Garmin Pilot App

[GeorgePerry]

Garmin's update had really changed things for the worse.  Any other Garmin Pilot app users strugling w this new update?

[Marauder]

6 minutes ago, GeorgePerry said:

Garmin's update had really changed things for the worse.  Any other Garmin Pilot app users strugling w this new update?

What are you struggling with? Works for me. I don't like the way they present weather, but other than that, it is functioning okay.

[Marauder]

15 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

I am new to Garmin Pilot and haven't flown with it since the most recent update earlier this week.  The release notes for the most part as I recall just mentioned some sort of beta release for VFR flight plan filing for flights originating outside the U.S., or something to that effect.  It seemed like an insignificant update to me.  I'm with Chris, George, what has changed for you specifically with the new release?  

 

After I wrote my response, I went back to the app and played with it. I tried to get a weather briefing for a route that I have flown a thousand times. It wanted me to put the departure time in for less than two hours in order for me to get the weather. I changed the default weather service under the pilot information to CSC and it would like me to put in a trip several hours more in advanced. So it looks like perhaps some of the quirks are the new service provider requirements.

[ArtVandelay]

6 minutes ago, GeorgePerry said: Garmin's update had really changed things for the worse.  Any other Garmin Pilot app users strugling w this new update?

What are you struggling with? Works for me. I don't like the way they present weather, but other than that, it is functioning okay.

The trip page has change, it's different, they added ATC routing, I think removed overlap of flightplan and trip pages, never a big fan of old trip page, I think I like this better, haven't used it enough yet.

[donkaye]

I had problems with the bluetooth connection for the Flight Stream 210.  Finally got it to connect, but wonder what happens on the next flight.

[wishboneash]

It's a major change as far as the user interface is concerned. I like it. A new scratch pad with multiple pages including specific ones for ATIS, clearances etc. This is new to Android anyway. Have to play around with it now.

[irishpilot]

It's better, I think. I like that we can file directly with Flight Service vs DUATS. I fly IFR weekly and have had issues with the CSC interface. The scratch pad is better and the interface is easier to split screen. I am okay with new interface as long as we get more options, which I think we do with this update. I am biased as I use the app every few days.

Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk

[Marauder]

I had a chance to play with it for a couple of days now. There is something wrong with the weather function. It won't allow me to get a weather briefing if I put the time in that is more than 2 hours or more from my expected departure time. Anyone else experience this?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[wishboneash]

I just tried it for kicks (KLVK to KWVI) using Lockheed Martin/FAA domestic filing (IFR) for 40 hrs from now and I got the briefing (outlook type) without issues. Then I switched providers to CSC DUATS and again no issues. Then switched the departure time for 9hrs ahead and I got the Winds aloft and terminal forecasts as well. This is on my Android phone. Not sure what is going on for you.

[ArtVandelay]

Same as wishboneash, no problem on IPad

[Marauder]

I just tried it for kicks (KLVK to KWVI) using Lockheed Martin/FAA domestic filing (IFR) for 40 hrs from now and I got the briefing (outlook type) without issues. Then I switched providers to CSC DUATS and again no issues. Then switched the departure time for 9hrs ahead and I got the Winds aloft and terminal forecasts as well. This is on my Android phone. Not sure what is going on for you.

Same as wishboneash, no problem on IPad

Worked fine this morning. Go figure...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[eman1200]

this update is a little annoying to me.  specifically the trip planning page......used to be real easy to enter a plan then 'activate' and have it load into the map.  now it's not that easy.  I have tested several fake trips and can't get them to load.  under 'menu' within trip planning all I have is 'clone trip', nothing else.  under 'actions' I only have 'file'.

I had the briefing issue at first, that seems to have fixed itself.

[wishboneash]

On the Trip Planning page, Go to the "Form" tab and "Load Flight Plan" under Flight Plan section. When you touch Load Flight Plan, you can load the Active Flight plan or any of the Stored Flight Plans. This is again on an Android phone, I presume on iOS it is the same.

[eman1200]

5 minutes ago, wishboneash said:

On the Trip Planning page, Go to the "Form" tab and "Load Flight Plan" under Flight Plan section. When you touch Load Flight Plan, you can load the Active Flight plan or any of the Stored Flight Plans. This is again on an Android phone, I presume on iOS it is the same.

this absolutely does not work for me, on iphone 5s.  I enter in all the info into the form, load flight plan, and only a prior trip I took shows up there.

[ArtVandelay]

I would expect in the navlog screen it would allow you to load flight plan but only selection is "clone trip" on 5s

[wishboneash]

5 minutes ago, wishboneash said: On the Trip Planning page, Go to the "Form" tab and "Load Flight Plan" under Flight Plan section. When you touch Load Flight Plan, you can load the Active Flight plan or any of the Stored Flight Plans. This is again on an Android phone, I presume on iOS it is the same.

this absolutely does not work for me, on iphone 5s.  I enter in all the info into the form, load flight plan, and only a prior trip I took shows up there.

Seems like there are some differences. I have the option to load an active flight plan

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[Marauder]

 

They took something that had a logical flow and changed the logic. Starting with a blank flight plan page, you can build a route and then hit file & brief. When you do this, it will populate the trip planning page but you need to check the departure times. That is what was happening to me above. It moved it over but the time was wrong. Once you correct the information, you can do the weather and file.

