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iPad in the Cockpit, G3X etc. HELP

Bluelabel

Well Known Member
I need some input and wisdom from people actually flying with newer glass cockpit panels, G3X Touch, G3X, Dynon, AFS etc....

My panel is at Stein and we ran into a last minute snafu. Some things need to get moved around. We are doing Dual 10" G3X Touch, GTN 650, and GRT Mini as backup efis.
I had planned on having an iPad mini on the far right. We have a solution but I'm debating if it's worth it.

I've only flown a little behind a G1000. I normally rent older planes and really like using my iPad mini(of course). My thinking was the iPad allows me to keep the use of foreflight, and easily access any other new technology as it comes down the road, as well as have yet another redundant back up nav system( it would be linked to a Stratus).

Here's the big question, those of you out there flying with these newer panels, do you miss iPad? Do you have one? Do you wish you had one? Or am I just going to go through a lot of trouble for something that in the end I won't really need and won't miss.
Input please..... I have to make some decisions in the next couple days......
Thanks in advance.....
 
Here's the big question, those of you out there flying with these newer panels, do you miss iPad? Do you have one? Do you wish you had one? Or am I just going to go through a lot of trouble for something that in the end I won't really need and won't miss.
Input please..... I have to make some decisions in the next couple days......
Thanks in advance.....

We have an iPad that my wife carries----not mounted in the panel. Also have Stratus 2 for it.

I have found the iPad to be in the "nice, but not necessary" category. If flying alone, I usually just set it in the seat next to me, and rarely even look at it.

I use the iPad for flight planning prior to the flight, but I use the EFIS while flying----------Also, there is a stand alone GPS moving map on the right side that my wife uses most of the time.

Since the photo below was taken, I have replaced the old GRT units with bigger/brighter hi-res ones.

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I have a dual screen G3X Touch and a GTN 650 and can honestly say that I don't miss a portable tablet at all in the cockpit while in flight.

They sure are nice on the ground for pre-flight planning however!

I would save the panel space for something else....
 
I have a dual screen G3X Touch and a GTN 650 and can honestly say that I don't miss a portable tablet at all in the cockpit while in flight.

They sure are nice on the ground for pre-flight planning however!

I would save the panel space for something else....

I have the non touch but Agree 100% with Brian.
 
I wouldn't bother having a permanent mount for it built into the panel, but I'd certainly always have it with me. There's too much aeronautical data and other info on it which I can't get from a permanent panel mount source. Personally I use it on a kneeboard to go from A to B. For local flights in the vicinity of my home airport I don't particularly need it but normally carry it anyway.

Even our heavy jets in my day job with triple IRS and 6 multi-function displays require at least one operating iPad to dispatch and we require them for reference inflight because they replace the paper charts. We each have individual company ones. Obviously they don't mount in the panel, but on the side window sill. :)
 
I have flown in planes with a permanently mounted ipad and without. Personally, especially in a -10, I like to keep the iPad on my lap. I use it extensively in flight, but with the plane on auto pilot, which it usually is, I like to hold it in one hand and look at details and tap, zoom, pan with the other. I think he iPad gives the quickest access to most details used for weather, approaches, sectionals, en route charts, etc. having it close to my hands is the best IMHO. Also, I wear sunglasses that see the panel mounted screens well, but sometimes make it harder to see the iPad screen. Holding it in my hand allows me to see it below my sunglasses lenses without taking them off.
 
Here's the big question, those of you out there flying with these newer panels, do you miss iPad?
No!;)
Do you have one?
Yes!:)
Do you wish you had one?
Only if everything stops working on the panel!:p
Or am I just going to go through a lot of trouble for something that in the end I won't really need and won't miss.
This depends on your personality!:eek:
 
Another vote for not panel mounting your iPad. I have an 8" Samsung Galaxy Tab and usually lay it in the copilot's seat or between the seats on the tunnel. I have a dual-screen G3X and GTN 650 and also don't use the Tab for inflight Nav functions. It's my backup for charts. What I do use it for is to look ahead on charts as is way easier to do that on the tab than on the MFD or to look up airport info, etc. I also use it to brief my approaches although I'll actually fly them off the geo-referenced plate on the MFD.
.
 
2 G3X touch (10in) 650 lots of IFR and I never even pull the iPad out in flight.
I do use the iPad with Garmin pilot for preflight and flight plan filing though.
 
2 G3X touch (10in) 650 lots of IFR and I never even pull the iPad out in flight.
I do use the iPad with Garmin pilot for preflight and flight plan filing though.

Same here. Use my iPad all the time out of the cockpit. Almost never remove it from my flight bag in the cockpit. Really the only time I use it in flight is if I'm planning on hitting an unexpected stop, I like to look at the AFD. My Skyview has most of the same info, but I just like looking at the actual AFD.
 
There is now way that you will pull it out of the bag with the panel you are building. You will already have that info on the efis.
I use one for flight planning but it stays in the flight bag during flight. In two years it has not come out of the bag. When I flew a c172 I kept it on my lap.
 
I have a pocket for the iPad, but it never leaves it. With G3X and GTN650....the iPad is superfluous....after you learn how to use your panel of course. I do love the iPad and foreflight in my -8, but the panel is just too good to need it.
 
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In my RV-8A, the cockpit is so bright that I find the iPad almost unusable. When I'm PNF in someone else's plane that doesn't have a bubble canopy, I use the iPad (iPhone 6+ now,) to support the PF (but mostly to mess around.) When I finally get my plane back in the air, it will have 2 G3X'es so I don't really see the need to use the iPad/iPhone at all in flight. I've also let my ForeFlight subscription lapse in favor of Garmin Pilot for planning and emergency backup.
 
