commercial rating training

Airmann

Well-Known Member
Am considering gettting my Commercial Rating followed by CFI. With the IPAD and Foreflight and Wingx and other helpful items available and now approved for the Cockpit, can someone tell me if during Commercial Training as a student are you allowed to use your IPAD in the Cockpit and not have to carry all the paper charts? I have been hearing that I may have to learn as I did when a PPL student and do everything with a E6B, paper charts, pencil, writing out my Nav Log, not being able to use the in panel GPS etc? What is the official word on Commercial Training?
 
This may sound nitpicky, but the truth is I am just trying to help you in your future of CFI training...There is no such thing as a Commercial "rating". The commercial is the certificate on which your ratings are based-just like your private. Those ratings can be anything from an instrument rating to your catagory and class ratings (airplane single engine land as an example).
 
I didn't bother with my iPad and ForeFlight for much of my commercial training though I doubt my instructor would have cared either way. For the vast majority of things done VFR in the local practice area I personally find the iPad rather clumsy and annoying and outside of my flight planning and checking the weather didn't use it for my commercial rides.

On my first commercial check ride I wasn't allowed to use the GPS for my diversion except my examiner did allow me to use the ground speed from it. Then again, between knowing the practice area cold and being fairly good with using a E6B with just one hand, I nailed the divert. My nav log was done on paper and I just used my paper charts for the divert even though the iPad was under my seat the entire flight. About the only use my iPad got was doing my single engine instrument approach for the commerical multi.
 
You should know how to use all tools available to you. If given a diversion I'd explain that "we have several options, I can use the Garmin GPS to quickly adopt a new course, and I can demonstrate that if you'd like, but many aircraft do not have these tools, so let me demonstrate a method that works in every airplane... and bust out your sectional, plotter, and E6B". If you plan to use an iPad that should be fine for most, but if I were your examiner I'd end up covering it with a piece of paper and say "ooops the battery died and you forgot your charger, or you just dropped it on the floor and broke it, it doesn't work anymore, now what?".
 
I doubt there's an examiner out there that will let you use it. You need to know how to do it every way, so when stuff starts failing it's a non issue.
Just because something is approved for use doesn't mean you can now rely solely on it, or worse forget how to use other things... become a child of the magenta line.

 
I used a chart for a few minutes to divert to an airport. It was mostly commercial maneuvers, and landings.

It's a VFR checkride. The more crap you take up with you, the more could potentially go wrong on the checkride. Keep it simple. AFD and a Paper Chart. Non-GPS airplane even better.
 
It will depend on DPE and CFI. Some think you shouldn't use an Ipad, some think you should learn and use both paper and Ipad, and then some will say "just use the Ipad". It is something you will need to talk to your CFI and the DPE about. From what I have seen a lot (not all) of DPEs allow about anything after you go through your private check ride.

Bottom line: Learn to use every thing available and you will have no issues either way. Like rframe said being able to tell the DPE all your options and showing you know what you are doing is all they want to know.
 
are you allowed to use your IPAD in the Cockpit and not have to carry all the paper charts?
More to the point, in real life, you would want to have "paper charts" within reach for when the ipad quits. Over the years, it will happen.
 
I doubt there's an examiner out there that will let you use it. You need to know how to do it every way, so when stuff starts failing it's a non issue.
Just because something is approved for use doesn't mean you can now rely solely on it, or worse forget how to use other things... become a child of the magenta line.


"Click click, click click." Great video. It's been posted here before.
 
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