subscription for US$49.95.

Must have aviation apps for the iPad/iPhone

If you are both a pilot and a technology geek, John Ewing has written a lengthy post for his Aviation Mentor blog detailing must have aviation related apps for the iPad/iPhone. Some of the aviation iPad/iPhone apps that John wrote about at length included the following:

Note Taking. Rather than use a pen and a piece of paper, John is now using Penultimate on his iPad which allows a user to take notes using a fingertip as a pen. He also uses a web-based service called EverNote to organize his notes.

Logging Time. John wrote that LogTen for the iPhone can also run on the iPad and that soon there will be an iPad version of the program. He also pointed out that Logbook Pro now has an iPhone app that could be just the ticket for PC users, though I’ve not used it and cannot make any hard and fast claims.

Training. For student pilots or those who do not fly regularly, John noted the iPad’s ability to display videos as well as Keynote lectures. In addition, he pointed out that the Numbers app is useful for tracking a pilot’s training progress.

Scheduling. John wrote that the iPad’s built-in Safari web browser is particularly useful for accessing web-based aircraft scheduling sites such as AircraftClubs.com. Moreover and in addition to being an electronic flight bag, he noted that the iPad itself is practically a portable electronic office.

At the end of his post, John pointed out that the iPad still has its share of rough edges – such as reports of ones overheating in high temperatures. Nevertheless and with an iPad or an iPhone increasingly looking like must have devices in the cockpit, John’s entire post is a must read for all iPad/iPhone users who fly.

The iPad as an electronic flight bag

John Ewing of Aviation Mentor has searched long and hard for a satisfactory Electronic Flight Bag. In fact, he has about 17 posts (and counting) on the subject. However, John has recently written two posts (iPad: First Impressions and The iPad EFB: One Week of Use) about the new iPad as an electronic flight bag. He also considered several iPad or iPhone applications (ForeFlight Mobile 3, Skycharts Pro and GoodReader) plus he addressed the issue of screen readability and the usability of the iPad itself.

According to John’s reviews, the iPad screen is very readable in the cockpit plus there are a couple of important iPod related aviation applications that are already available for the iPad. However, John did mention some limitations – namely mounting one and using it in the cockpit plus having no satisfactory way of writing with with one and not support Dvorak keyboard mapping.

Nevertheless, John concluded that in spite of some problems and limitations, the iPad is probably the best performing piece of portable hardware that he has used to date in the cockpit. Hence and if you are seriously considering buying spending around US$500 on one to use in the cockpit, reading John’s posts (along with his previous posts about electronic flight bags in general) will be a must.

Seven great CFI iPhone applications

If you are a pilot with an iPhone, you are probably aware that there are countless aviation related applications out there specifically meant for pilots. Hence, a recent post by John Ewing on Aviation Mentor that reviews seven great aviation related iPhone applications is a must read.

The applications he reviews are actually part of a suite of reasonably-priced iPhone apps from CFI Tools that are each meant to do one task and to do that one task well. These applications include:

The Crosswind Calculator: For US$1.99, the Crosswind Calculator will let you enter reported surface winds and the runway heading and then it shows you the crosswind and headwind component.
Holds Pattern Calculator: For US$2.99, the Holds Pattern Calculator comes with two slider controls that will let you set your aircraft’s current heading and the holding course.
VOR Viewer: For US$3.99, the VOR Viewer is a useful learning tool for student pilots to help them get their head around VOR navigation.
Weight & Balance: For US$5.99, the Weight and Balance tool will help to ensure that you never fly over gross weight or outside the allowable CG range.
Mvx Tracks: For US$7.99, the Mvx Tracks application will allow you to save ground tracks from your flights in order to analyze flight maneuvers - so long as your iPhone is not in airplane mode as the built-in GPS will be disabled.
Takeoff & Landing Distance: For US$4.99, this application will provide you with takeoff and landing data for nine popular GA aircraft.
Area Wx: For US$6.99, the AreaWX app will display a list of surface observations for airports within a specified radius of a particular airport.

As usual, John does a great job of doing a detailed review of all of the above iPhone applications – making his post a must read for any pilot with an iPhone.

Useful aviation web tool: Great Circle Mapper (GCM)

Here is a useful (and free) website mentioned by Brett on his Cranky Flier blog: the Great Circle Mapper (GCM). The site has recently received a makeover making it more useful and adding a less cluttered interface. According to the Cranky Flier blog, the site can be used for:

Measuring distance between two airports.
Seeing how far an airplane can go from a certain city (max range), including various ETOPS restrictions.
Measuring distances in entire itineraries for frequent flier purposes.
Looking up airport details and maps.
Finding aviation weather info (METAR and TAF).

Brett mentioned that he first learned about the site 10 years ago when he first met the site owner and that he has yet to find anything that comes close to what the site has to offer. And more importantly, its free (thanks to the Google AdSense on its pages).