iPad Air / Mount Options RV-6A

Howdy all.....well the time has come at work that I'm required to get an ipad air (which I now have) for use in the airline cockpit which uses the Jepp Approach plate app purchased by the company.

Its the cellular model / 64G , and I would like to use it in the 6A when I fly.

So....what type of mounting options have you 6 / 7 / 9 flyers found to work in your plane? My panel is full, so I'm looking for something off to the side. I was hoping the Mini would be an option, but it was not approved by our company.

Also, your favorite program for sectional charts, weather, etc...(Garmin/Foreflight/etc..)...

Thanks,

Kurt
RV6A, Bozeman, MT

I looked at mounts for my iPad, but in the end decided I liked something a bit more portable since my panel is reasonably complete.

I use an AvPad Kneeboard strapped to my knee, and it works pretty well even with passengers.

I also have a Bison Mountain RV Bag behind each seat - they are awesome

Kurt,

I recently upgraded to the iPad Air from a first-generation iPad. I have a RAM mount off to the right side of the panel. Works really well. I use Foreflight and recently tried a trial version of Garmin Pilot. Both subscriptions came to an end almost simultaneously last week and I had to make a decision about one or the other.

I really liked Garmin Pilot especially since I was able to move the ADS-B traffic from one of the G3X screens to the iPad. It is a much nicer display for traffic than the G3X screen, much larger, higher resolution and much easier to see traffic trend vectors and so on. The problem is, I really prefer Foreflight over all, and wanted to continue with it. It has a few more features and conveniences that the Garmin Pilot app doesn't have yet, maybe it's also my lack of familiarity with it compared to Foreflight. So the Foreflight renewal is $149 with geo-referenced charts, and the Garmin Pilot app would have been an additional $75 without charts, just to be able to get the ADS-B traffic display. I couldn't talk myself into it, at least not so far. It was nice having both of them during the 3-month trial Garmin Pilot app. Of course, Foreflight doesn't support the Garmin GDL-39R ADS-B receiver so I'm stuck with the G3X display for traffic which takes up a screen that could be put to better use.

Yesterday, I finally got the new RAM cradle for the iPad air. I had ordered it back in November when the Air first came out, but it took them this long to develop the new cradle. The Air is quite a bit thinner, lighter and less wide than the old iPad, even though the screen size is the same. It almost seems like the "mini" to me compared to the old one. Of course the "Retina" display is much nicer and it's also quite a bit faster.

Here's a photo of the old RAM mount cradle and the old iPad on my RV-6. I forgot to take a photo of the new cradle this afternoon while I was out at the hangar installing it. I'll do that tomorrow and post it here.

This image quality is not very good but you can see I mounted mine similar to how Pat mounted his. I used a RAM mount. The RAM mount is secured using one of the bolts for the windscreen frame on the passenger side longeron. I discussed this installation in post #6 of this thread:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=102210&highlight=iPad+mount

I used the Ram ball mount

and fastened it to the right side of my 6A tip-up panel -- with the short Ram arm and Ram cradle--, it works great. I can tilt the iPad slightly down to minimize the glare. I did just buy a Mini retina, and mounted it the same way. I use the iFly 720 in the center of the panel, so I have a lot of "glass". I use WingX mostly but have Foreflight and the new iFly iPad software on the iPad --- incidently, the iFly App for the iPad is really good!

Here are the photos of the new RAM cradle and the iPad Air in my RV-6. It's quite a bit smaller than the old iPad and cradle. Also, the cradle has two positions that you attach the arm to; this time I used the outboard position which served to move the iPad further outboard and out of the way. I'm pretty happy with the new setup. I used my flash to try to simulate some brighter light like on a sunny day.



Here's how I attached the cradle:

Ipad mount

An issue we encountered having a fixed mount in a Citations was difficulty moving it enough to avoid direct sunlight.

On my knee has worked best for me.

Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the responses guys......looks like I need to do some mount shopping!!! Excited to try it out....our company will have a perm mount in the 737 and some type of "issued" protective case......do all the ram mounts hold the ipad sans case?

Kurt

kklewin said:

Thanks for the responses guys......looks like I need to do some mount shopping!!! Excited to try it out....our company will have a perm mount in the 737 and some type of "issued" protective case......do all the ram mounts hold the ipad sans case?

Kurt

Click to expand...

You cannot really see it in my pic above, but my Ipad is in a leather case. I did not want to have to continually be removing the Ipad from that case so I used a spring loaded mount that has the top of the mount spring loaded. The RAM-HOL-TAB17U mount is what I used. It raises up with clamps on top and bottom that wrap around the case and the Ipad.

Kurt - Thanks for posting this question Funny thing I just started using my new Ipad Air in my RV6 as well. Logged on at the hotel to see if anyone else had asked the question...I should have guessed another SWA pilot would beat me to it!

Ipad mount

I use a cheap ($15.00) strap mount to my knee. Works great, easy for my old eyes to read, twists to the side of my leg when I want it out of the way but quickly retrievable.