iPad Mini in Mooney? Mount type? Location?

[Michael Williams]

1965 Mooney C, tight cockpit, but want to mount a new iPad Mini 5...looking for best sturdy mount suggestions and experiences on mounting location you might have to offer? Many thanks,

[gsxrpilot]

This was the old iPad mini in my M20C. It's the same size I believe. After lots of different mounts, this was the easiest and by far the most usable.

 

[Vance Harral]

+1 on the Steelie ball.  Easy to pop the iPad Mini on and off the yoke quickly, in either portrait or landscape orientation, and I can tilt it around to various angles to avoid glare.

[Oscar Avalle]

On the yoke


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[carusoam]

LOP v. ROP...

Flaps v. no flaps on T/O...

Where to mount an iPad v. Where to mount a second iPad...

Lap board style, yoke mount, or attached to the airframe in various locations... or temporary mount in the panel....

or attach and use like the visor...?

This question is the most susceptible to personal preference... you may want to search through a few threads to see what is being used by everyone... 

Best regards,

-a-

[pirate]

This yoke mount works great from sportys 

[HRM]

My go to (sportys.com):

[Jim Peace]

This company has some great products, good customer service to:

https://mgfproducts.com/collections/all-mounts

[Bob E]

Hi Michael, didn't see your post until just now.  Maybe this will help.  I have an M20C and use two iPad minis -- a new mini 5 I just bought (64GB is plenty) and a mini 4 with 256 GB.  Foreflight allows two installations, plus my Garmin GTX-345 allows two bluetooth connections, so that gives me Foreflight plus ADS-B weather and traffic on both pilot and copilot ipads!

An interesting advantage of the iPad mini is that it is the brightest of the iPads (or equally bright with the large iPad pro). 

So as to never run out of power, I use USB power connectors.

As far as the mount is concerned, I found the best solution was simply to build them myself starting with the Garmin yoke mount you can get on eBay for about 20 bucks.  I just added a piece of sheet metal, drilled to allow it to be screwed onto the yoke mount, bent the bottom to act as a tray (covered with duct tape to be soft), and at the top I added a small spring clamp, bent appropriately and also covered with duct tape.  This way you don't have to take the iPad out of its case.

It's truly amazing how far avionics and EFB functionality has advanced in the last decade.  Anyway, hope this helps.  Here are a couple of photos.  BTW there isn't much glare at all -- both minis have anti-glare screen protectors -- the photo is just at a weird angle. 

Good luck!

[Bob E]

Oh, one other thing:  To keep the mount from vibrating, I inserted a piece of foam in between the back of the mount and the front of the control wheel (on top of the clock / Mooney logo).

The disadvantage of this system is that it's not practical to turn it 90 degrees, so if you need to look at an entire plate without zooming, you'd need to change the design a bit.

[81X]

On 4/4/2019 at 11:17 PM, pirate said:

This yoke mount works great from sportys 

I like this setup as well with the extended arm going underneath the yoke, it doesn’t block anything.  I use the RAM mount but it looks similar enough to this.  

Kneeboard is too much head movement for me when using it on an approach; up higher would be nice but I haven’t yet found a position I like that doesn’t block something.  

[Michael Williams]

Thanks to Bob and 81X for the time to do such an illustrative post. Very helpful.

At this point, still kind of experimental, I've mounted the iPad mini 5 onto the co-pilot yoke (with a Ram yoke mount and "long" arm) so I can swivel the iPad towards the pilot better. It's only a half-arm length away and easy to pinch to zoom or expand, or to change screens). 

My second plan was to mount my iPhone X, regular size, onto the pilot yoke with a similar Ram mount. It set up GREAT, to use the iPhone for more data info items such as frequencies, metars, taxi diagrams, etc) with the iPad mini being used for for moving map displays and other real-time navigation depictions. The only problem is that with my short legs and the need to scoot the pilot seat forward a good deal the iPhone is actually too close to be comfy and cockpit movement bumps into the system. So for now I'm back at the drawing board on the second EFB. The side window is so situation that I haven't been able to figure out a suction mount option but I'm still working on it.

Thanks, all...

Edited April 21, 2019 by Michael Williams

[rbridges]

I use the x mount on the yoke with an iPad mini 4. I can still see everything pretty well, but I do have to look around it for the switches at the bottom of the panel.  Sorry, don't have pic with iPad in it, but this shows the ram mount. 

[rbridges]

4 hours ago, 81X said:

 

Kneeboard is too much head movement for me when using it on an approach; up higher would be nice but I haven’t yet found a position I like that doesn’t block something.  

