iPhone Aviation Apps

[wmrunyon]

I bought an iPhone a few weeks ago and now know what the "buzz" is all abought. What a great gadget!

My question to the those in the know, what are the favorite aviation apps? Fore Flight looks interesting and gets  a good review from Aviation Consumer, but it is pricey at $75. AOPA's Directory is free, so that is easy. What else is popular?

bill

[docket]

Foreflight is the best period.  For the base fee you get all of the NACO plates and the ability to file your flight plan right from the phone.  I left KFTW (from Texas Jet) today in very hard IMC to KHOU and the foreflight product frankly gave me better weather than what XM showed in the cockpit.  Foreflight said it was serious stuff and XM didn't consider it all that bad.  It was a true paintblaster. 

I also use Foreflight Checklist for my checklist since it positively shows when you have checked something off and I can change my checklist for the conditions (i.e. a weight and balance change, entering the freezing levels, or anything else relevant).  I gave up on Flightprep after using this app for a while because the touchscreen interface with Flightprep sucked. 

Also, the company is located right here in the Great State of Texas so I am extra partial to Flightprep.  If you have an R model a guy also has the POH on the Iphone App store (but I think the app is really not all that helpful except you can do a weight and balance calculation easily).

[Chris White ex-N205KD]

Point your iPhone browser to aviation.mobi.  Great weather and airport info for $FREE$.

[Parker_Woodruff]

mobilemetar.com

 

It's free and will give you nearby TAFs.

[GeorgePerry]

I'll echo the ForeFlight remarks.  Good app with tons of versitility.  The ForeFlight customer servcie is VERY responsive and the application is getting better with every update.

Only problem is it sucks up bandwidth, so if you are not in a 3G area or have wifi, it's functionality is spotty.  Not a ForeFlight issue as much as the AT&T 3G coverage area (or lack there of)

Well worth the money...I'd get it again in a minute.

[dlthig]

AOPA Directory is good.  Aeroweather is a good free app as well.  I was reading something the other day and it sent me to www.pdfplates.com.  I looked at it on the PC and it has a mobile app as well.

[Gone]

I use aeroweather as well.  Great app. 

Thanks to the folks who suggested the GoodReader - pdfplates combo.  Also works great.  Not while flying an approach mind you, but good enough for initial flight planning.

 

 

[Greg Ellis]

I use Pilot WizPro, aeroweather, Checklist Lite, Aopa's airport directory.  Flight Aware has a live tracking app for the i-Phone.  I also use www.Fltplan.com/iphone.htm to file flight plans.

 

[rob]

Is anyone using WingX? It appears to be a multi-platform competitor for ForeFlight. It's got a moving map, though I'm not sure how well it'll work on the iPhone's GPS which requires cellular-assist.

[Jeff_S]

I'll add my kudos to ForeFlight as well.  It it my primary app for quick pre-flight briefings and "in flight" briefings during a fuel stop.  As someone noted above, if you land in a remote area that isn't covered by 3G the app gets a bit sluggish, but everything still generally works.  And you can file IFR right from phone with a departure as short as 15 minutes from the actual time. I ran into this last weekend while I was in rural Florida (54J) trying to get home to Atlanta. I had logged into DUAT on their computer and tried to file, but since I wanted to get out immediately it wouldn't let me (30 minute delay needed). So I just filed from the iPhone and it worked fine.

Another app I use a lot is CoPilot. This is useful for planning legs and has backup GPS functions to help navigate in a worst case scenario, but what I really use it for is W/B planning. I have all my stats filed in so all I need to add is fuel, passenger and luggage weight and it shows the envelope.

[Gone]

Jeez!!

I forgot all about CoPilot. 

Better app on an iPhone than it ever was on a Palm Pilot/Treo.  Its author also serves as the Treasurer of the Rockcliffe Flying Club (CYRO).  Quite a few club members now have the iPhone with it loaded.  The only dowside is that Laurie prefers his Cherokee 180 to a Mooney.

Usual Disclaimer:  I did not stay in a Holiday Inn last night, but I do know Laurie Davis, and I hope he continues to maintain that app.

