IPad / Foreflight Data Useage???

[Ned Gravel]

10 hours ago, kortopates said:

We're not disagreeing @Ned Gravel . My plates with geosynchroning are on my GTN750 and I navigate off the default nav data on the GTN 650 and G500. The iPad is an EFB but can aid in situational awareness but isn't even first string in the electrical failure scenario because of the battery backed up panel instruments. My iPad is mostly used to keep track of Bravo and restricted airspace flying right seat. And even for that I am not trusting the cellular GPS without waas and error detection.

 

So if we both agree the device is not suitable for navigation, why do you advocate getting one with the cellular GPS?

I have seen too many people advocate using their iPad as a backup navigation and heard of many do it when something went bad even though their IFR GPS was still functioning just fine which just shows they need some partial panel training.

 

 

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To file, review, amend and brief on flight plans on the ramp. Tried it using the cell phone hotspot,but it is a pain.  If the connectivity provided by the Stratus did that, I would not need the cell connection on the iPad.

Current tools allow for one last look at the weather, confirm the route and file it. Five minutes later, sitting at the hold short point getting clearance from TRACON.  

[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.

Edited November 6, 2018 by midlifeflyer

[larryb]

I have cellular data on my iPad. For only $10/month to add the iPad to my family share plan I consider it cheap and essential. Sure, wifi is common. But it is not universal. It doesn't always work. Using the hotspot feature on my phone works, but it simply is not worth the effort to save $10/month. I don't have the patience to search out free wifi everywhere I go. 

[kortopates]

7 hours ago, Ned Gravel said:

To file, review, amend and brief on flight plans on the ramp. Tried it using the cell phone hotspot,but it is a pain.  If the connectivity provided by the Stratus did that, I would not need the cell connection on the iPad.

Current tools allow for one last look at the weather, confirm the route and file it. Five minutes later, sitting at the hold short point getting clearance from TRACON.  

That all makes sense. I hadn't thought of using it for those things since I do all of that before I get into the aircraft where I do have a wifi connection or I'll use my cell phone hot spot in the very rare occasions I need it or more likely since I have the same apps on my cell, I'll just do it on my cell directly; especially if its just textual data. For example, often I'll file the flight plan from my cell while in transit to the airport. There used to be a constraint that you had to file IFR flight plans no less than 20 min prior to departure. I've been in the habit of doing that for so long I didn't know that it had been relaxed. 

I do activate and close VFR flight plans on the hold short line, but I use my cell phone to click on the link I get text'd from Leidos, but most of my flying is IFR because IFR makes the complicated airspace so much easier, but working with my students keeps me active on the VFR stuff too.  

If i didn't have a cell phone with data I would have a hard time without cellular data on my iPad, but with the cell phone I just don't see the need for adding cellular to my ipad; especially with all the same apps on my cell. Being a retired tech guy, I don't see the inconvenienced point either. But I understand its coming down to personal preferences. 

[Hank]

3 minutes ago, kortopates said:

There used to be a constraint that you had to file IFR flight plans no less than 20 min prior to departure . . . I didn't know that it had been relaxed. 

Has this really been relaxed? I generally file just before leaving the house for a 20-min drive to the hangar.

[jaylw314]

21 minutes ago, Hank said:

Has this really been relaxed? I generally file just before leaving the house for a 20-min drive to the hangar.

It's still stated as a request on the Flight Service website, but I don't think it was ever a "requirement".  It just meant that before, you were unlikely to get your flight plan to ATC in 30 minutes.  Now, it seems it happens within a few minutes.

[kortopates]

19 minutes ago, Hank said:

Has this really been relaxed? I generally file just before leaving the house for a 20-min drive to the hangar.

I don't know either but @Ned Gravel implied that when he said "To file, review, amend and brief on flight plans on the ramp" unless I miss understood. Anyway Ned would be the person to answer since he apparently does so on the ramp. But maybe he doesn't mean aircraft running, ready to go? I'd like to know too. But it could be different in Canada too.

[jaylw314]

16 minutes ago, kortopates said:

I don't know either but @Ned Gravel implied that when he said "To file, review, amend and brief on flight plans on the ramp" unless I miss understood. Anyway Ned would be the person to answer since he apparently does so on the ramp. But maybe he doesn't mean aircraft running, ready to go? I'd like to know too. But it could be different in Canada too.

On at least two locations, I've filed an IFR plan from my phone using Flight Service's website on the ramp before startup, and then picked it up after my runup about 10 minutes later.  It worked and nobody yelled at me

[ArtVandelay]

I know we’re talking about FF, but GP allows you to run it on multiple devices. So you can use big screen iPad to flight plan and when at airport, file the trip you created using your phone. This is normal SOP. By the time I load up, preflight, taxi, runup it’s about 20-30 minutes.

 

[Marauder]

I know we’re talking about FF, but GP allows you to run it on multiple devices. So you can use big screen iPad to flight plan and when at airport, file the trip you created using your phone. This is normal SOP. By the time I load up, preflight, taxi, runup it’s about 20-30 minutes.
 

I run 3 iOS devices. The big iPad is for the flight planning and the other two are for cockpit usage.


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[Danb]

Philly recently lost my Ifr flight plan, I was told on the taxiway by ground control, they said just pull over and send in another, I filed via Foreflight and was given my clearance in about 5 minutes, that’s the only time I did it in my plane.

[carusoam]

Computer speeds have increased universally...

They used to batch run things on a schedule... processing everything that collected for a period of time...?

Lately things seem to be more modern... processing them as they come in...?

Even the FAA wants modern equipment to do their job better...

I used to file IFR from my home PC, receive the expected flight plan via text...

Then dial in for remote clearance...

Cheers to modernization...

-a-

[Ned Gravel]

4 hours ago, kortopates said:

I don't know either but @Ned Gravel implied that when he said "To file, review, amend and brief on flight plans on the ramp" unless I miss understood. Anyway Ned would be the person to answer since he apparently does so on the ramp. But maybe he doesn't mean aircraft running, ready to go? I'd like to know too. But it could be different in Canada too.

The last time I did it this way was in Bridgeport, CT and Gaithersburg, MD.  The long look at a route happens well before I do the walkaround (at home or in the FBO) because Wx is the most important consideration, but the last check is done in the cockpit.  Then file electronically.  

For me, Wx is a strategic decision - not a tactical one.  The decision to go (or not) is long before doing the walkaround, but now I can complete the walkaround and do a final check before filing on FF.

But that is just me.