I'm assuming that disables 3G/Data Transfer but doesn't disable the protocol used to make calls and send sms's..

and dont forget to shut down all apps running in the background to save power. double press the home button and a list of open apps will appear, touch the icon for a few sec and they will start to shake, you can shut them off. extends battery life.

Ultralights, I'm almost OCD with this function. I do it about every 30 minutes on my iPhone:E

Sorry you're correct for iPhone - I was meaning iPad. I can't confirm 100% whether it's zero transmissions, but even the little icon changes to "iPad" instead of "Carrier" or "Telstra" at the top when you disable data.

Yes and no - 95% of apps are actually suspended when in background. Apple multi-tasking isn't real multi-tasking like on a mac/pc where the app is still actually running. When you quit back to the home screen, your app gets 10 seconds to tidy up anything before the operating system suspends it. Apple deliberately chose this method to SAVE battery...

All it means on iPad is that the app starts up from where you left off. If the current running app gets short of memory, it starts killing background apps anyway. OzRunways uses a lot of memory so most likely all your background apps will be killed anyway, which is why menu's are a bit jerky loading initially after running OzRunways. There are a couple of exceptions to apps running in the background, like VoIP apps that can specifically be enabled always, but it's not normal behaviour.

The irony is you may be using more battery by having the screen on every half hour killing apps. If you want to save real power, disable 3G & make email check every hour (or manually) instead of 15 minutes.

Shagpile & crew

any thoughts on doing an app for NZ ?

Yeah already talking to airways nz

good work:ok:

Oz Runways guys and girls :ok::ok::ok::ok:

Been across QLD and SA and now in the NT....so far :D:D:D

Anyone know if you can manually enter your Lat/Long to update aircraft position. (iphone version...) Stuffed if I can find a way to do it.

OHP: I highly doubt it, unfortunately.

You can't. I assume this is because you want to put in a direct to from somewhere you currently are not?

We're working on full flight planning now, so you will be able to do this in a couple of months.

Cheers,
Bas.

Ah, not so much that, although not a bad idea, more that I don't have an external GPS and can't get a signal through the windows.

I was thinking of an older program which had the ability to manually enter your position and update it as required.

You could also enter some variables you knew...such as IAS, groundspeed, track, HDG. and could then plot your track based on what info you had provided.

Obviously the plot is only so good for as long as you update the info...

...but should you have a valid GPS signal, then adding those variables you know from the aircraft can be useful for working out things such as your wind (headwind/tailwind) etc. (Bit like a garmin pilot GPS)

Ozrunways was the incentive i needed, (well, excuse) to buy myself an Ipad. Love it now, and not just for Ozrunways!, shame as i just had a nice Garmin Aera550 installed. :(

Had my first run with ozrunways in the aircraft yesterday and all I can say is wow. I was amazed with how smooth and accurate it was. Defiantly subscribing to it from here on in.

Just completed around Eighteen hours flying with Ozrunways over the last Ten days. Comments for what they are worth below:

1. Beg borrow or steal an iPad and buy Ozrunways, don't leave home or fly without it.

2. Get a 3G iPad, with the Naips program you can get your weather and file your flight plan if necessary anywhere you have Telstra 3G access - even half way between Arkaroola and Maree at Five thousand feet.

3. Ozrunways needs a few tweeks to be even better, most of these I expect are already noted.

a) Multiple route segments and user defined waypoints.

b) The ability to plan a route from some place other than where you are now. Together with the multi segment feature, this allows you to do the "what if?" planning stuff on the ground. If you could also add a notional TAS and winds, then you have the guts of a flight plan; then I could leave my E6B in its bag.

c) In the aircraft, a few Ozrunways features need a "confirm" button, starting with the red "cancel" button on the "direct to" feature", handing your iPad to a passenger who fumbles it a little means you have to set up again.

d) similarly that night visibility button needs to be highlighted when in night mode so that you can easily undo it in broad daylight when said passenger fumbles with the screen.

e) It would be nice if the VTC, VNC, ERC's etc defaulted to the one your aircraft is on, I know you should know which map you are on, but it saves time, I think.

f) Range rings around the aircraft at Five, Ten, Fifteen and Twenty nautical miles might be nice - of 5, 10, 15 minutes?


