Sat gps vs real flight planning and combi options
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Sat gps vs real flight planning and combi options
I tend to take a lot of advice and do a lot of research. Several months ago and most people I speak to tend to favour sky demon on an Ipad. (didnt sky demon have their own GPS with sky demon?)
Others i speak to use a basic airspace awareness GPS whilst mapping - this is the chapest option i'm told.
what is the safest and easiest?
Also what is the least abour intesive, ie is there an all singing and dancing GPS that really reduces your "airwork" to a minimum whilst being extremely safe for use in a 2/4 seater for short-mid distances probably of a max of 200nm initially?
all input gratefully recieved as ever.
regards
Tris
Others i speak to use a basic airspace awareness GPS whilst mapping - this is the chapest option i'm told.
what is the safest and easiest?
Also what is the least abour intesive, ie is there an all singing and dancing GPS that really reduces your "airwork" to a minimum whilst being extremely safe for use in a 2/4 seater for short-mid distances probably of a max of 200nm initially?
all input gratefully recieved as ever.
regards
Tris
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Sky demon is pretty good at pulling everything together, the FP, airspace, pilot log, weather, wind,frequencies, W&B and notams, I do the flight plan with all the waypoints and use SD on my iPhone, I also have a panel mounted Garmin 496 that I just enter the final destination in and use as a rough reference.
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Skydemon is by far IMO the best planning software, they are all much the same when using them to navigate with. I have SD on the iPhone but tend to use an Aware if I'm going to use a GPS as it has half mil maps on it rather than the vector mapping on SD. I have loads of pre prepared routes, places I've been before, places I know I'm going to be going at some time. I just port them across to all of the GPS solutions I have.
You'll find that there are some places that you like to go to maybe two or three times a year. They might have a nice caff or a nice pub nearby. Eventually you won't even have to get a map out never mind a GPS. It may not seem like that now but you will soon get very familiar with the local area say up to a hundred mile radius.
You'll find that there are some places that you like to go to maybe two or three times a year. They might have a nice caff or a nice pub nearby. Eventually you won't even have to get a map out never mind a GPS. It may not seem like that now but you will soon get very familiar with the local area say up to a hundred mile radius.
If you want an all-in-one then you won't do better than Skydemon imo. As piperboy mentions above, it pulls nearly all aspects of your flight into one, notams, wx, airspace, frequencies, the complete plog. It's brilliant. I used it for a flight from Elstree to Old Buckenham on Sunday and it was faultless.
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I too favour SkyDemon. It is a one-stop shop for just about all planning. The only dislike I have of SkyDemon is that the half mil CAA charts are not available. Under normal flying conditions using SKyDemon to navigate, that is absolutely fine and provides an uncluttered view, but if you want to print out charts for VFR flying (or backup to GPS failure), then there just isn't enough detail on there.
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Tris
SkyDemon is great - but you do have to know and mitigate against the limitations of using GPS on consumer devices such as batteries running out, overheating (iPads!), sunlight, software crashing, satellite failure / error without WAAS (many devices were displaying 50km out a few weeks ago after a GLONASS failure).
I always have a non-electronic backup as well, especially when travelling away from where I know (print the PLOG, write on it as I go, have a map perhaps with some lines on it).
Flight planning wise it makes VFR flying much quicker and easier.
In the air it is a useful tool and certainly one of the best "consumer" level products. Their own device has few (if any) advantages over buying a tablet and installing SkyDemon on the tablet.
I have a cheap car sat nav which I installed SkyDemon onto and it works well for what I use it for and has all the features that their branded device has (other than a poorer screen).
note that I believe that Sky Demon can export files in a format compatible with Garmin (and other) installed devices.
SkyDemon is great - but you do have to know and mitigate against the limitations of using GPS on consumer devices such as batteries running out, overheating (iPads!), sunlight, software crashing, satellite failure / error without WAAS (many devices were displaying 50km out a few weeks ago after a GLONASS failure).
I always have a non-electronic backup as well, especially when travelling away from where I know (print the PLOG, write on it as I go, have a map perhaps with some lines on it).
Flight planning wise it makes VFR flying much quicker and easier.
In the air it is a useful tool and certainly one of the best "consumer" level products. Their own device has few (if any) advantages over buying a tablet and installing SkyDemon on the tablet.
