iPad in Aviation: ForeFlight
I tried the iPad with the ForeFlight app for charts, plates, and airport information on a recent IFR flight. ForeFlight is an app that for $75/year subscription will supply you with all the charts, plates, and airport information cached on your iPad. This post is a review of a flight I did with the iPad/ForeFlight combination for charts and plates.
I took an IFR flight that happened to be to CHO from JYO, the return was via OHM. I was either in the clouds or on top of them for the majority of the flight. I did my pre-flight brief and filed my flight plan with FF (the iPad/ForeFlight combo).
The brief worked well, the usual DUATS information was broken into separate sections in a table view. I needed to tap on a section to read it, then tap the back button, and tap the next section I wanted to see. I would have liked a “next” button to tap on, it would have been smoother. Not a major issue though, but a “nice to see”.
The flight plan was there in ATC when I called in - so that worked. I set FF to show my flight plan (that I’d entered in earlier in planning) on the low-enroute chart. I could have selected high-enroute or a sectional/TAC. When the iPad has cell reception, I can get radar, satellite, current conditions, etc.
I have the Apple iPad case which has a kind of microfiber coating, it doesn’t want to slide off my knee and stays more stable than my paper charts did. FF tracked my position, heading, and altitude and showed me a moving map of where I was on the chart and with respect to my flight plan. The icon that FF used for my plane looks like a larger plane - might be cool thing to be able to change that.
Coming out of JYO the first waypoint is STILL, but ATC turns you before that which I appreciated. I ended up on radar vectors to CSN, my next waypoint. I found that the usual buttonology management of the panel GPS was doubled as I had to mess with FF as well.
After CSN instead of going to WITTO, I was redirected to KENNI for the ILS. More buttonology. I kept wanting to tap on the airport on the map screen to bring up the airport information. The approach plates are listed with the airport information in FF. To get from the chart to the airport the easier way is to 1) make sure the flight plan is showing (tap the flight plan button on the chart screen if not), 2) scroll if necessary to show the airport on the flight plan, 3) tap the airport code on the flight plan.
I’d prefer to just tap the airport on the chart screen. I can do that for VORs, NDBs, airports, fixes and arbitrary locations to add to my route. But I can’t get to the airport screen that way. This was the worst issue I had with FF.
When I broke out at the top of the clouds on the way down to CHO, and even in the clouds, I had a big glare problem with the iPad screen. I prefer to buy matte screens, but the iPad doesn’t come with one. While a glossy screen is brighter, it also reflects much more easily creating glare problems. And with my sunglasses (yes, I had to wear sunglasses in a cloud, it was that bright) the screen wasn’t visible at all.
I found out later that my polarized sunglasses lined up with the iPad polarization in the vertical position to block the screen view. That’s my problem, but in any case the glare is an issue. I’m going to look into a covering for the screen to reduce glare.
The battery life was great. After my leisurely flight planning and preflight brief, a return flight planning and brief, and a 2.7 hour flight, I’d used just half the battery capacity. More than enough for my purposes, especially since charging is fast. You can also get a car charger cable for in-flight use too.
I found the iPad/FF combination was, aside from the issues above, very usable. I need to practice the buttonology, and I hope ForeFlight adds a direct way from the chart to the airport screen. But there are some things I liked better: Everything was there and available. The iPad stayed put more easily that paper charts and plates. And it’s cheaper than paper charts. I didn’t have the heat shutdown problem that some have reported, and I don’t fly high enough to cause problems with the GPS.