Thanks Guys

Thanks for all the input
Once again. Valuable input and it brought to light some things I hadn't thought about.
Nothing like hearing it straight from the people out there doing it.
 
Another thought..

Sorry, I just got in on this topic. We are putting together a G3x, system with a 10.6" touch. We have friends that use their I-pads and like to have them as back-ups and planning tools, but yes they seam to be left on the side line if the flight goes as planned. We have been looking at this same idea of putting an I-pad Minnie in the set-up or flight bag, but. We found these new I-phone 6 pluses. We are now looking at changing the game plan. The plan would be to up-date to the I-phone 6 plus and skip the Minnie pad. Most people have I-phones now days and having both a Minnie and the phone just doubles your up-front cost. If you can get the use you need out of the one item, you may be money ahead and you need the phone anyway. Just food for thought. Yours as always.. R.E.A. III #80888
 
I have a slightly different take on the issue. I have a single G3X touch and a GRT Mini-X both on my side of the panel. I also use my iPad mini frequently when in IFR flight. One of my very few gripes about the G3X is that when in split screen mode you can not adjust the course (CDI) so you are pretty much forced to fly in fullscreen mode most of the time. Anything on the right side of the panel is too far away for me to see details so I keep my iPad mini on a Ram mount just above my left knee (actually attached to the vertical cap on the spar uprights). Here I can load approach plates, check lists, charts, maps, runway information, whatever and have it easily available. I don't like it on my left knee because it requires too much head movement (which causes disorientation in IMC) and it tends to interfere with my stick movement (minimal). I do have a notepad on my kneeboard on the right knee (for taking notes) so space on my lap is limited.

In VFR flight I rarely use my iPad as everything I need is on the EFIS.

Just my two cents....
 
Hello Darin,

Just one small correction to your post. You certainly can adjust the HSI course selection on your GDU 46x display when it is in split-screen mode - simply touch the CRS data field.

- Matt
 
With the form factor of iPads, tablets, and phones changing every couple years, I would not want to "dock" my device in the panel with a permanent or semi-permanent mount. Technology is changing too fast. In a few years, there will be another form factor to deal with.

In my RV-10, I have the AeroSport center console, with just a few switches. This leaves me with a great place for a suction cup RAM mount for my iPad mini. This gives me good flexibility to have it mounted, but not permanently.

I use the iPad mini coupled with the GDL-39. I use the Garmin Pilot software for approach plates or for weather (it's faster than trying to do it through the G3X (non-touch). The traffic page in Garmin Pilot is probably better than the G3X, as I can select a target on the iPad, see the heading, pressure altitude, and closure rate.
 
What I think is irrelevant.

You need to ask yourself; what does the I pad do that you need "in flight"?
What does the I pad do that the" in panel" systems do not do?

You need to answer these questions in the context of your personal flying habits, needs, wants, and desires.

You have a lot of stuff in the panel and becoming proficient in its use during IMC is a difficult task to begin with and requires frequent recurrent training and use.

Throw in the added mental tasking of an I pad on top of a G3X GTN 650 and your backup EFIS, while doing 160 knots in turbulence, and you could suffer mental overload at the worst possible moment.

You can have too much of a good thing. During high mental workloads there is a lot to be said for keeping it simple.
 
I have dual G3X, agree with others. I do keep my ipad mini handy for one main reason: Garmin Pilot on the ipad makes it easy to find a frequency for an enroute airport - I like to check ATIS/AWOS enroute and if I have an active waypoint I haven't found an easy way to get a freq for an airport on G3X that's not a waypoint. (If I'm missing something please tell me).

Garmin pilot lets me touch an airport or other waypoint (including airspace) and get more information including frequencies)
 
Hello Turner,

You can also touch an airport on the Map or Chart page of your G3X Touch display, then touch the airport name at the bottom of the screen to access tons of information from the navigation database - including communication frequencies. Try it sometime!

By the way, this is described in detail under "Map Panning" in the G3X Touch Pilot's guide.

- Matt
 
Hi, follow up questoion. I have been flying with foreflight for a whiel now and like it very much, however the new capability of garmin piolt that provides for uploading flight plans sound inviting and I'm thinking about switching, any thoughts on the pros cons ot the two would be very heilpful


Steve
 
Hi, follow up questoion. I have been flying with foreflight for a whiel now and like it very much, however the new capability of garmin piolt that provides for uploading flight plans sound inviting and I'm thinking about switching, any thoughts on the pros cons ot the two would be very heilpful


Steve
Steve this is called thread drift. Consider starting a new thread on this subject so in the future people can use the search function to more easily find this subject.:)
 
Hello Turner,

You can also touch an airport on the Map or Chart page of your G3X Touch display, then touch the airport name at the bottom of the screen to access tons of information from the navigation database - including communication frequencies. Try it sometime!

By the way, this is described in detail under "Map Panning" in the G3X Touch Pilot's guide.

- Matt

Thanks Matt - sounds like what I've been looking for. The pilot's guide is great but it's like a textbook - so much information that it's hard to recall the one little thing you need when flying. I learn a few things every time I fly.

I still like having the ipad mini in the cockpit, and I keep a backup gps source as well (bad elf) - a bit of overkill considering I'm a blue sky pilot these days...f
 
I have a 3 screen g3x and find myself rarely needing the iPad except when shooting and approach and only as backup
 
Hello Darin,

Just one small correction to your post. You certainly can adjust the HSI course selection on your GDU 46x display when it is in split-screen mode - simply touch the CRS data field.

- Matt

Thanks yet again Matt. I do that with the Baro minimums, not sure why I didn't think to do it with the course....

Darin
 
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