Do any of you pilots carry an I-pad that is loaded with something like Foreflight onto a commercial flight and follow the progress of the flight? It might be more enjoyable than playing Solitaire.
David
Do any of you pilots carry an I-pad that is loaded with something like Foreflight onto a commercial flight and follow the progress of the flight? It might be more enjoyable than playing Solitaire.
David
It's somewhat hit-or-miss whether the iPad GPS will pickup satellites depending on your seat (I have a high hit-rate when sitting in window seat, not so much from aisle seats YMMV).
I've tried, but the portable GPSes that I have won't lock onto the orbiting birds while inside the big tube. Not for lack of trying!
The one thing I worry about is some passenger seeing this little box in my lap with a flashing light and panicking because they think I have some sort of harmful device.
~Chris
Christopher Owens (EAA #808438, VAA #723276)
Germantown, WI
Bearhawk Plans #991, Bearhawk Patrol Plans #P313
I've used Foreflight several times in commercial airliners. Window seats only will work. This is using the built in GPS in the iPad.
I also download the IFR high altitude enroute charts, and go to Flight Aware before the flight to see the filed flight plan. I enter the flight plan into ForeFlight so I can see the route we are planning to take, and also to see what the amendments to the plan are once enroute.
It's very fun in a pilot-specific way.
Getting back to the OP's question, I too would be interested in what the supposedly thousands of airline pilots being issued iPads are actually doing with them.
I can't believe it's flight tracking, although it probably would work pretty well since every seat on the flight deck is a window seat. I'll bet it's more likely chart storage, email, company required documentation, user manuals, union rules and contacts, and a NASA form, just-fill-in-the-blanks-and-tap-SEND.
I fly for one of those airlines. I believe we are to this date the only carrier with full approval for iPad use both enroute and terminal (all the rest are in a test phase of one sort or another). We use Jeppesen's "JeppFD-Pro" app, which provides full IFR enroute charts (high and low), as well as all of the Jepp terminal charts (SIDs, STARs, approaches, diagrams, etc.) and enroute manuals.
JeppFD-Pro can display own-ship position superimposed on enroute charts, but we're not authorized to do it (we're not allowed to use the iPad's internal GPS or any external GPS receiver). The FAA is understandably hesitant to have airline crews relying on uncertified GPS receivers to establish aircraft position, even if only for taxiing. [Amusing story. A few weeks ago an email went out from the Chief Pilot with a photo of a Dual GPS receiver, an explanation that it had been found on the flight deck of one of our planes, and a request that its owner come and get it. I still wonder if the offending pilot had the guts to show up and claim his contraband GPS!]
Except on the rare occasion when the Flight Management System (nav computer) is inoperative, we seldom need to look at enroute charts. 99.9% of our iPad use is for terminal charts.
The app can also manage company manuals, but for some reason our manuals haven't been integrated yet, though we can still put the PDF versions on our iPad and read them with iBooks, FileApp, GoodReader, etc. Same with the union contract.
There's no app for the NASA form, but we can just use the ASRS website like anyone else. Many airlines (mine included) have a Safety Management System that works internally in a similar way to ASRS, and any report we file through SMS is automatically forwarded to NASA as well.
BTW, don't waste your time downloading the JeppFD-Pro app. It won't do anything without an activation code.
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Thanks for the info, Eric. Your map of landings is neat.
Mike E
We have a big convention here called Idea Fest, that brings many business, political, and academic people here as well as some just folks if they pay the fee, It is sort of to discuss the ideas of the major issues of the present and future. It ranges from some smart people, to just the famous like Opra to some real pigs like Karl Rove, They pretty much all like to play here to get away from the heat and hassle of some big city.
The CEO of United Airlines was here, and said two main things: that air fares into and out of here were going to stay high, and that obviously using personal electronic devices on an airline, did not affect anything, despite the b s that the FAA has put out about it for years, otherwise "airplanes would be falling out of the sky". He said some change of policy may be coming from the FAA, but what I think is that it is really hard for a govt buearacracy to ever admit that they have been wrong about anything; their natural way is to try to save face.
United has almost a monopoly on air service here, and what I think is that fares would go down the day that Southwest started to compete with United.
It is about 200 air miles to Denver, about 25 min on a United CRJ, and last time I checked the round trip fare in peak ski season was $1260 with no advance purchase.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 07-04-2013 at 08:26 AM.