Autopilot and Foreflight

Hello all,

Contemplating putting an autopilot in my -4. Does anyone know of an autopilot that will follow a Foreflight course? With the lighting port being the only connection to the IPad, I suspect there is no way to get the data to the autopilot.

Thanks

ZemsRV4 said:

Hello all, Contemplating putting an autopilot in my -4. Does anyone know of an autopilot that will follow a Foreflight course? With the lighting port being the only connection to the IPad, I suspect there is no way to get the data to the autopilot. Thanks

Click to expand...

That is a great question. The work around is have another GPS that has the output accepted by the autopilot and use foreflight as a reference. Autopilots typically accept a NMEA standard protocol for steering. You will want to nail down what autopilot you are going to use first.

There are apps and cables to get iPad I/O from your iPad. If it is possible to get autopilot serial protocol from foreflight, it might take some hacking and serial conversation. To go point to point any old GPS can do that, even some handhelds with a caveat; some handheld GPS don't have the proper output for autopilots (intentionally disabled or use an odd ball protocol).

Doubt you will be using an old analog autopilot, but for the record older AP's on accept a +/- steer signal (from a VOR/LOC). I just sold my "Smart Coupler II" which took handheld GPS NMEA serial output to left/right (+/-) steer signal for older analog autopilots, that only accepted analog input (NavAid AP-1).

I'd call foreflight and ask them if they produce NMEA autopilot protocol. Clearly foreflight has the position and track info. The question is will foreflight produce the autopilot steer data including roll, heading rate, intercept. If not maybe if enough people request it they will add it.

Here are some links that might help (previous VAF thread on this subject):
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=145463 see Post #4
https://trutrakflightsystems.com/pages/faq
https://www.trioavionics.com/frequent_questions.htm