iPhone apps for Pilots
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Sydney
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I think you guys are giving htran unduly hard time.
It's a limited market. It does take time and effort to get these apps done.
I would rather support local development or constructively criticise it than bag it. Of the 25000 CPLs in Australia maybe 2000 have an iphone. I doubt he would be looking at any more than $30000 income, more like $5000.
Give the guy suggestion on improving the app and buy it. It's about the cost of a sandwich or two, or fish and chips, or a medium pizza, or a coffee and a cake...
sc
It's a limited market. It does take time and effort to get these apps done.
I would rather support local development or constructively criticise it than bag it. Of the 25000 CPLs in Australia maybe 2000 have an iphone. I doubt he would be looking at any more than $30000 income, more like $5000.
Give the guy suggestion on improving the app and buy it. It's about the cost of a sandwich or two, or fish and chips, or a medium pizza, or a coffee and a cake...
sc
)
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Perth
Age: 47
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I just had the same problem regarding downloading ERSA sections after a cleared my cache.
This happened on both my iPad and iPhone devices.
5 minutes later, both devices were able to download ERSA sections. Seems like the ASA server was down or my Internet wasn't working.
Remember, I don't provide the ERSA in the application, you still have to access it via the Internet, and as most people these day would know, servers go down, access to all resources on the net aren't always available.
Hence, why once you've downloaded a section, it stays cached, as you can't guarantee being able to get what you need from the internet all the time.
V1.1 sent to Apple and v1.2 already underway is far from refusing to help fix the problem.
This happened on both my iPad and iPhone devices.
5 minutes later, both devices were able to download ERSA sections. Seems like the ASA server was down or my Internet wasn't working.
Remember, I don't provide the ERSA in the application, you still have to access it via the Internet, and as most people these day would know, servers go down, access to all resources on the net aren't always available.
Hence, why once you've downloaded a section, it stays cached, as you can't guarantee being able to get what you need from the internet all the time.
V1.1 sent to Apple and v1.2 already underway is far from refusing to help fix the problem.
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Perth
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For those who ask "why are you charging $12.99 for it?"
Why does Apple charge me $1060 for my iPad 3G?
Why does ASA charge me $27 for the ERSA when I can download it free from their site?
Why does microsoft charge me $$$ for an operating system that 7 versions along and still crashes?
Why do I have to pay $110 per hour for a ground briefing when I've read up on everything?
Why do I have to pay $3 per touch and go.
So to answer the question, after apple takes a cut, and the govt takes a GST, and then I pay income tax on it, I get about $5.
$5 towards the iPad that I use to develop the software, towards the Macbook Pro that I need to use. $5 towards $300 per hour I have to pay to hire a plane. $5 towards the quarterly updates to the app.
$12.99 for an app (one off cost) is cheaper than $27 per quarter!
I'm already working on a generic PDF reader for the app so you can load up all your checklists and manuals and PDF maps onto the device.
There's going to be a GPS and Map function on the roadmap.
If only I could would out how to send flight plans to NAIPS I would add that too, but like a typical government dept there is no information on interfacing with their system.
Why does Apple charge me $1060 for my iPad 3G?
Why does ASA charge me $27 for the ERSA when I can download it free from their site?
Why does microsoft charge me $$$ for an operating system that 7 versions along and still crashes?
Why do I have to pay $110 per hour for a ground briefing when I've read up on everything?
Why do I have to pay $3 per touch and go.
So to answer the question, after apple takes a cut, and the govt takes a GST, and then I pay income tax on it, I get about $5.
$5 towards the iPad that I use to develop the software, towards the Macbook Pro that I need to use. $5 towards $300 per hour I have to pay to hire a plane. $5 towards the quarterly updates to the app.
$12.99 for an app (one off cost) is cheaper than $27 per quarter!
I'm already working on a generic PDF reader for the app so you can load up all your checklists and manuals and PDF maps onto the device.
There's going to be a GPS and Map function on the roadmap.
If only I could would out how to send flight plans to NAIPS I would add that too, but like a typical government dept there is no information on interfacing with their system.
