Jepp plates now on ipad

[Fuji Abound]

IO540

Yes, I would agree so many half way solutions.

The only completely integrated solution is panel glass. With Avidyne R9 you can have real time weather radar, sms, moving map needless to say and approach and airport plates - all for a price. As for redundancy they have of course thought of that too and you would be very unlucky indeed to see a failure mode that results in the total loss of the whole lot. Of course it could happen I guess, which is why I carry my trusty 195 and a hand held Icom with me.

I suggested the 695 because I have used the 695 although I dont own one. It works great. I am not sure whether you can put Jepp plates on it, I thought you could, but stand to be corrected. That aside it is as good as you are going to get in terms of portable glass.

[S-Works]

One mans half solution is another mans full solution. I think it really depends on how reliant you are on technology. I know for example there are many trips that Peter would not do without GPS and a clear ceiling that to many of us are just part of a days work using the simplest of gear. Not a criticism just different levels of comfort.

I don't need satellite coms, SMS and a laptop in the cockpit, the basic panel mount GPS does it's job and the radio for talking to people to get the weather. I use paper plates for my destination and alternate that I print for the planned leg. An EFB is just a device that allows me a bit more data without the bulk and the ipad gives me this and the ability to watch the Time Tunnel in the hotel!!

[Fuji Abound]

Bose - I agree. The only glass one of the aircraft I use to fly regularly had was my glass bottle of water! In reality I have nearly always gone any distance with a GPS but my black and white Garmin 195 has stood me well for a very long time.

If I am honest I love flying with the G1000 or the Avidyne because I love seeing the technology work together seemlessly but in reality I am not a whole lot better off than when I relied on the instruments in front of me and the 195.

I accept that I am less comfortable without any form of moving map display if going distance, but I would get by.

Perhaps I am just a big kid at heart and like to imagine I am driving something much more impressive than it really is.

[IO540]

I know for example there are many trips that Peter would not do without GPS and a clear ceiling that to many of us are just part of a days work using the simplest of gear

More bollox from bose-x (PPL, IR, SEP, SEL, SEW, ATP, CPL, MEP, MEPL, CRTI, CRE, TRI, TRE, ATPL, Concorde TRE, RoHS, ISO9000, CE, OBE, CBE, oh yes must not forget the interesting CPL/IR FCA, ACA, ACII, MBA, MBIM, MBII, AOPA, IAOPA, IPAD, IPHONE, operator of "17" Dorniers,,, did I leave anything out? If so I apologise)

Oh that wonderful phrase "a days' work", eh? It kind of implies that the writer is a real working airline pilot, doesn't it? Hohoho.

Here we go again.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Garmin has just announced an ad on IFR chart service with georef positoning, (ie the little airplane symbol which graphically shows where you are is overlayed on the actual plate) for the 695/696. IMO it is impossible to beat this unit in terms of value for the dollar, its only fault is that it is so big it is hard find a good place to mount it. A friend of mine just added it to his AA5. He had the panel modified so that it sits just to the left of the radio stack, panel mounted with a AIRGIZMO mount. His main radio stack has 2XComms, 1 VOR/ILS, ADF and Transponder, or in other word basic IFR but the addition of the 696 mounted in front of him gives him amazing situational awareness and really transforms light aircraft IFR.

Better living through high technology

[IO540]

Garmin has just announced an ad on IFR chart service with georef positoning

Is this on the NACO plates, US only?

[Big Pistons Forever]

Nope it is a chartview product which uses Jepp charts which of course have world wide coverage. There is, however, a 500 USD fee to get the chart laoder software and the usual subscription fee. It is still amazing capability for the money

[The Grim EPR]

Mummy! Daddy! Stop fighting!

"Quote:
I know for example there are many trips that Peter would not do without GPS and a clear ceiling that to many of us are just part of a days work using the simplest of gear
More bollox from bose-x (PPL, IR, SEP, SEL, SEW, ATP, CPL, MEP, MEPL, CRTI, CRE, TRI, TRE, ATPL, Concorde TRE, RoHS, ISO9000, CE, OBE, CBE, oh yes must not forget the interesting CPL/IR FCA, ACA, ACII, MBA, MBIM, MBII, AOPA, IAOPA, IPAD, IPHONE, operator of "17" Dorniers,,, did I leave anything out? If so I apologise)

Oh that wonderful phrase "a days' work", eh? It kind of implies that the writer is a real working airline pilot, doesn't it? Hohoho.

Here we go again."

[IO540]

Nope it is a chartview product which uses Jepp charts

Amazing... all of a sudden we have three Jepp options: SolidFX, Ipad and the G695/6.

The 695/6 is a whole lot more useful as a GPS than the others. I wonder if the screen res is good enough to display a whole plate. I have used the 695 but the data it was showing did not suggest the screen is even 800x600 which is about the minimum needed for that.

[The Grim EPR]

The Garmin 695 is 800 x 480. (7" diagonal) I have one and am intrigued to see how the Jepp plates would look on it. Any screenshots anywhere?

Also, if you have the Jepp subscription, is it available concurrently on all devices that you may have?

Also, does anyone know if PilotWizz Pro will 'fetch' all of the UK AIP and store it offline on an Ipad? The Mac application FetchAIP from the same author is fantastic for preflight, and I know that the Iphone version of PilotWizz Pro will store the airfield plates one by one.

What I really want is the functionality of FetchAIP in the Ipad PilotWizz Pro.

Then I will go and buy one!

This looks interesting, but again it appears to be a 'one by one' solution.

iAIP - an iPad browser app designed to access the Aeronautical Information Publication

[IO540]

800x480 will be just fine.

