And the next one is: FlightAssistant
 

This movingmap/planning application - for Android only - is presented as still being in Beta but I already heard reviews glowing with enthusiasm. No direct experience for lack of an Android device and even if I had one I'd be unable to compare.

Thus only mentioned for what it is worth: FlightAssistant | Your best co-pilot on an Android device

I've just acquired a Nexus 7 to play with - thanks Jan, I'll install that for a play.

G

Good timing as my SkyDemon sub comes up for renewal this month :)

No aviation charts apart from France?

It does say it is a Beta as yet!

I installed it on my Note-4 last night, and had a play with it whilst I was doing some flying today.

Thoughts:-
- Clear and intuitive operation and display.

- Plenty of charts, but it is their own invented ones, not any standard charts. I didn't try importing anything. I do have UK charts installed.

- Does a nice job of downloading NOTAMs and METARs.

- A really glaring deficiency, that I've not found a solution to: it shows all the controlled airspace 2 dimensionally, with no indication of altitudes.

- Pulls down standard AIP plates fairly effectively.


On the whole, I'll leave it up and play with it some more, and probably put it up on the Nexus as well, but unless I or they find a solution to the lack of altitude data for controlled airspace, then it's dead in the water, regardless of all of its other strengths.

G

Thanks very much, GtE, I ought to find a way to communicate that to the creator/spiritual father :) It does sound like a basic weakness so it must be sorted soon, the chap is obviously more than able enough.

I have been using the free version of FA for several months now and have found it extremely good. Not as feature-packed as sky-demon I know, but for my type of flying in S England it has been just right
Andy H

EasyVFR AirspaceAvoid is free and does show all the heights of airspace.

It is and it does.

However, the flight planning and additional features of FlightAssistant are vastly superior.

G

News of a sort...

Flight Assistant version 2 will be released soon, what will change

G

FYI Ver. 2 released yesterday.
If it's as good and lightweight as V1 I'll keep on using it.

I assume that you are one of the developers KeepCalm, as you joined PPrune purely to praise Flight Assistant. Brilliant, perhaps you have some thoughts over the major issues I've found in trying it out over the last couple of days:-


- Very clear vector mapping, but most towns not named.

- Large chunks of controlled airspace missing compared to V1.

- Like V1, still provides no display of the class or upper and lower heights of controlled airspace.

- Controlled airspace alerts not working.

- Lovely clear terrain avoidance display, but no way to change the scale on it, either horizontally or vertically that I can find.

- Despite turning it on, no visibility of the track I've flown.


I suspect at the moment that it's all very "lightweight" as you call it, because so little works. I'm finding it rather less useful than MemoryMap at the moment - which is a shame because "apparently" it should be excellent with nice clear displays, one touch on/off on terrain avoidance, I really like the simple arrival brief information, and it appears that the aircraft setup and W&CG pages are pretty good - albeit that I've not had time to do much with them so far. On the screen it's very stable and readable, and the vector dots are a nice representation. For a cheap product, the basic AIP plates are fine so long as you have a decent sized screen. I want to like it.

But unless I can trust and use the controlled airspace data - just about the single most important function of a moving map, then it's going to get deleted and the trial cancelled long before the month is out. Similarly, I really want to be able to control the distance I'm looking at terrain over.

It does feel at the moment like a product where the developers have concentrated on the look, feel and fringe add-ons, before getting the core functions right.

G

Like Genghis I downloaded V2 as I thought V1 had promise, but like him found much missing. In fact I have now given up and removed V2 but kept V1. It certainly isn't an improvement until the points listed by G get sorted.

I did wonder if the rush to get V2 out was driven by the funds that might come from it.