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iPad Mounting Solution


Guitarmaster

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There was a thread some time ago about this.  It has taken two years and numerous experiments, but I finally found something that works great!!

This is an iPad air.  I wanted the larger size and the Mini just wasn't going to work.  Since I use this for work, it does double duty.  The case is a Pivot case.  Outstanding for protecting the iPad and has multiple mounting options... none of which is a yoke mount. :(

Solution....

Disassemble the RAM mount, make the ball slightly larger and attach the Pivot mount.  Volià!  Although it looks like it inhibits access to the yoke, it doesn't.  In fact, while holding the yoke, my hands don't touch the iPad.  I does not block any instruments and it is right in front of me.  Previously, it was mounted to the windshield in front of the co-pilot.  The pictures were taken at my eye level.

Thought I would share as this is a great way to get a full-size iPad Air unobtrusively into the tight Mooney cockpit.

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Edited by Guitarmaster
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Wow! How many GPS units do you need? If the system goes down, they will all be useless . . . Most aviation GPS units are pretty dependable, I'd think the three installed units would be more than enough backup. I fly with one (1).

Edited by Hank
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Wow! How many GPS units do you need? If the system goes down, they will all be useless . . . Most aviation GPS units are pretty dependable, I'd think the three installed units would be more than enough backup. I fly with one (1).


I typically fly with the Mini but have the Air in the flight bag. I have charts on the Aspen, but like knowing I have Air in case the Mini goes blank.


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  • 4 weeks later...
On 11/28/2016 at 6:22 PM, Marauder said:

 


I typically fly with the Mini but have the Air in the flight bag. I have charts on the Aspen, but like knowing I have Air in case the Mini goes blank.


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How well does the mini fit on the yoke in landscape orientation?

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11 minutes ago, Hank said:

Very well. Not sure about the new, modern fat yokes, though.

I've got a 77 J model...not sure what yoke youd say I have.  I have my full air on my kneeboard but I'd like to just have the mini on the yoke if I could and not have to hassle with the kneeboard.

 

Mine kinda look like @Marauder 's yokes

Edited by Kefferch
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HANK ASKED:

 

 How many GPS units do you need? If the system goes down, they will all be useless . . . Most aviation GPS units are pretty dependable, I'd think the three installed units would be more than enough backup. I fly with one (1).

As the sweet Jewish girl said as she was permitting me to enter her jewelry wholesale store through a locked iron cage to purchase my fiancees engagement ring:

"You can never have too many securities".

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I think we are placing too much reliance on GPS. With the proposal to shut down many VORs in the near future, we don't really have a good electronic backup system in place. Not the place for a full blown discussion of how GPS signals can be hacked or spoofed, but it can be done (and probably has been). Perhaps the additional capacity to use Gnosis and Galileo will help. Quite a few GPS units use Gnosis in addition to the US GPS, and I would expect the next generation of GPS receivers to pick up and use the new European Galileo constellation as well.


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I have to laugh at myself for all the GPS units I have in the panel, yoke, seat next to me, and in my pocket. Now with Garmin's FlightStream 210 just about everything shows traffic TIS-B and weather. Too easy! But seeing all that traffic is sobering - far more than I can "eyeball" without the data from TIS-B.


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26 minutes ago, Bennett said:

I think we are placing too much reliance on GPS. With the proposal to shut down many VORs in the near future, we don't really have a good electronic backup system in place. Not the place for a full blown discussion of how GPS signals can be hacked or spoofed, but it can be done (and probably has been). Perhaps the additional capacity to use Gnosis and Galileo will help. Quite a few GPS units use Gnosis in addition to the US GPS, and I would expect the next generation of GPS receivers to pick up and use the new European Galileo constellation as well.

Lots of  acronyms in the satnav space:

     GPS + WAAS 

     Galileo + EGNOS

     GLONASS

i suspect if the whole GPS service is "down" an emergency TFR will instantly suspend all USA Part 91 ops anyway.   

 

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Lots of  acronyms in the satnav space:
     GPS + WAAS 
     Galileo + EGNOS
     GLONASS
i suspect if the whole GPS service is "down" an emergency TFR will instantly suspend all USA Part 91 ops anyway.   
 

Thanks for correcting my spelling of Glonass. My spell checker does funny things - actually funny things.

I think you are probably right about the suspension of Part 91 operations in the event of a widespread or general GPS failure. I am more concerned about a localized hack to change timing so that the in aircraft receiver calculates an erroneous position. At one point in my military career I was involved with electronic countermeasures and spoofing by various methodologies. Personally I don't think it would be very difficult to override the comparatively weak GPS signals with a mildly modified signal of greater strength that could/would cause chaos on a local system. Perhaps just modifying the WASS signal alone would be sufficient. I can't imagine that there are not teams or engineers in a number of countries who have not only the capability, but systems already in place to disrupt our ever increasing dependency on GPS. Just my opinion.