 

[FlyDave]

I use Cell Wx at

http://206.183.1.150

It's simple and text driven so it's fairly fast.

[fantom]

How about GOOD aviation apps for a Black Berry?

[RobertoTohme]

Quote: fantom

How about GOOD aviation apps for a Black Berry?

[Immelman]

I was impressed with PilotWiz (or whiz?) which was free. It gave metars/tafs well enough, a whole bunch of e6b calcs (most of which I do not use), but the absolute best feature is weight and balance.

If you take the time to setup the envelope of your airplane the W&B is excellent, showing you visually where you are with the envelope at takeoff, predicted landing, and zero fuel. Again, its free.

[GeorgePerry]

Good engine power app and its free

http://appshopper.com/reference/io-360-power-calculator

[GeorgePerry]

Yea I did cross referrence against my POH...and there were some differences.  With that said, the % power numbers in the POH of an older Mooney such as mine are probably good guesses (at best) based on the technology back in the mid 70's.

I don't use it for inflight calculations, but as a referrence for flight planning fuel burn #'s which is it pretty close too.

[Magnum]

I cross-checked some settings and found out, that in the POH they have the MP for economy power setting (still some variation).

If you interpolate the POH settings, you'll need more than 30" to get 100% power ('87 M20J 205), which doesn't make sense.

Between economy and best power mixture setting are approx. 3-4% HP, so it seems they decided to use the economy settings to make out Mooneys a bit faster :-)

[Jeff_S]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread just to give people who may still be looking for iPhone/iPad apps a feel for how awesome ForeFlight is (IMHO, of course). Today was an exercise in the type of flexibility that this app provides when plans need to change.

I went out to the airport expecting an easy VFR day and short hop to get some gas and stretch the engine's legs. From the time of my weather briefing to the time I turned over the engine, a low cloud deck and haze had set in unexpectedly on my route. I didn't even realize this until I called Tower to get a VFR departure and got the icy response "the airport is IFR right now." Whoops (I said to myself, sheepishly...it moved in really fast!).

I quickly opened ForeFlight on the iPhone and filed an IFR flight plan to my gas stop, and in less than 4 minutes called back to Tower who had already received my plan and gave me my IFR clearance. And I needed it, too, as the cloud deck in fact extended past my destination and I had to fly an RNAV to get in. ForeFlight on the iPad came in quite handy to help me pick which of the two approaches was best given my general location, and the iPad makes a wonderful full-size plate reader to keep it handy.

Same thing getting home. File via ForeFlight on the iPhone, call in less than 5 minutes to Approach who already had my clearance, take off and head home. I have to admit, I haven't actually called Flight Service in probably two years, and yes, FF gives all the weather and briefing info you need as well to be legal and safe (briefings come from DUATS and are delivered right to the phone).

People who use ForeFlight will read this and say "yeah, I already know this" but if you haven't tried it yet, and you have an iPhone or iPad, I highly recommend it. And no, this isn't a paid blog post!

[HopePilot]

For Apps I'm currently using:  AeroWeather, IO360, WeatherLCD and for games, FlightControl.

In my browser I use NavMonster and Fltplan.com

I'm watching: iHud (if they make it work for iPhone 4), and SkyRadar (curious about the ADS-B receiver).

[PTK]

Take a look at Skycharts.  I used Foreflight and Skycharts side by side.  I got rid of Foreflight and kept Skycharts!  I think it is very powerful and easy to use, Very user friendly.  Common tasks are very easy and quick to accomplish.  Absolutely the best iPhone app I have used.

The best way to decide what's best for you is to use the products. They all have some kind of free trial.

[fantom]

When on a long IFR cross country, does either Skycharts, or ForeFlight scroll the enroute chart with your current location?

[KLRDMD]

Quote: allsmiles

Take a look at Skycharts.  I used Foreflight and Skycharts side by side.  I got rid of Foreflight and kept Skycharts! 

[KLRDMD]

Quote: fantom

When on a long IFR cross country, does either Skycharts, or ForeFlight scroll the enroute chart with your current location?

[fantom]

Quote: JimR