4. The ERSA being available at the touch of the screen is simply wonderful, end of story. The ERC's take the sting out of finding when to change area frequencies.

To sum up, just a great Application, simply magic, makes even a duffer like me look good when you can say "estimate overhead in Twelve".

5. Don't bother going to Marree unless you absolutely have to.

Shouldn't that be Wun Too minutes Sunfish? :E

Doing a trip in a few weeks and can't wait to give OzRwys a go!

Spoke with Jabba last night. He has been out for a long time all across Australia and has had no issues with the iPad losing it's position even when hundreds of miles from mobile coverage - hence he does not need an externally attached GPS.

Jabba is using the 3G model iPad but does not have a SIM card inserted.

McGrath50:

Mate, I'm lucky if I can even get the correct hour in Zulu time. "Twelve" is a big improvement!

XXX

Yep..... It is doing good. As you said.:ok:

Only bug is its displaying an old position after changing things around, a quick pan in or out updates the map etc.

Rowan etc might want to work on that. Will be in Adeliade region next week if you want to compare notes.

Heard from another source today that CASA have allegedly approved it's use for Day VFR and they are telling people this on their roadtrips. I guess we wait for the official piece of paper.


Mine went well as a backup today, I preflighted the plane went into the office and back to the hangar, took off, 5 mins out went to grab the map and realized that someone had taken my bag out with maps and ersa, kept going anyway and it performed flawlessly. Only thing is to make sure you have a cigarette lighter cable as the battery may not last long using it. The only issue I had today was the ersa needed updating and I had no signal, descended down, opened the entry I needed then climbed again, my fault but again, it was only being used as a backup. Had no issues with gps coverage and I had no 3G signal or most of the trip.

Dual GPS
 

I recently received my Dual Bluetooth GPS. I've been unable to get it to work reliably in the air, and on checking the company website, found that there's a firmware update that should provide better ops above FL320.

"A firmware update which resolves the XGPS150 high altitude issue is available. Please contact customer support at [email protected] or 866-382-5476 for the update and installation instructions."

Does the car cigarette lighter charger rated 10-18v DC work OK in an aircraft? Does it have the potential to do damage to the Ipad?
Thanks.

The iPad charges at 2.1amp/10w which is higher than an iPhone. Jaycar have a small cig plug for about $12 with iPhone and iPad charging USB ports.

3.1A Dual USB Car Adaptor - Jaycar Electronics

There are stacks of chargers for the iPad and iPhone on dealextreme.com No freight charges by the way, wysiwyg. I use them sometimes, never an issue.

Well after 48 hours of Tach time around Australia, the iPad was Awesome and the OzRunways was unbeatable.

I did use the Jepp app during a couple of RNAV's and one was knee deep in IMC and I can testify its better than the paper chart by a long way. (and yes I had them too :p)

I do want to know though where all the airport data has come from. Can somebody tell me where YHHN is? Allegedly Hahndorf, and a might fine part of the world it is but even the resident guru "Mr Debonair" has no idea and it did not seem to be his home strip....nor has he registered it with anyone.

I am convinced this is the best thing for single pilot cockpit resources in a long time. :D

Wow hey, who would have thought, an AUSTRALIAN company making a world class product. Good work guys :ok:

Sad thing is, Quite a few companies come up with world class products, only we encourage them all off overseas... :ugh:

Jabba I was wondering that myself, coming back from a week in WA last week I noticed a few strips that popped up on the iPad that upon closer inspection weren't there....

All in all an amazing product, it is my hope that CASA pull their finger out and give us the ability to use this as another awareness aid in the cockpit

its Jaba...........not Jabba....:ugh:

But all that aside, I have to agree Nick, you have to be sure.....mind you some might have been farm strips at some time in the past but have over grown.

In the event of an emergency chances are the strip is still there, and better than an uncertain surface.

Anyone know about the YHHN?

I think you were using it as an awareness aid on your WA trip last week :cool:

I used mine in flight yesterday for the first time. Simply awesome. The maps are now confined to the flight bag in the back and a huge pile of paper has disappeared from my cockpit. I think I will always carry paper maps but my bet is they will remain folded, stowed and in new condition.