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Hey, I'm an old timer. I flew across the country many times, throughout the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico without GPS (or Loran, in the early days), using VORs and NDBs. Not to mention pilotage with paper charts and timers. In offshore sailing, I used Omega, very early versions of Loran, and even navigated by sextant and various sight reduction tables. My point is that many VORs will soon be decommissioned, (limiting DME usefulness) and NDBs are mostly gone, as is Loran. Could I still fly without GPS - sure, but with less alternatives. I personally think that the FAA is wrong in "putting all our eggs in the GPS basket". And I do believe that ADS-B in/out has the potential of making us all safer pilots. I like GPS -WAAS, but soon we will only have one viable system of electronic navigation. GPS approaches beat the hell out NDB approaches, and many two dimensional VOR approaches. All in all great progress, but if GPS is hacked - whether widespread or local, I believe that people (pilots especially) could be hurt or killed before things are sorted out. Cross checking one GPS box against another would not be helpful unless one could selectively choose which satellite system they were using. For what it is worth, I still use my GTN 650 exclusively for VORs for flight plans with a dedicated indicator head, TIS-B screen, and back-up radio. The GTN 750 is my moving map screen (along with the 796 for XM weather), and the yoke mounted Mini 4 for a sectional display using ForeFlight. As it is has been said: "Trust, but verify".


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2 hours ago, Bennett said:

Hey, I'm an old timer. I flew across the country many times, throughout the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico without GPS (or Loran, in the early days), using VORs and NDBs. Not to mention pilotage with paper charts and timers. In offshore sailing, I used Omega, very early versions of Loran, and even navigated by sextant and various sight reduction tables. My point is that many VORs will soon be decommissioned, (limiting DME usefulness) and NDBs are mostly gone, as is Loran. Could I still fly without GPS - sure, but with less alternatives. I personally think that the FAA is wrong in "putting all our eggs in the GPS basket". And I do believe that ADS-B in/out has the potential of making us all safer pilots. I like GPS -WAAS, but soon we will only have one viable system of electronic navigation. GPS approaches beat the hell out NDB approaches, and many two dimensional VOR approaches. All in all great progress, but if GPS is hacked - whether widespread or local, I believe that people (pilots especially) could be hurt or killed before things are sorted out. Cross checking one GPS box against another would not be helpful unless one could selectively choose which satellite system they were using. For what it is worth, I still use my GTN 650 exclusively for VORs for flight plans with a dedicated indicator head, TIS-B screen, and back-up radio. The GTN 750 is my moving map screen (along with the 796 for XM weather), and the yoke mounted Mini 4 for a sectional display using ForeFlight. As it is has been said: "Trust, but verify".

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I agree.

How about inertial guidance?  With the best of modern mems devices, does anyone know how far we are from affordable and accurate enough inertial based guidance as backup?  Is this possible in a mems device?

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I agree.
How about inertial guidance?  With the best of modern mems devices, does anyone know how far we are from affordable and accurate enough inertial based guidance as backup?  Is this possible in a mems device?


Actually read a paper on this a couple of months ago. The miniaturization of solid states accelerometers has gotten so good ( including accuracy) the the article reasoned it would be no more than a couple of years before inexpensive but highly accurate INS in a chip become available. The article stated they would first show up on our smart phones initially as GPS assist or replacement in case of signal loss but with a number of additional applications. I think this will likely be the answer to GPS backup.


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41 minutes ago, Hector said:

 


Actually read a paper on this a couple of months ago. The miniaturization of solid states accelerometers has gotten so good ( including accuracy) the the article reasoned it would be no more than a couple of years before inexpensive but highly accurate INS in a chip become available. The article stated they would first show up on our smart phones initially as GPS assist or replacement in case of signal loss but with a number of additional applications. I think this will likely be the answer to GPS backup.


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Cool - it is clear to me that it is just a matter of time.  My guess is that we will someday have inertial guidance in a chip as cheap as today's gps sensors in a chip.

It is a first step for a cell phone capable inertial guidance capable of tracking for a few minutes to augment a lost or poor gps signal, to a aviation accuracy worthy unit capable of lost gps signal for hours.

On the extreme end of the scale, are the mechanical gyro inertial guidance systems that are good for months as operated on submarines.  Those units of course are very expensive and very heavy.

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1 minute ago, Piloto said:

The biggest impact on GPS signal loss or spoofing would be on ADS-B . With no GPS there is no ADS-B. But planes can still fly to their destination using INS or VOR/DME/NDB/ILS or just compass like the old days. Traffic surveillance relying solely on ADS-B would be gone.

José

Im not sure what would bother the most people:  no pink line, or being forced to look outside . . .

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An example of distance measurement accuracy without a gps, compared to a gps.

My wrist mounted Fitbit records a jog while my iPhone does the same with a gps.

The fitbit counts steps and multiplies by a standard gate.  It doesn't miss a step and it's accuracy can be improved by giving it a better gate length.

The iphone 5 I'm using has a tendency to drop the signal and miss part of a four mile jog.  This happens on one tenth of the runs. Pushing a button keeps it from dumping its data if done in time....

best regards,

-a-

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