IPAD anyone have one?

[dirk82]

I have read on alot of av forums down south that alot of guys are using the new IPAD for all there charts and what not. Everyone seems to have nothing but great things to say, built in GPS, wi-fi/3G when your on the ground. saves space and handy to have in the cockpit. In avation terms at 600 bucks its a pretty good buy. Just wondering if anyone up here has used one for flying yet? More of a GA question.

Here is a link to the nav app for the I pad/phone http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/air-navi ... 46057?mt=8#

[cdnpilot77]

Used the moving gps function on a couple of vfr flights a couple weeks back. Worked great! I have foreflight app, but that hasnt been overly useful with our airplane. Mostly its great for having quick access to weather in many places that I couldnt get a rocket stick to work on my laptop. Its also very good for playing games to pass the time when waiting out weather or waiting for your passengers to return. Its a helluva lot easy to travel with than a laptop. Keyboard and some of the functions can be tough to get used to if you are used to a traditional laptop. Its a pretty good buy in my opinion.

[Stallspin]

I bought mine pretty much entirely for back up charts. The Jepp app is great and doesn't cost anything on top of your regular MFD chart subscription. That is unless you want it on more than 4 "things".

I should try out some other apps though.

[catIII]

We have one per side in our aircraft in the Middle East. We regularly use it for flights in the ME and EU. We do, however, notice it's harder to navigate airports with many pages of charts ie, multiple approaches, STARs, SIDs, etc. One example is Athens, where we first noticed it. The problem is you can't actually bookmark a page. So, when your looking for a SID, then needing to find the approach you have to go back to the initial approach, then find the final approach, then the airport chart. The nice thing about paper charts is you can choose exactly the pages you need, without having to flip through them all. It does have an indexer on the bottom of the app, so what we end up doing is finding the charts and putting the page #'s on a sticky note for quicker reference. Another beef is not with the Jepp app, but the iPad itself. It doesn't dim enough for at night. It's kind of a distraction as it's pretty bright still even at the lowest setting. We're on the hunt for a darker protective cover we can put on top of it. Another thing is size. It's actually pretty big. It would be nice to have it only a bit smaller. It's ok in our aircraft, but if your in a Lear or something, it might be a bit much.

Does it replace charts completely? Yes and no. We did take ours out. We have a computer back up that we can use and we print off charts to use at larger airports to avoid the above. All in all though, it's a great tool and it will definitely provide useful to operators and one day, will be a complete replacement to charts, if it isn't already to those that are 100% comfortable to use it.

[Prairie Chicken]

I just bought an ipad and am still learning how to use it. I bought it to use as a plotter on the boat, among other things. I saw a friend using one on his boat & it looked like a much better option for me than a full, fixed plotter.

You must buy the 3G version to get a built-in GPS. After that, it’s just a matter of choosing the amount of memory you want. The marine chart app I want is going to cost about $29. I checked the price of buying a GPS for the netbook, plus chart software, plus the chart program, and concluded that would cost me in the neighbourhood of $700 Cdn. That's a couple of hundred less than the ipad but you have the ipad for those other fun apps, ebooks, etc.

By the way, the chart software was going to be about $430. Compared to the cost of the ipad app, what's with that???

CatIII, I see Apple are anticipated to release the iPad 2 before long & it will be a bit smaller.

[Hedley]

iPad 2 ... a bit smaller

That's hilarious, given the very nasty things Mr Turtleneck said about the smaller RIM blackpad, er playbook

[Alpha Crit]

I have been using Flight Guide iEFB on the iPad for my US trips for the past 2 months or so. It's great. Hi's, Lo's, Topo's, SID's, STAR's and approach plates all at your fingertips. And yes, you can bookmark, so you can line up your STAR, approach, aerodrome chart, and pull them up in a heartbeat. I still carry paper charts as backup, but haven't had to touch them since using the iPAD. The other great thing is that's all you have to carry to your hotel room. Everything you need for flight planning is right there. One thing to keep in mind is that it takes about 7 hours to update the whole US package, so plan for that to happen overnight. Updates seem to come 2 days before change-over date.

[185_guy]

Great to hear these reviews, I am also looking at an IPAD. I just bought a macbook pro a while back and love it. It has to stay at home for the wife though.
I had a device called an IPAQ (by HP). It had wifi and bluetooth, with the GPS sensor it made a handy little moving map. However it has died, so a replacement is on the horizion. I was thinking about a ipod touch, or an iphone (in case I ever want to have a cell phone)
Silly question, but what is available for Canadian content for charts/flight planning etc? Is it all Jepp? (we use the flightstar program on work computers)
Thanks.