That was my personal experience with the kneeboard, too. I tended to drop the nose a bit when I stared at the screen during IFR training.

[Marauder]

I use a Scosche mount. You can pick them up at Costco and Amazon. I purchased larger metal plates so it allows me to move the iPad Mini up and down on the yoke or flip it in landscape mode if I want.




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[Niko182]

18 minutes ago, Marauder said:

I use a Scosche mount. You can pick them up at Costco and Amazon. I purchased larger metal plates so it allows me to move the iPad Mini up and down on the yoke or flip it in landscape mode if I want.




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Same here. Use it and i love it. And the mount doesnt really stick out on the ipad. And its 16 bucks.

[Oscar Avalle]

I use a yoke mount for my mini iPad 5 and connect it via flight stream to my Garmin 750. Amazing. I use Garmin Pilot, but I have been looking at ForeFlight and it looks very tempting. Any views?


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[Supercop0184]

Ram Mount for IPAD MINI on the Yoke - I love it there - 64 C model

[MooneyPoor]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:54 PM, Oscar Avalle said:

I use a yoke mount for my mini iPad 5 and connect it via flight stream to my Garmin 750. Amazing. I use Garmin Pilot, but I have been looking at ForeFlight and it looks very tempting. Any views?


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I've been with Garmin Pilot for a couple years now..started with Foreflight but with the panel I have and the FS210 feature I can't see any need to switch at this point. Does all i need and probably more that I haven't figured out just yet. 

[Michael Williams]

What an amazing Mooney panel you have...congrats.

I adore Fore Flight, its really all I've ever used in this field. I have an older C Mooney with space pretty tight. I had a K model 252 for some years back in the 90's and had more elbow room, but the C provides great performance and economy, just snug.

I finally found the correct "RAM" mounts to put iPad Mini 4 onto the co-pilot yoke with medium arm and able to angle toward the pilot seat. Its position is perfect for reaching and operating there. Then I use a Ram X mount for my iPhone X fitting perfectly between the handle of the Pilot yoke...and I use that for airport frequencies, taxi diagrams, AFD uses and the such, while keeping the Mini in moving map mode. I'll attach a photo from this weekend. Thanks for your feedback. Michael

[ArtVandelay]

The problem with iPad on copilot side is:
With be a bother if you have a passenger.
When moving the yoke it can distracting.


Tom

[Michael Williams]

So far has not been a problem. Most of flying is solo...and when there's a passenger in the co-pilot seat they seem to have "fun" seeing the progress of the flight.

[bob865]

I'm using a mygoflight mount.  It clamps to the tube just behin the yoke and is articulating to drop the mount right between the yokes. 

https://mgfproducts.com/collections/mounts-1/products/sport-mount-flex-yoke?variant=10434663841907

The mount has a quick connect so I can mount my iPad mini 4 and my partner can mount his iPad mini 3 to the same mount.  Their holders for the iPad are nice too.  I use mine as a hard case when it's not locked in the plane.  It also has rails across the back so you can put an elastic strap through and use it as a knee board too if you like.  The prices are a bit stupidly high, but I guess since I felt the need to tell you about it, I think it's worth it.

https://mgfproducts.com/collections/mounts-1/products/ipad-mini-4-sport-case-kneeboard-mountable?variant=17443297165427

[Marauder]

I'm using a mygoflight mount.  It clamps to the tube just behin the yoke and is articulating to drop the mount right between the yokes. 
https://mgfproducts.com/collections/mounts-1/products/sport-mount-flex-yoke?variant=10434663841907
The mount has a quick connect so I can mount my iPad mini 4 and my partner can mount his iPad mini 3 to the same mount.  Their holders for the iPad are nice too.  I use mine as a hard case when it's not locked in the plane.  It also has rails across the back so you can put an elastic strap through and use it as a knee board too if you like.  The prices are a bit stupidly high, but I guess since I felt the need to tell you about it, I think it's worth it.
https://mgfproducts.com/collections/mounts-1/products/ipad-mini-4-sport-case-kneeboard-mountable?variant=17443297165427

I mounted one of these where your ashtray is on the center pedestal.



I have it set up so that it sits in between the seats.



As for the MyGoFlight stuff, yes, stupid expensive. I thought it was really decent quality and paid more for it. Then I saw this on Amazon and bought one to compare. The ratcheting mechanism as far as I can tell is the same as the more expensive unit from MyGoFlight hardware. Obviously they add mounting stuff on it, but I suspect the supplier is this company.




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[3914N]

I attached a ram mount to the empty space previously used by the LORAN. It’s a good use of the empty spot but is a bit far away from my normal instrument scan.