Just flown to Jersey today from Sherburn using AirNav pro all the way.

Was FL40 til POMPI and then FL65 at 125kts - it worked brilliantly.

Was able to easily navigate between the gap of L98 and DA36 before entering the zone - superb piece of kit :) Using the 5870 receiver also, and bridging the connection between iPad and iPhone was a great backup.

Do you really need an external antenna? Just stick one of the recommended devices in the window.

I am very interested in AirNav Pro. I have looked at their website and read the user manual but still have the following questions:

Does it have a leading line or heading line that shows where you will be in 5 or 10 minutes?

If you tap on an airfield does it show extended runway centre lines?

Does it allow the importing of gpx files? (For routes that have been planned on other software.)

Thank you.

IO540,

I've just found out how easy it is to make qct maps. Here's one of the Shoreham instrument approach made from the AIP pdf - you can do this with any tiff or png image. It works OK in MM Tracker on my Android so it should work on your iPad.

MM recommend that you use iTunes to transfer maps & data to the iPad.

Is that plate georeferenced?

Oddly enough MM publishes (for free) the UK airport taxi plates, and they are georeferenced.

Itunes is a virus I try hard to avoid :) It keeps doing weird things e.g. it syncs stuff you didn't want to sync. Normally I use 3rd party progs like this to drag/drop stuff to the Ipad, though only some apps' workspaces are thus accessible. Goodreader is accessible in that way (I have put loads of avionics manuals etc on it that way) but most apps aren't. I don't think MM is.

I am somewhat put off using the Ipad as a moving map GPS, having found out how crap the internal GPS is when airborne. I already have a bluetooth GPS connected to a rooftop antenna but it isn't compliant with the Church of Jobs protocol. I would replace it with a CoJ compatible GPS if I could find one which does standard serial NMEA (so it works with everything else I have), has an external antenna input, and has an external power input.

Why do you need an external antenna input? Most users of these (e.g. GNS 5870 GPS Bluetooth Receiver for iPad iPhone and iPod touch) simply place them up on the coaming where they would put their remote antenna anyway. Do you absolutely need an external antenna?

Tim

Most GPS signal loss is not caused by flying upside down, or flying inside some 100000ft deep canyon in the Alps :)

It is caused by interference/jamming.

In extreme cases, the rooftop antenna is all that will work, and so far it has always worked except for ~1-2 mins off the coast of Italy in 2004, low level (1000ft above the sea) when there was obviously powerful GPS jamming which took out all 3 GPSs I had.

I can wipe out my Garmin 496 (antenna stuck on top of dash) by tuning (merely tuning) one of my radios to a specific NAV frequency. It's a totally baffling one; not a subharmonic of 1575MHz, and the paired DME possibility is eliminated by turning off the DME. But the rooftop antenna is unaffected.

DH: I went for AirNavPro after some procrastination. Its functionality in flight planning is pretty limited (lines from HERE to THERE but little else), but i use it as a backup for VFR flights and its a gem, at 1/10th the cost of a dedicated GPS.

yes you can get lead lines for track and heading, and it also shows the last 2-3mins of your track.

dunno about gpx files.

It doesnt show extended centre lines but it does show the approximate orientation of the main runway, so you work it out yourself.

Thanks Monkeyscribbler. I think I will buy it.

You start off by inputting your origin and destination (via the keypad usually) but from there you can "rubber band" the route to suit. Via existing waypoints/navaids/VRPs, or via user-defined waypoints. Although I found the catchment area of the magenta line quite small - it's very hard to get your finger in exactly the right spot so that it will rubber band your route instead of scrolling the map.

What I'm missing still is vertical navigation. In the latest update they've added a vertical profile which supposedly shows terrain and airspace ahead (I have not flown with it since that update - can't comment on it) but that's still not the same as proper vertical navigation, taking into account climb and descent profiles and possibly even the cloudbase.

What I would like to see, in addition to the rubber band technique, is a user-editable plog where you can input waypoints, altitudes etc. via a keypad.

Still, if used intelligently, it's a great tool.

Is anyone running the Jeppesen software?

I'm interested in the electronic (IFR) charting and potentially the FlightDeck software, but the Jepp website is so damn hard to get anything out of !

Looking for user reviews on the charting side of things, can one drag / build favourite or en-route charts in to a quick and easy to reference folder, with the FlightDeck does it overlay your position in relation to the procedures etc?

Flitedeck is a moving map product, basically, which picks up a routepack prepared in Flitestar or Jeppview. It also contains some route editing features.

I found FD clunky and buggy and stopped using it early on.

I use Flitestar IFR, pasting a route into it from Flight Plan Pro. The basic workflow is described here but there are multiple ways of doing this kind of thing; FPP alone is good enough by itself if you don't need a pretty enroute chart.