Airborne display of electronic charts

[hum]

I'm sick of weekly updates for 6 volumes of Jeppesen Charts that I have been carrying around for the past 5 years or so... Decided to bite the bullet and move to Jeppview electronic charts which I understand come as a new cd each month.

Anyone on here reckon they know the best way to display this info in a private aircraft on the 'N' reg flown single pilot around Europe?

I'm thinking some sort of tablet PC of one of those new E-book readers; must be small, light, rugged, easily readable in sunlight and have a battery that lasts a few hours (have an inverter aboard so guess it could be plugged in ). I guess it would be icing on the cake if it had a built-in gps that was clever enough to display own position on the charts.

Appreciate any help in my research :)

[hollingworthp]

AFAIK there are no colour e-readers out there for sale and with the complex graphics, they could be slow to build the plate image (not ideal if you are flicking through trying to find the new approach ATC just gave you).

[lanef300]

So basically you want an electronic flight bag right?

[hum]

Basically I want a Jeppview display :)

[lanef300]

May I recommend that:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=156&pID=14859#imageTab

Tried it a bit, it was pretty fun, very easy to use, and the maps looked awesome!
Plus all the usual extras from Garmin.

[hum]

Thanks, good idea, but sadly not an option for me:

From the Garmin website FAQs:

Q: Will the GPSMAP 695/696 units load and display Jeppesen approach charts?

A: The GPSMAP 695/696 units are only able to display the Garmin Flite Charts approach charting. Flite Charts are scanned copies of the FAA's charted procedures provided by the National Aeronautical Charting Office and do not provide coverage of approaches or procedures outside of the United States.

[lanef300]

Well one thing you can do, and I tried it a few times on my Eeepc1005ha...I installed Jeppview, and Flitedeck, connected a bluetooth gps to it... And that's it!
It would look like that:
http://www.peter2000.co.uk/ls800/ls800-flitedeck-portrait.jpg
That would work with any notebook/tablet pc! Plus you can install Flitemap/Flitestar and enjoy your planning before going up there!

[XEMS]

I've used the Samsung Q1 Ultra portable computer for a couple of years now. Look on Ebay, seems there are always some for sale. Haven't had a problem using in bright light or dark night. Screen size is a bit small, but the charts can be enlarged as needed. It doesn't come with CD loader, but very easy to connect external USB one when you need to update JeppView. The little keyboard that comes as part of the unit doesn't work well with my fat fingers, so I also have a USB keyboard for in the office. In flight you can do most everything with the touchscreen and stylus. You can get various mounting options from RAM mounts that will allow it to be easier to use hands free. It's a Windows based PC, and if you are used to that it is easy to work with. I have a wired GPS antenna attached and viola, a moving map for backup. I'm sure a bluetooth would work just fine as well, just happend to have the wired GPS already. Moving around on the ramp, you pull up the airport chart and taxi becomes a breeze.

I have some friends doing the same thing with a Motion Computing LS800 (I'm pretty sure that's the model). It has a screen that's a bit bigger, but other than that not a huge difference. If you go that route, they said to make sure to get a "view anywhere" screen. I guess the lower end screen doesn't do well in bright light.

Biggest gripe is with Jeppesen. You want to take some time to get comfortable with pulling up the charts and building flight plans ahead of time. They just aren't very user friendly, at least for me.

I'm still a "belt and suspenders" kind of guy, so I will print up the charts before the flight, and if the Samsung goes south (hasn't happened yet), I'm fine with paper charts. You can get 4 plates on a single sheet of paper, so it's pretty easy to have both destination and alternate without having to kill too many trees.

[Pilocol]

This is what you want.
NavAero.
You don't use JeepView, you use Flight Deck.
Been using it for 2 years ... some problems at the start, but worth having it.
Remember you will have to have it working for 18 months before you can get rid of the paper ... regs ..

Keep it safe.:ok:

[captainmorgan888]

we are just introducing Jeppesen on e-paper, SOLIDFX, on your fleet...

SOLIDFX | Jeppesen eChart Reader Services (http://www.solidfx.com/SOLIDFX_eCharts.htm)

[pilot dude]

The IMS Company (http://www.flightdeck.aero/flightdeck-q10051-c10043-SkyTab_1350.aspx)

it's not cheep at $ 4250 but it is certified for rapid decompression and EMI

Good luck

PD

[CirrusF]

I use a Dell XT tablet laptop, with Solid state disk, with Jeppesen Flitestar and Jeppview installed.

I do my flightplan on Flitestar, print out a tripkit to a pdf file (need a decent quality pdf writer software), and transfer to a USB key. I then just ask the hotel or airfield ops to print out the pdf file - never yet had anybody refuse. I then have a full paper operational flight plan, complete with a full set of up to date charts for departure, destination, alternates. The advantage of the laptop over a dedicated EFB is that it has much more functionality, not only for flight planning but also for other purposes on a trip.

If I have to make an emergency diversion to an airport I have to fire up the laptop in flight. This is where it is weak compared to a dedicated EFB - it takes the usual minute or so for the laptop to start up, then Jeppview is not an easy program to use if you are in a hurry.

[hum]

Went for the SolidFX solution. :)

[PLovett]

hum,

You might like to look through this thread for some information:

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-aviation-questions/401150-jeppview-flight-deck.html

:ok:

[pilot dude]

Thanks for the inputs guys
Went for the SolidFX solution.

Is this availible with a Do-160 certification (decompression and EMI) or is this just nice as a backup but not certifiable?

[421dog]

We've got mx20s in a couple of our planes which do just fine. I typically print a trip kit to have in case of unpleasantness, but it all comes via the web. Don't even need a disk. Just update the chip once a cycle.

[ZeeDoktor]

I use

- Jeppesen Internet Flight Planner for planning purposes (250 euro per year for worldwide data)

- JeppView for electronic charts, then print the charts I need for a flight: destination, alternate and reasonable enroute alternates. This updates via internet, easy and hassle free.

- A self made export routine that prints all jeppcharts to PDF files, which I then transfer to my iphone, so I always have the entire jeppesen charts with me. With the upcoming iPad, this will be even better (larger screen), although it departs from my philosophy of keeping it all in one device... While the iphone has a small screen, GoodReader (a PDF reader app for the iphone) is very intelligently made and makes it easy to work off, even in flight in bumpy conditions. Legally, that's not good enough, but legal is so far behind the technology curve that I am personally satisfied to have covered the reasonable alternates on paper, and the rest in a EFB solution that is both cheap and good to use for me.

Cheers

Doc

[7AC]

ZeeDoktor,
Any chance you might care to share the export routine, I use the iReader with the charts
on a Compact Flash card. It is very clumsy loading the different countries to the card.
Please........

[tommoutrie]

ha ha.. I just sent him a pm asking the same thing

poor bloke is innundated with pikey pilots

[ZeeDoktor]

Chaps,

it's really easy:

- install a postscript printer driver (i use the HP LaserJet 5P) on your computer. Select the "print to file" option.
- install cygwin, including ghostscript 8. This will give you the ps2pdf tool
- Print one chart to that printer (i.e. to file) to make it use that as default.
- save it as xyz.ps (i use the ICAO identifier of the airport)
- then start a cygwin shell, und use the ps2pdf tool to convert the ps file to pdf.

I've used autoit to automate the printing of all charts, would probably take a few hours to go through all CEN charts. It takes about 35 minutes for the australian charts (282 charts).

PM me and I'll send you an executable program that can export all of your charts automatically. Note that it will require the cygwin install and the postscript printer driver that allows printing to file.

Cheers

Doc