Best place to mount iPad
 

Hi All,

Just asking does anyone have a decent place to mount the iPad in the cockpit? I mounted it to the passenger side facing diagonally towards me, however I thought it was a pain trying to look round it during my lookout scan.

Cheers,

GBOZR

I assume you are using it in a 152, based on your username. If so, a yoke mount would work. A RAM mount would be about £75 and works great.

Make sure you do not infringe compass safe distance.

I use a yoke RAM mount in my PA28 and have it horizontal, otherwise it blocks out too many of the instruments. You still have to look over and around it to see some of the t's and p's but better than mounting it on the passenger side (I did try that too), and I dont trust sucker mounts on the plastic windows either.

Ipad mount
 

I find the best place is in a kneeboard type holder, with a leg strap. It means it is out of the way, but easy to look at in flight. And the sun doesnt seem to affect the screen so much (and out of the way of the compass!). Plenty of them from the various flightstores or online.
I found the RAM mounts with the suction cups attached to the window somewhere obscured my lookout a bit.
Skydemon is Brilliant, defiantly an addition to any cockpit environment.
safe flying
Hugothevet

I have to say that a bit of preliminary faffing around convinced me it was too large.

Mind you, I think my next one is going to be a Mini, for that very reason. RAM yoke mount and job's a good'un.

Tim

I have been meaning to get a kneeboard mount for my mini, but for now have just been laying it on my leg. That works as long as it is not bumpy.
Bryan

Use it like a map. Occasionally lift it up and compare map to ground, ground to map. Then put it away.

Shove it somewhere in/near your line of sight and you will spend too long being a child of the magenta.

iPad RAM Yoke mount. Definately the most secure and safest way to mount it. Is it iPad mini or standard? iPad mini is the way to go if you can upgrade.

I use the RAM yoke mount for my full size iPad in the C172.

I mount it on the passenger side and have it tilted up and to the left so I can see it easily with a quick glance. It works well.

When using the yoke mount make sure you attach it in such a way that it does not impede your full and free control movement. If it is fixed too far forward (i.e. towards the panel) it can restrict full nose down elevator. Just something to be aware of.

If you have a mini you should have no issues mounting it on the pilot's side.

Next time I'd get the iPad mini and either a joke mount, or a suction mount for stick-equipped aircraft. Or maybe one of those integrated kneeboard thingies.

My current iPad 2 simply lives on my lap or on the coaming. I have changed the settings so that the little slide knob on the side locks the screen orientation (default setting of this knob is to mute the audio), and I have a Kensington Blackbelt plus a generic screen protector to make sure it doesn't get damaged easily.

I have a iPad Mini, which I bought after using a full-sized iPad while flying and found it too large.

Based on the advice above, I went to the RAM website. Does anyone else find the descriptions singularly useless? I could find no practical advice on how to choose from the plethora of options.

But that's irrelevant. Because I fly rented aircraft, including ones with sticks, I decided on a simple knee-pad accessory:

iPad Mini Slimline Kneeboard - Sporty's Pilot Shop

My ideal solution would be a knee-pad, which could also be strapped to a yoke. Has anyone seen one like this?

I think I mentioned this on a recent thread but I use a nylon trouser belt (thinner than leather) with a click lock buckle and just thread it through the iPad case and fasten it to my upper thigh in landscape.

Incidentally I agree with Cows, it's a nav aid not an essential 'can't fly without it' aid. Fly without it on occasion just to make sure you can.

I agree the RAM website is confusing, but the mounts are excellent. My old Lowrance Airmap came with a RAM mount and when I got my Aera 500, the supplied mount was plasticky and cheap by comparison. All I had to get was a simple adaptor and I've been able to carry on using the RAM one instead.

However, if you go to the RAM website you will find the iPad mini holder:

RAM Mount UK

Click on 'Related items'. You'll need the 1" ball.

Then you need something to attach it to. I use a yoke mount on a PA28 (search for 'yoke' finds RAM Mount UK). My Lowrance also came with a suction mount (RAM Mount UK) which I used to use in a Robin with a stick.

There is also a suction cup package available- the suction cup is v strong- I haven't used in flight but only in the car. Don't think I would be comfortable mounting on the windscreen.

.......they are too big to mount anywhere in a 152 and remain usable, strap it to your leg or better still get a nexus 7 instead

Whilst you can mount them successfully, I prefer to use an iPad kneeboard when I am flying, especially in the rather snug confines of the Cessna 150/152.

