midlifeflyer

Well, I was when I started. But “middotageflyer” doesn’t sound too good.

I wonder how much of that is just changes that only get adopted in later units that are either delayed or don't get pushed at all into older ones. Similar - FLC in (older?) GFC 700 autopilots; IAS in later GFC500-600 units. Same thing; different labeling.

Not at all. I'm old too

They were. But there’s a reason the atlas is no longer being produced. Same reason those great little brown books of airport diagrams are gone.

Must be fun looking for T-Routes in it.

I’m running both Foreflight and Garmin Pilot. The comparisons are interesting. Yes, pretty much parity, but there are discreet functions that one tends to do better than the other. i used to have iFly. Great app. In my case I dropped it because most every airplane I fly or teach in has Garmin Connect capability or a Garmin/FF compatible portable so I don’t have to pull out my portable GPS/ADS-B unit. Those are incompatible with iFly.

There’s a difference from what some are discussing. Unless it’s unusual, your WiFi only Android tablet has internal GPS capability. If your Stratux craps out you still have GPS. A WiFi only iPad does not have internal GPS. Other than that, like you, I have been using my phone’s hotspot capability for my tablet since the days you needed a third-party app to access it.

I don’t recall that. When I bought my first iPad (Gen 1, 14 years ago), I recall the cost of the cellular upgrade and an external GPS puck to be roughly equivalent. (I decided on the puck rather than the cellular.)

Well, it solves some of that. But when I do a complex transition for a VFR only pilot, we work on flying by the numbers. Obviously less of them, but they are still there.

I found the same thing. Paper is far more efficient for me. But I have seen pilots whose transition training included the use on the on-board checklists and it is very smooth and natural. That seems particularly true of Cirrus training. They mostly still use a flow and check, but the onboard checklist seems to avoid the common failure to to actually pause and read each item. Just not worth the effort for me. I have Goose too. Pretty much reserve it for when I'm teaching in airplanes I don't have my own paper checklist for.

The problem there can be the time. I've been to several (my goal is a different airplane each time) and, about this time of year I put the ones I'd be interest in flying to in my calendar. But my experience is, most arrive around 8 am and a lot of food is gone by 9 or so. That means a very early wakeup time, which I usually reserve for American Airlines to the Caribbean

When I made my first iPad purchase after seeing ForeFlight demoed, I decided I wanted to rely on an external GPS puck and went WiFi only. That was 14 years and 5 iPads ago. Every time I upgrade, I think, “should I get the cellular this time?” The answer has been “no.” I use my iPad for more than aviation. It’s become my travel “laptop” and, before retirement, I even used it in business meetings. It contains music, videos, even full movies. So far I haven’t missed cellular capability. WiFi availability has become more widespread. When I teach in owner airplanes, their avionics have some sort of position sharing capability, and I still carry a portable ADS-B device in my flight bag for those which don’t.

Absolutely. But I don't worry about that when it comes to maps and charts since the map and chart display in the actual TSO avionics doesn't have any more operational status than your EFB - situational awareness only.

From GMU, I’d do a pretty mountain tour and have breakfast at the GMU Runway Cafe before or after. Or, still using the hills for scenery, head up toward the Crosswind Cafe at HKY.

Great point. People often don’t think of some others. And it’s not just about weather. I recently had an experience where I added one. I was departing from a nontowered airport in an unfamiliar area on an IFR flight. “Expected” clearance in hand, I departed VFR to pick up my clearance in the air. I can verify that during departure climb in busy airspace is not the best time to copy a different full route clearance! New personal minimum - get the clearance on the ground in an unfamiliar area, regardless of weather conditions.