I have a cheap car sat nav which I installed SkyDemon onto and it works well for what I use it for and has all the features that their branded device has (other than a poorer screen).
note that I believe that Sky Demon can export files in a format compatible with Garmin (and other) installed devices.
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note that I believe that Sky Demon can export files in a format compatible with Garmin (and other) installed devices.
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I picked up the unbranded 5" WinCE device from eBay.
To install, see SkyDemon Mobile, GPS handheld navigation devices for aircraft on which there is a linked forum with suggested devices and tips.
SkyDemon on Third-Party WinCE Devices
Device feature comparison here: Compare SkyDemon Versions
If you have the desktop software, there is a simulation mode which shows you what you get (and what you don't) when using the WinCE version.
Considering the price of Android devices these days - if you are going to buy something then I'd go down that route for the extra functionality.
To install, see SkyDemon Mobile, GPS handheld navigation devices for aircraft on which there is a linked forum with suggested devices and tips.
SkyDemon on Third-Party WinCE Devices
Device feature comparison here: Compare SkyDemon Versions
If you have the desktop software, there is a simulation mode which shows you what you get (and what you don't) when using the WinCE version.
Considering the price of Android devices these days - if you are going to buy something then I'd go down that route for the extra functionality.
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So Skydemon definately lookslike the ticket.
do people really simply use it on their mobile? to me the screen would seem to small.
ipad - again for me i think the screen would be too big? Un less the AC you in has a holder bolted in already.
If your using skydemon and this goes tits up and wanted o verify with a back-up, presumably this would be a cheap secondary device, but if it's electronic also will it not suffer with a lot of similay symptons stopping you use your primary GPS?
do people really simply use it on their mobile? to me the screen would seem to small.
ipad - again for me i think the screen would be too big? Un less the AC you in has a holder bolted in already.
If your using skydemon and this goes tits up and wanted o verify with a back-up, presumably this would be a cheap secondary device, but if it's electronic also will it not suffer with a lot of similay symptons stopping you use your primary GPS?
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PPLvirgin, the best combination with SkyDemon is, in my opinion, an iPad Mini with your mobile phone as a backup - both running SkyDemon. If the iPad fails (happened to me for 10 minutes in the sun out of 50+ hours of using it in flight) then get your phone out for backup. As a second backup, use the paper chart as a last resort.
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I use Sky Demon with paper backup.
Paper backup is also good for helping to give quick overall situational awareness, especially if you are using a small screen (as I am). You want your eyes in the cockpit as little as possible to ensure maximum lookout.
If you know where you were at a certain point in time, and then for how long you have travelled on a certain bearing, if a portable GPS device fails then you can still work out where you are. Hence why I write the time I reach a waypoint on the paper plog.
GPS jamming is becoming more of an issue - and there is often Notamed jamming near military areas. So you really want a non-GPS backup. Mind you - not everyone agrees with me!
Paper backup is also good for helping to give quick overall situational awareness, especially if you are using a small screen (as I am). You want your eyes in the cockpit as little as possible to ensure maximum lookout.
If you know where you were at a certain point in time, and then for how long you have travelled on a certain bearing, if a portable GPS device fails then you can still work out where you are. Hence why I write the time I reach a waypoint on the paper plog.
GPS jamming is becoming more of an issue - and there is often Notamed jamming near military areas. So you really want a non-GPS backup. Mind you - not everyone agrees with me!
agreed, on that last flight I performed, I printed the skydemon-generated plog as well as having the route drawn on my map. If need be you can also use your phone as others do.
I use a Google Nexus 7, it's the size of an ipad mini and is perfect.
I use a Google Nexus 7, it's the size of an ipad mini and is perfect.
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I just bought a Nexus7 from the river online store for my daughter. It was about 60€ cheaper than list price because it was 'reconditioned'. In fact there was a small crease in the corner of the carton. The tablet itself is absolutely brand new and never used. Full return possible and full warranty. It is the nexus 7 2013 with a full HD screen, but you would need a magnifier to see the difference with my own nexus7 2012.
Internal GPS works perfectly in a low-wing AC. At 213€ for 32GB Nexus7 I feel this was a good deal for a very good tablet.
Internal GPS works perfectly in a low-wing AC. At 213€ for 32GB Nexus7 I feel this was a good deal for a very good tablet.
