midlifeflyer

FWIW, and YRMV, I have been using an iPad with ForeFlight (and other EFB apps) for almost 8 years. All of my iPads, Gen 1, Gen 3, and Mini 4, have been WiFi only. That's also been true of my Android tablet. For GPS, I decided to go external at the beginning and have rarely been disappointed by that decision. 90% (I'm being conservative; it's higher) of the time, my data needs have been met by WiFi. I do all my major map/data updates at home (and can't imagine doing those using mobile data) and have very very rarely not had WiFi available at an FBO or other location for last minute planning, briefing, and filing. The very few times I've needed mobile data, I haven't found tapping on the hotspot icon on my phone particularly onerous or cumbersome.

I do that regularly. I know some do, some don't, some reasonable, some not. So just as I ask my car guy what a repair will cost, I ask an FBO for its fee structure.

Depends on the state. Personally, I've never been charged a special ramp fee because I'm an attorney.

Depends on the state.

I alway find the concept of using checklists while sitting casually on the ground but not for critical phases of flight, where we are probably more likely to forget something, interesting,

This is excellent! Gotta try it with some of my spreadsheets!

If the question is pure "legality" there are no rules or regulations I am aware of prohibiting a pilot from taxiing onto the runway and just sitting there with his or her back to landing traffic. There is of course, 91.13 careless and reckless operation, which would come into play in the right, or rather, wrong, circumstances.

"I'm lining up and waiting" has no place at a nontowered airport. Trying to get an extra 10 seconds is not worth the risk.

IOW it means exactly the same thing as "taxi into position and hold." It was a change in standard US verbiage to match the rest of the world, not a change in procedure..

You should not be hearing "position and hold." ATC is required to use standardized language. What airports?

Nice work

I will pass on what a friend (coincidentally a Mooney pilot) said to my wife after our adventure losing power in the clouds over the Rockies that same day: "Well, you can cross that one off." It was exactly what she needed to hear. (Not sarcasm). Good job!

Why would the "shame" factor only work in one direction? To use your example, wouldn't it have been helpful to produce an NTSB report concluding the crew screwed up so persons injured and the family of those killed could be compensated without the enormous cost of litigation eating into their recoveries?

In 40 years, I don't think I have ever seen a situation in which, assuming the motion by a party seeking to win the case is accurate, the other side's theory did not look suspect

So do ForeFlight and FlyQ. IFlyGPS does a similar thing with its RealView charts. Others too. On the rest, personal preference again. I have a total of about a dozen EFBs roughly divided between iOS and Android. I never could get into Avare.