I wonder why Apple choose to deactive GPS when flight mode is selected on the iphone? There is no legal requirement to do so. Even in the USA it is an airline requiement not one of the FAA. GPS except perhaps in some parts of Europe is not prohibited for use in an aircraft as it is not a transmitter. To use this program on an iPhone and use the GPS, flight mode cannot be selected.
Nokia on the other hand do not bar GPS when flight mode is selected, so why apple??? Nobody in Apple Australia seems to understands this?? It would be intersting to know who advises Apple on such matters???? Selecting Australia as a region for example should change the time and date formats used in Australia and change "airplane" (ug!) to "flight" mode.........amoungst other things... why cant we set these things up as we prefer????????????????:ugh::ugh:

As for OzRunways... great stuff!

Spirax, I think the GPS deactivation is a predictable response to American security paranoia. An American passenger will go ape**** when his GPS tells him his flight is diverted and that will be the end of that.

WHY do you need CASA approval to use iPad as aid to Navigation?
Where in the regs does it say your current version of documents must be hard copy?

Sunfish... yes I agree, however in the US it is the airlines that make that ban, not the regs. How come a Nokia phone does not lock out GPS in flight mode, but Apple does?? It is a world wide phone and the software should account for that. Besides a stand alone GPS will work, so why not the one the iPhone??

Spirax, in the twisted paranoid mind of American security consultants, the fact that a passenger might know exactly where the aircraft is, via GPS, is only a very short step from the passenger seizing control of the aircraft and directing it, via his little GPS, somewhere harmful.

To put it another way: "Ignorance is strength!" What possible legal reason would a passenger have for knowing where he is? Trying to acquire such information is therefore obviously suspect.

Regarding CASA, there is a requirement in VFR for the pilot to fix their position every Thirty minutes. I prove I do this by marking my paper chart accordingly. I believe that some, but perhaps not all, CASA staff will also accept a stored iPhone or iPad forecast acquired via NAIPS as evidence of complying with the weather forecast requirement.

However, if your battery runs out and you ain't got pencil and paper chart, you are most probably stuffed, unless you have the time and capability to build a gridded sheet and start plotting lats and longs from ERSA, marking in Navaids, etc.

Clarification from CASA would be nice to have.

And a P.S. If I was flying outside my own patch, I would want a manual backup or Two apart from the iPad anyway. I can testify from my marine experience that when your GPS/Plotter/Compass/Autopilot system goes tits up in the middle of the night or bad weather it is extremely disconcerting until you drag out your paper chart and start plotting.

Aussie Bob: Indeed I was using it last week, Along with the aircrafts GPS and the WAC chart beside me :ok:

That data is from AsA. You know the encode/decode-only ALAs in ERSA? We get coordinates for them too.

But you are right, there's some rather questionable ones in there! I reckon there must have been something there are at some time and registered with (probably) the CAA, keeping in mind that some time was likely before GPS, with a rough measurement on a WAC as source and while it seems to be someone's backyard now, could have been an actual strip miles away many moons ago.

I reckon it will have to be a community effort to clean this up. Although no start has been made on it yet, we do envisage functionality in OzRunways where you can comment on any airfield and see other user's comments. This could be anything from: "phone local pilot John for strip info" and "avgas bowser broken 15/7/2011" to reporting the airfield is not really an airfield. (for those familiar with the area.)

By making entering that data only available inside the app and to paid-up users only; the risk of it being vandalised/abused becomes extremely low. We're pilots, we look out for each other, right?

I'm waiting for the feature that shows me live on the screen where Jaba is in his Retard Vehicle.

I've been sitting beside Jaba when we were head-on with a Bell 412 Rescue Chopper and a closing speed of over 300 knots, so when I'm NOT flying with him, I need all the help I can get to see him coming!

Except that I'm not too sure that someone who is seizing control of an aircraft will worry tooooo much about obeying the request to turn all electronic equipment to flight mode :)

Besides when they take control they can always just use the one in the cockpit :)

It was a mile right of track, I have told you a million times now not to exagerate! ;)