I'd pay the $13 if it could do ERSA, DAP, and, most importantly for me, AIP.
Could view them all no hassles even without the app if damn ASA would just make them ONE pdf file each, instead of hundreds of separate files. Would make searching a
load easier too.
Could view them all no hassles even without the app if damn ASA would just make them ONE pdf file each, instead of hundreds of separate files. Would make searching a
load easier too.
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Perth
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The DAP is on the drawing board.
The AIP is full of embedded links which is going to make it tricky.
I agree that if ASA produced a DAP.pdf and ERSA.pdf and a AIP.pdf no one would need iERSA.
That said, the two reason why I wrote the app was because ASA in their wisdom decided to make it hard for the average user to access their online documents, and I read that people on threads like this have been asking for it.
No more comments from me about this, I had originally just wanted to post that there was now an app to access the ERSA on iPhone and iPad, which I did, and I think after that the discussions have been getting a little out of hand.
The AIP is full of embedded links which is going to make it tricky.
I agree that if ASA produced a DAP.pdf and ERSA.pdf and a AIP.pdf no one would need iERSA.
That said, the two reason why I wrote the app was because ASA in their wisdom decided to make it hard for the average user to access their online documents, and I read that people on threads like this have been asking for it.
No more comments from me about this, I had originally just wanted to post that there was now an app to access the ERSA on iPhone and iPad, which I did, and I think after that the discussions have been getting a little out of hand.
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Sydney
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There is a case there for AIP in PDF format that is usable.
In fact it is a safety improvement issue.
The current web version is as useful as a hip pocket on a singlet.
Btw I have been downloading ERSA for ages. No point wasting trees.
In fact it is a safety improvement issue.
The current web version is as useful as a hip pocket on a singlet.
Btw I have been downloading ERSA for ages. No point wasting trees.
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Australia
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IErsa on IPAD is awsomw
I bought it on the IPAD and it is awesome. Great job, and I think it is totaly inexpensive considering the safety aspect for me.
I had to search through the ERSA a month ago to find the Radio out procedure for YSCN while flying (real problem with head in the cockpit time). Having this would have been much better.
Ended up that the YSCN procedure was missing and I had to go to bankstown and do it again...
I had to search through the ERSA a month ago to find the Radio out procedure for YSCN while flying (real problem with head in the cockpit time). Having this would have been much better.
Ended up that the YSCN procedure was missing and I had to go to bankstown and do it again...
What about those new Hanvon touch pads at Officeworks
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Perth
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AirServices Australia wants me to pull the plug on iERSA by 31 July claiming that iERSA infringes in their copyright, even though iERSA does not contain anything from the ERSA and is merely an alternative to using Internet Explorer or Safari to download and view the ERSA. The fact is iERSA uses Safari.
For a licence fee, they would be willing to have the user download the ERSA from my website instead of theirs.
So from 31 July no more iERSA. Hopefully apple will approve v1.1 update by then so users of v1.0 can have some bugs fixed.
I will evaluate how much ASA wants, if they don't want too much I'll sign up, otherwise, too bad for the aviation community, I still have an app that's useful to me, and other pilots will be stuck with buying a paper copy every 3 months, and struggling with the crappy ASA website downloading one aerodrome at a time on their PCs and manually uploading PDFs to their device.
For a licence fee, they would be willing to have the user download the ERSA from my website instead of theirs.
So from 31 July no more iERSA. Hopefully apple will approve v1.1 update by then so users of v1.0 can have some bugs fixed.
I will evaluate how much ASA wants, if they don't want too much I'll sign up, otherwise, too bad for the aviation community, I still have an app that's useful to me, and other pilots will be stuck with buying a paper copy every 3 months, and struggling with the crappy ASA website downloading one aerodrome at a time on their PCs and manually uploading PDFs to their device.
Join Date: Jun 2010
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They are threatening to sue me.
No there are two issues, firstly whether iERSA infringes upon ASA's ERSA trademark, and secondly whether my application breaches the Copyright Act.
