A life saving instrument in your pocket?

[hans brinker]

Originally Posted by Uplinker

One is tempted to remind that in the absence of an AH, one still has the VSI, the altimeter and the compass and stopwatch to fly straight and level, or turn, climb, descend.......

obviously one would need to be current in partial panel, something I haven’t trained for in the last 2 decades of airline flying ..........

[hum]

Originally Posted by gums

There's a commercial app for the iPad that is alleged to be a virtual HUD. Anybody try that sucker?

Gums asks...

Hi Gums, I have an app called IBFD (integrated backup flight display) on my ifone - remarkable.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/appadvi...1195301027.amp


I have tried to fox it by doing loops and rolls - no problem, aligns in a second - even whien airborne. However, one day I stuck it to my car dashboard - not quite perpendicular to the direction of motion (angled slightly towards me) and after a few minutes it showed around 3 deg false bank. Very soon after that it showed the wrong heading then ‘toppled’. Interesting piece of software, better than nothing in a corner.

[one dot right]

Originally Posted by Uplinker

One is tempted to remind that in the absence of an AH, one still has the VSI, the altimeter and the compass and stopwatch to fly straight and level, or turn, climb, descend.......

one is also tempted to remind of compass dip error that could well indicate a turn in the wrong direction initially. One needs a gyroscope in some form or other....

[JRK]

Originally Posted by john_tullamarine

but there is logic in it...

.. actually, no logic at all. Or, as Bob Hoover might observe, just to show how it doesn't work that way

Ah, come on! Next thing you gonna tell me is that Earth is a ball and contrails are water vapour? Pfff!

On a serious note: good to know. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. I guess I just took an old urban tale on face value without proper consideration....

Cheers!

[ScepticalOptomist]

I’m a little frightened to think that professional pilots have forgotten the basics and assume a phone can replace a gyro based instrument.

Sign of the times I guess.

[Dont Hang Up]

Originally Posted by ScepticalOptomist

I’m a little frightened to think that professional pilots have forgotten the basics and assume a phone can replace a gyro based instrument.

Sign of the times I guess.

The point of this discussion is that some phones truly are gyro based instruments. The question, as identified in the thread title, is simply whether they are good enough to be used in an aircraft in an emergency situation.

[FullWings]

Exactly. Would you clip a phone to the panel and depart in 75m RVR with it as your primary attitude reference? No. Would you gladly accept it as a backup when the other instruments have failed? Definitely!

One significant technical difference between the phone and an INS/ADIRU is that the phone most likely has a lot more computing power available...