That is just about the base resolution at which the Jepp plates render OK, and it appears they were originally designed to work on this.

800x600 (or 1024x768, etc) leaves an unused space either side, so is no better than 800x480.

[S-Works]

Ooooooh Peter, did I hit a raw nerve........

[Fuji Abound]

Yep, as I said, after wasting a not inconsiderable sum on home made solutions over the years the best advice I can give to anyone is buy a 695/6 if you possibly afford to do so. It might cost £800 more than an iPad by the time you have kitted out the iPad with software, and a lot less than some windows based sunlight readable notepads with all the Windozs limitations, but it will be worth the extra cost in the long run.

If you cant afford that then you are still better off with one of the other Garmin moving map products.

If you really want plates, internet based radar, SMS, etc in the cockpit then a proper glass set up is really the only sensible solution.

You know it makes sense.

[NazgulAir]

You know it makes sense.

...Now why does this make me think of a Sherman tank?

[IO540]

If you really want plates, internet based radar, SMS, etc in the cockpit then a proper glass set up is really the only sensible solution.

The above can be done with a windoze tablet computer and a satphone, easily enough, but the only really neat way of achieving it with georeferenced (aircraft position depicting) radar images is the MLX770. That will cost about ten grand to install, plus the cost of a compatible (and big enough to be actually useful) MFD. Plus a not insignificant monthly and per-flight operating cost which Avidyne are not too ready to talk about.

Having played with all this stuff I now think a simple setup for getting metars and tafs (just a bit of text) is actually 90% of the job, and this can be done quite neatly with a satphone and some little computer to drive it. This enables early decisionmaking regarding diversions which - on the occassions that you need it - is an absolutely brilliant capability.

It is no good asking IFR ATC for weather... anybody claiming they can needs to get up there and try it with London Control, Langen Radar, etc. You might get enough words in edgeways but they rarely get back to you. This is why one sometimes hears Ryanair calling up London Information for weather; easier with a 2nd pilot on a 2nd radio, but I can't believe O'Leary being too tight to give them ACARS.

[Fuji Abound]

The above can be done with a windoze tablet computer and a satphone, easily enough

It depends what you mean by "can be done". I suspect we agree it cant be done in a sufficiently user friendly way to be of any value to most pilots.

[IO540]

The answer to that one would be a bit long, but essentially it depends on how much commercial effort somebody wants to put into it - at the server end, not just inside the plane.

I think the market is too small. There are only of the order of 3k private IR holders in all of Europe, and only a fraction of them fly, and only a fraction of those fly in conditions warranting in-flight data, and only a fraction of those want to spend money You only have to pop up to FL100-180 and see the total lack of GA up there; I barely recall getting visual with another GA plane in the last few years. I saw one over Germany once.

Those that really really want this can buy it from Avidyne or MT.

This is not America. Here the pilot population is about 1/20, the mission profiles tending to be much more benign (due to lack of utility value, caused by low airfield numbers and facilities), and the only way to get airborne weather is via a relatively pricey satellite phone link.

However, a modern satphone could be used to pick up textual data all by itself - just like a GSM phone can.

[Fuji Abound]

No, what I meant was you can cobble together a notepad and a Immarsat 'phone, buy various software packages and variously wire it all together but having seen people do that you end up with a tangle of components that at best are OK residing on your cos lap. It may work, but it is hardly ergonomic. That is why as you say if you really want this capability it is probably not worth while doing it "on the cheap".

I still reckon the Zaon is a great piece of kit and in their case you can do a reasonable job panel mounting the box. However there is no comparison with active traffic on a panel mounted MFD.

I reckon Avidyne and Garmin have almost got the integration of the various technology spot on. It is not cheap but it really does the job, and once you have used it everything else seems Heath Robinson.

I suppose I am just not keen on having various gadgets on your lap - a knee board works fine, but even then mine ends up tucked down the side of the seat most of the time including in the Cirrus where I have neither a yoke or stick to get in the way. If you can panel or yoke mount the kit in some way and wire it into the mains it has got half a chance.

[IO540]

No, what I meant was you can cobble together a notepad and a Immarsat 'phone, buy various software packages and variously wire it all together but having seen people do that you end up with a tangle of components that at best are OK residing on your cos lap. It may work, but it is hardly ergonomic. That is why as you say if you really want this capability it is probably not worth while doing it "on the cheap".

That's true but I think you are basing that on the article I wrote a year or two ago, investigating the various satcomms options. That was pretty unwieldy, but somebody had to do it

The reality is that you can get full open internet with just a satphone which has a cable (or bluetooth) connection to some handheld computer.

And once you have an internet connection, you can get "everything".

You don't need to buy any software. Windoze has all the stuff built-in.

Except aircraft position referenced weather radar images; for that Avidyne and MT have a monopoly.

But my view is that these are of very limited utility in-flight; AFAIK the Avidyne data is 10-15 mins delayed and anyway the resolution is not good enough for CB avoidance in IMC. That's why after the initial investigation I did not spent any more time on that angle. It is totally trivial to visit meteox.com (or any of the other free radar sites) before the flight.

Sure you can buy a neat solution for 10-20 grand. But not many would pay that. I certainly wouldn't.

[The Grim EPR]

I've relented and bought an Ipad. The best solution (or than the brilliant I'm sure, Jepp option) that I've found is simply downloading the AIP airfield charts one by one.

I've bitten the bullet, done the boring downloading and have UK, France & Ireland available as separate Zip files. Dragging these into GoodReader gives you the option to extract the files - all very easy.

If anyone wants a copy, please PM me.

Obviously no responsibility taken for anything etc etc etc. PIC to verify all info etc etc etc.