On the first point, whilst iERSA is clearly an iPhone Webbrowser and PDF reader app, and ERSA is a book, I could understand if someone might be misled, so I am happy to change the name of the application, and as a gesture of good will I will remove the application from sale by the requested date of 31 July 2010.
On the second point, I need to consider whether following section applies.
Section 43A of the Copyright Act 1968 " (1) The copyright in a work, or an adaptation of a work, is not infringed by making a temporary reproduction of the work or adaptation as part of the technical process of making or receiving a communication."
Now given users are authorised to download and view the ERSA, I think this section would apply.
No where in my application or my server have I taken a copy of the ERSA and republished it.
Also why aren't ASA threatening to sue Apple, Microsoft, Google, Adobe because their applications allow users to download and view the ERSA online too! Why aren't anti-piracy companies suing Bit torrent client makers for their users downloading pirated content?
I believe that iERSA is a cut down web browser using the iPhone's Safari web browser to allow a user download and view publically available PDFs files.
ASA claim that when a user downloads the PDFs they become part of my application.
I disagree, the user downloads the PDFs into their device's "Documents" directory, which is in "user space", no different from a PC's My Documents directory. No ASA data is stored in my application or application directory.
I believe that this is ASA's attempt to prevent people from accessing easily accessing the ERSA online, because who really wants to carry their laptop in a plane, by making the online ERSA hard to use, it forces users to go buy their paper copy.
That said, ASA are willing to negotiate to licence the ERSA to me, provide me with a copy and allow me to distribute it (for a price). However, that isn't what my application does, it's not designed to distribute the ERSA, its a webbrower and PDF viewer!
So I'm going to have a think about whether its worth making this app available to other pilots, because my golden rule as a iphone programming hobbyist, is as long as the app works for me I don't care whether any one buys my apps or not.
At the end o the day I think its going to depend on how much support I get from the flying community as iERSA was written because I read quite a few posts about people asking for an app like it.
No there are two issues, firstly whether iERSA infringes upon ASA's ERSA trademark, and secondly whether my application breaches the Copyright Act.
On the first point, whilst iERSA is clearly an iPhone Webbrowser and PDF reader app, and ERSA is a book, I could understand if someone might be misled, so I am happy to change the name of the application, and as a gesture of good will I will remove the application from sale by the requested date of 31 July 2010.
On the second point, I need to consider whether following section applies.
Section 43A of the Copyright Act 1968 " (1) The copyright in a work, or an adaptation of a work, is not infringed by making a temporary reproduction of the work or adaptation as part of the technical process of making or receiving a communication."
Now given users are authorised to download and view the ERSA, I think this section would apply.
No where in my application or my server have I taken a copy of the ERSA and republished it.
Also why aren't ASA threatening to sue Apple, Microsoft, Google, Adobe because their applications allow users to download and view the ERSA online too! Why aren't anti-piracy companies suing Bit torrent client makers for their users downloading pirated content?
I believe that iERSA is a cut down web browser using the iPhone's Safari web browser to allow a user download and view publically available PDFs files.
ASA claim that when a user downloads the PDFs they become part of my application.
I disagree, the user downloads the PDFs into their device's "Documents" directory, which is in "user space", no different from a PC's My Documents directory. No ASA data is stored in my application or application directory.
I believe that this is ASA's attempt to prevent people from accessing easily accessing the ERSA online, because who really wants to carry their laptop in a plane, by making the online ERSA hard to use, it forces users to go buy their paper copy.
That said, ASA are willing to negotiate to licence the ERSA to me, provide me with a copy and allow me to distribute it (for a price). However, that isn't what my application does, it's not designed to distribute the ERSA, its a webbrower and PDF viewer!
So I'm going to have a think about whether its worth making this app available to other pilots, because my golden rule as a iphone programming hobbyist, is as long as the app works for me I don't care whether any one buys my apps or not.
At the end o the day I think its going to depend on how much support I get from the flying community as iERSA was written because I read quite a few posts about people asking for an app like it.
, does the app as sold still work after July 31?