[ragbagflyer]

We have one per side in our aircraft in the Middle East. We regularly use it for flights in the ME and EU. We do, however, notice it's harder to navigate airports with many pages of charts ie, multiple approaches, STARs, SIDs, etc. One example is Athens, where we first noticed it. The problem is you can't actually bookmark a page. So, when your looking for a SID, then needing to find the approach you have to go back to the initial approach, then find the final approach, then the airport chart. The nice thing about paper charts is you can choose exactly the pages you need, without having to flip through them all.

What you could try in this instance is taking screen shots of the applicable pages for the approach you're on so that you can just move between those pages in the photoviewer. Then by double tapping the home button to bring up the multitasking bar you can flip between your photos and your Jepp software, and maintain your current approach plate in the Jepp software. It might be more trouble than it's worth though; just a thought. Take a screen shot by holding down the on/off button, and tapping the home button. That's how it's done on the iPhone anyway; I assume the iPad is the same.

[Pugster]

I don't use mine for too much aviation-related stuff (other than logten pro logbook and company forms)...but I find that it fits inside my flight bag easily, the battery lasts forever, and it weighs a fraction of what my laptop does.

Just for those things (primarily the weight and size) I'm happy with the purchase. I've had mine since May. It's with me on the road exclusively now.

[loopa]

Airnav Pro has worked great as VFR GPS every time that I have used it. Very resourceful, lists all the frequency, runway lengths, widths, type of surface, has an E6B emulator to give you accurate time's, and so forth. If you have it set up right, it serves really good as a VFR back up GPS. I haven't been able to plan trips on it using rnav and such, thought I imagine it will probably be available sooner or later.

A friend of mine has all of his FCOM's, SOP's, QRH, AFM's, and etc pdf'd and uploaded onto his ipad. Makes his flight bag much lighter when he's on those 17 hour legs studying up for his PPC ride.

[cienki]

I don't use mine for too much aviation-related stuff (other than logten pro logbook and company forms)

Do you know if there is a way to upload existing flight data to LogTen? From an excel table for instance?

[Pugster]

I don't use mine for too much aviation-related stuff (other than logten pro logbook and company forms)

Do you know if there is a way to upload existing flight data to LogTen? From an excel table for instance?

Ya if you've got an excel table or an existing PC logbook you can import your data into LogTen. You just need to D/L the free version to your Mac, import the data to that, and sync up to the iPad. It took me several tries to map the import properly, but got it sorted out within a couple of hours. I imported from Safelog (which I don't recommend, BTW). The support at LogTen is amazing - every email question I sent was responded to very quickly (by the CEO nonetheless) - and that was before I had even bought the product!

[dirk82]

thanks guys, it seems like a good fit to bring along, beats trying to get the wx off my i phone. the moving GPS is a nice touch too. Have to keep watching eBay, they seem to pop up there for around the 500 mark for the 3g

[cienki]

Ya if you've got an excel table or an existing PC logbook you can import your data into LogTen.

Excellent thanks!

[Doc]

I just bought an ipad and am still learning how to use it. I bought it to use as a plotter on the boat, among other things. I saw a friend using one on his boat & it looked like a much better option for me than a full, fixed plotter.

You must buy the 3G version to get a built-in GPS. After that, it’s just a matter of choosing the amount of memory you want. The marine chart app I want is going to cost about $29. I checked the price of buying a GPS for the netbook, plus chart software, plus the chart program, and concluded that would cost me in the neighbourhood of $700 Cdn. That's a couple of hundred less than the ipad but you have the ipad for those other fun apps, ebooks, etc.

By the way, the chart software was going to be about $430. Compared to the cost of the ipad app, what's with that???

CatIII, I see Apple are anticipated to release the iPad 2 before long & it will be a bit smaller.

Great idea! Thinking of downloading marine charts on my MacBook Pro. Do you have US charts, and if so, for what areas, and do you like the app?
D

[CGZMT]

Hmm seems like some great information out there. I to am looking to get an Ipad for the flight deck. Just looking through all these apps you have greatly suggested I notice that most only cover US sectionals and other US publications. Do they also carry Canadian publications such as the VNC's or Lo's? I am flying in Northern manitoba and besides logbookten, that sounds like the only program I could use up here. Any advice?

[Jastapilot]

The new Samsung tablet is running Android 2.2 AND it's a phone... and no iTunes to piss you off.
oh, and it runs Flash, not like the apple stuff.
http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/mobi ... prd_detail

USB 2.0 port AND a microUSB up to 32Gb.

[wowo]

That Samsung tablet is way overpriced IMO. I'm holding out for this sexy beast: http://www.notionink.com/

Pixel Qi Screen (eInk and LCD rolled into one screen? I'm sold.)
Dual core processor
Built-in GPS
Full HD 1080P HDMI output. Awesome.
Also, USB ports & Flash support.

And the best part? The estimated retail price is around $400.

[Jastapilot]

i like the price, but it's too big at 10" for me. I still have a laptop.