I bought one of these: Design 4 Pilots - iPad Kneeboard which has been great... although when I bought mine it was £10 cheaper than it's being advertised at now!

I tried all 3 options in the C172M - suction mount/knee-board/yoke mount and found the latter the best option.

I found the suction mount obscured either my outside view or some of the panel instruments.
I tend to sit high and forward in the C172 and found the knee board got in the way with yoke full aft. Also looking down makes me uncomfortable flying VFR.

With the RAM mount on the yoke make sure you get the extra extension arm as well so it can be adjusted fully. I ran the arm UNDER the yoke. This way all panel instruments can be seen and there is full movement of the controls even in portrait mode. Hope this helps.

BPH,

Would you mind providing a link with details of this extension arm you mention.

As you may have read above, I mount on the px side yoke in the C172. I did try positioning the arm under the yoke but it was not long enough. I do remember at the time I tired thinking that it would have worked fine on the P1 side if the arm had been longer.

I think I have a similar seating position and sit with the seat elevated, despite being 6ft.

I did not know extension arms were available.

Thanks.

I had to use the suction mount in a Robin. If it stuck, it stuck well, but 50% of the time it fell off when I started the engine... Once stuck it never fell off.

Tim

On your leg is by far the best.

Or in your flight bag !

Agreed..best place is in the flightbag....or on a hot day, in the bin! 'cos it will overheat and not work.
The over reliance on this flakey non-aviation stuff is getting out of hand. Far too much following of a magenta line!

ExSp33db1rd
 

Flying around your Antipodean skies is a lot easier and probably more fun than than the crowded airspace you used to frequent over here!
The I pad especially with SkyDemon is the greatest thing since GA aviation sliced bread. Used intelligently is a great aid for safety en route and avoiding Airspace infringements.
Nothing flakey about the technology either, being FAA and CAA approved for commercial flight decks out of the box. Instant up to date Notams,met, airspace changes, enroute frequencies, and on IFR flights up to date Jepps as soon as on WiFi. The GPS position very accurate with external bluetooth receiver.
No more bulky books and reams of paper updates.

If you keep it out of direct sunlight in your windscreen it doesn't overheat, and if
you do make that mistake, up and running normally after a short cool off.

Technology has far overtaken the regulation Luddites!!

Yes we have charging facilities, and carry two on IFR trips, in the unlikely event of failure.

cessnapete ........... I don't deny !

Flying North and approx 25 nm North of Auckland all controlled airspace is no longer a factor - if you stay below 4500' No ATC to worry about, no 'towered' airfields, unlimited visibility ( usually, at least when I fly now !) no requirement to file a flt. plan if you don't want to - tho it is a good idea from a SAR point of view - as ATC don't care where you are in Class G airspace, don't even need a radio, tho' it is a good idea to keep an ear cocked ( as well as eyes ) for other traffic in the same locality.

I'm just being an anti-electronics Old Fart I guess, not being overly delighted with either the Ipad or any touch-screen device, especially in the cockpit of small aeroplanes.

I recently flew with a friend in his Cessna 172 around Southern California, and whereas it was nice to get Notams and Weather on demand on his iPad, I was somewhat anxious by not having a paper chart - he didn't carry one ! - to give me situation awareness, from a navigation point of view I wanted to see our route end to end on a large chart, not just follow a small section of it on a magenta line. True, I could minimise the presentation, by"pinching" it, to see the start and finish, but then I need a 10x magnifying glass to read it !

but .......The aviation world is becoming more concerned at the over-reliance on electronic gadgetry and computer controlled flying. When in doubt fly the beast - if you still can.

I'm mindful of that cartoon showing an airline captain and co-pilot on finals and approaching the threshold of a major airfield, and gazing at a blank computer screen showing the message " Your licence to use this programme has expired, swipe your credit card to purchase further time" !!

It'll happen.

A navigator instructor told me I'd never make a navigator so long as I had a hole in my a***e until I'd been over Berlin with the shells coming through the cockpit as I tried to work out a wind velocity from three steady headings observed through the drift sight - I never had to. Later, I felt similarly about some of my own students as they fought the sextant in turbulence - they never had to, along came INS and now GPS and Ipads.

Horses for Courses, what you are used to I guess.

Best of luck.

You could say the same about any technology when it was new though Speedbird. I suppose when VOR/DME was introduced there would be those who saw it as white man's magic. The technology is there, you can't uninvent it so embrace it is my take on the matter.

However don't rely on it to the exclusion of everything else.