You can also start on the trip planning page and load a trip either from a previous flight plan (on the left) or create a new one using the trip planning page.

I'm going to load the pictures and then explain what I did when I get to my PC and edit it with comments. I also see they fixed bugs already on this release.

If you build a trip using the flight plan icon, you can directly port it over to the trip planning section.

Here is the blank trip planning screen before I hit the "file & brief" button.

Once I hit "file & brief", it populates the trip planning section. This is where I ran into a problem. I hit the "file & brief" but didn't get the weather immediately and the time was dated when I did.

Once you have the trip planning section filed out you can then file it with ATC, get weather, etc.

Here is where it gets weird. You can also build your trip from the trip planning section and if you know the route, you can enter it or you can searched for previous ATC assigned routes. When you do it this way, you can hit the "activate" button on top and it will port over the flight plan to the flight planing page as well as put it on the main map. Not sure why they could haven't combined the two sections.

If you have previous trips shown on the left side of the trip planning screen, you can click one and then hit the "activate" button on the right side to make it current in the flight planning section and on the main map.

They took something that had a logical flow and made it more illogical.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[eman1200]

ok so I just went to 'flight plan' and can create a new trip there, select 'file and brief' and it loads into the map.  but then I realized there was 8.0.1 waiting for me so I ran the update.  now the 'activate' option is under the menu within trip planning. it's still quirky but at least I can activate one now.  also, to create a NEW flight plan under trip planning, it looks like you have to delete the current one.  hopefully this will get easier and less quirky but so far I'm not thrilled.

[flyboy0681]

Glad I'm not the only one who found the update a bit quirky. My fingers used to dance around the screen when entering a new flight plan, but not any more. While I've gotten a bit more used to it by playing around, it's a far cry from what it used to be in terms of intuitiveness. And to make matters worse, the documentation that is installed with the update contains images of the old screens. 

Other than that I haven't found anything else any different.

[wishboneash]

One annoying thing is that I cannot transfer from Trip Planning to a Flight plan. Haven't had the need to do this before, but with the ability to load commonly filed routes etc. it would be nice to be able to transfer these to the Flight plan after going through the planning process. If there were a way to store these routes it would be possible to load them across multiple devices as well.

[flyboy0681]

8 minutes ago, wishboneash said:

One annoying thing is that I cannot transfer from Trip Planning to a Flight plan. Haven't had the need to do this before, but with the ability to load commonly filed routes etc. it would be nice to be able to transfer these to the Flight plan after going through the planning process. If there were a way to store these routes it would be possible to load them across multiple devices as well.

If I'm understanding you correctly, there is a way to do this. The steps would be the following (using the latest release 8.0.1):

1. Enter a new trip or find one on the Previous list on the left side of the screen.
2. Press the blue "Load Flight Plan" label found under the Flight Plan section of the screen.
3. Press "Add" to permanently store the flight plan.

Now when you go back to the Trip Planning page, press "Load Flight Plan" and all of the stored flight plans will be displayed from which you can select from.

It's definitely not intuitive.

 

 

 

[wishboneash]

Thanks! I have Android version 5.0.2 and instead of "Add", there is an Activate button on the top right of the screen. That transfers the trip to the Flight Plan page where one can then store it. That was bugging me.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[GeorgePerry]

Wonder if Garmin is listening...The functionality was much easier and more intuitive before the latest update.  This one must have slipped past the QC folks b/c usually Garmin stuff is pretty simple and straight forward.  Not this time however 

[Marauder]

8 minutes ago, wishboneash said: One annoying thing is that I cannot transfer from Trip Planning to a Flight plan. Haven't had the need to do this before, but with the ability to load commonly filed routes etc. it would be nice to be able to transfer these to the Flight plan after going through the planning process. If there were a way to store these routes it would be possible to load them across multiple devices as well.

If I'm understanding you correctly, there is a way to do this. The steps would be the following (using the latest release 8.0.1):

1. Enter a new trip or find one on the Previous list on the left side of the screen.

2. Press the blue "Load Flight Plan" label found under the Flight Plan section of the screen.

3. Press "Add" to permanently store the flight plan.

Now when you go back to the Trip Planning page, press "Load Flight Plan" and all of the stored flight plans will be displayed from which you can select from.

It's definitely not intuitive.

 

 

 

And don't forget the part about standing on your left only while chanting "Garmin is great!"

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Marauder]

Wonder if Garmin is listening...The functionality was much easier and more intuitive before the latest update.  This one must have slipped past the QC folks b/c usually Garmin stuff is pretty simple and straight forward.  Not this time however 

I know there are two development teams. One dedicated to the Droid platform and the other the iOS. Droid platform was always lagging behind the iOS version (one of the reasons I went with a mini and dropped the Nexus 7).

Time will tell if they revert back to a more user friendly format. Like an old HP calculator, you need to let it grow on you and eventually you will like it or hate it even more.

The Flight Plan and Trip Planning on this version are overlapped too much. And I think that is what is leading to the confusion. You can build a flight plan in Flight Plan and move it over to Trip Planning or just go to Trip Planning if you know your route or want to use the ATC proposed route (which by the way is found on the Flight Plan icon page as well).

The only advantage of the Flight Plan page is the map.

With the changes they always seem to make I have modified Tom Hanks's line from Castaway "And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"

My version:

"And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the iOS update could bring?"

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk