ForeFlight/iPad

T

The Gardener

Terrafirma Phobic
I'm looking into the iPad with the primary goal of running foreflight. I'm primarily teaching and love the idea of having all my charts with me and current when I fly. At $75/year it seems reasonable.

I've also got a cross the whole country trip coming up where we will be flying primarily VFR. Would it be reasonable to do 2200 miles worth of flight planning on this thing or does it just become entirely unruly and unpractical? Buying proper charts for the entire trip would partly justify the purchase alone.
 
It's actually $75/year. But using ForeFlight on the iPad is like what it was designed to do. Very intuitive menus, easy to operate, you're not searching for the right button to press. Everything is placed logically. I would see how you like 1)the iPad first before buying one. Then 2) how you like ForeFlight before buying a year subscription (they give you a free month to try it out.)
 
kiloalpha said:
It's actually $75/year. But using ForeFlight on the iPad is like what it was designed to do. Very intuitive menus, easy to operate, you're not searching for the right button to press. Everything is placed logically. I would see how you like 1)the iPad first before buying one. Then 2) how you like ForeFlight before buying a year subscription (they give you a free month to try it out.)
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Dooh. Typo is fixed. I can spend $75 in a couple of revisions...

I like the way the iPad works. My main thing is that I need to be able to see enough of a chart to plan out what I'm going to do.
 
Codyjp said:
I'm looking into the iPad with the primary goal of running foreflight. I'm primarily teaching and love the idea of having all my charts with me and current when I fly. At $75/year it seems reasonable.

I've also got a cross the whole country trip coming up where we will be flying primarily VFR. Would it be reasonable to do 2200 miles worth of flight planning on this thing or does it just become entirely unruly and unpractical? Buying proper charts for the entire trip would partly justify the purchase alone.
Click to expand...

VFR flight planning in foreflight is a synch. Type the name of your departure point, the name of your destination, altitude, TAS fule burn, etc... and it will give you a mag. heading corrected for wind, Fuel burn and GS. I have verified the heading, etc... on several flights before plodding off and the planning is usually pretty accurate.

As far as providing a comprehensive SA picture, foreflight will overlay radar on your route, satellite imagery, winds, etc... so you can visually see areas of precipitation, wind direction, etc in relation to your course of flight.

NOTAMS and TFR's are laid out in an orderly logical progression and everything from IFR charts VFR sec. TTP's are all available. It's really good value for the money.
 
I'v got it. Best purchase you can make to sAve some dough. Get the credit card app as well, it's free. There's nothing more rewarding than saying "I accept cash or credit".
 
Krieger said:
I'v got it. Best purchase you can make to sAve some dough. Get the credit card app as well, it's free. There's nothing more rewarding than saying "I accept cash or credit".
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Just got an email from them apologizing for how long it's taking them to get the cc readers shipped.
 
just wondering, (and it may have been discussed before) Is this a legal way to keep current charts for 135 operations?
 
Do the downloadable charts allow for GPS overlay, or is that asking too much? I have a 3GS with GPS, but I'm thinking that's probably wishful thinking(?).


J
 
Fly_Unity said:
just wondering, (and it may have been discussed before) Is this a legal way to keep current charts for 135 operations?
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Short answer no. Long answer is that it would probably work if somebody went through the certification process. I didn't read much more into it since I'm not flying 135 at the moment.

C150J said:
Do the downloadable charts allow for GPS overlay, or is that asking too much? I have a 3GS with GPS, but I'm thinking that's probably wishful thinking(?).
J
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I know it will show your location on a VFR chart, I'm not sure about IFR charts or approach plates. That would be really sweet if it could do that.
 
So you guys don't have problems with losing GPS signal or anything? Also, does the cheapest one ($599) have gps capability? I keep seeing people say "my ipad with gps" blah blah..do some of them not have it?
 
BaronPete said:
So you guys don't have problems with losing GPS signal or anything? Also, does the cheapest one ($599) have gps capability? I keep seeing people say "my ipad with gps" blah blah..do some of them not have it?
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Cheapest is $499, and no it dosent have GPS. The wifi only ones dont have the GPS chip, you have to go to the wifi + 3G model for that. You dont have to subscribe to 3G service though so you could just pay the extra $120ish for the GPS chip in it. People have jailbroken the ipad and used bluetooth/USB GPS modules though. Not sure if it would work with foreflight.
 
Alpha Lima said:
Cheapest is $499, and no it dosent have GPS. The wifi only ones dont have the GPS chip, you have to go to the wifi + 3G model for that. You dont have to subscribe to 3G service though so you could just pay the extra $120ish for the GPS chip in it. People have jailbroken the ipad and used bluetooth/USB GPS modules though. Not sure if it would work with foreflight.
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Gotcha, thanks. I didn't scroll down far enough at best buy's website =)
 
C150J said:
Do the downloadable charts allow for GPS overlay, or is that asking too much? I have a 3GS with GPS, but I'm thinking that's probably wishful thinking(?).


J
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Nope. The iPhone doesn't have a true GPS chip, but relies on A-GPS, so once you're out of tower or wifi range, it's game over.

Also, the non-3G iPad doesn't have a GPS chip either. You don't have to pay for the 3G service, but you do need a 3G iPad. It will show location on the en route charts I believe, but not on the approach plates. This is due to a lack of accuracy during altitude changes (i.e. during an approach) due to the iPad's non-WAAS, non-aviation quality GPS chip.
 
Hmm does foreflight only cover the US or do they have charts for around the world? Also is it still hard to pick up an ipad stateside or has the hype slowed down? Might need to pick one up during my vacation.

=Jason-
 
LOGS said:
Hmm does foreflight only cover the US or do they have charts for around the world? Also is it still hard to pick up an ipad stateside or has the hype slowed down? Might need to pick one up during my vacation.

=Jason-
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I'm fairly sure you can just walk in and get one. I'm not sure though about international coverage.
 
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