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iPad Option For Cellular - A Comment

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David Paule

Well Known Member
Last week I took a brief trip using the 1st gen iPad and WingX with me. My iPad is the kind with cellular and GPS.

With WingX running the whole time, I found that WingX autonomously downloads current weather data and has that available. That was great, being able to see the extent of some thunderstorms which I had to detour around. Plus I had winds aloft, to help me choose the cruising altitude.

That's why I'm writing this - no special weather data subscription needed, no special equipment needed. Turn the iPad on and go.

It's been correctly observed that you don't need a cellular data plan to get the benefits of the built-in GPS. You can turn it on or off if you wish, such as if you have wi-fi and want to minimize cellular data usage. In my case, I do have a data plan and had the cellular connection on during the flight. I seemed to have excellent cellular connectivity the entire time, at altitudes up to 10,500 feet MSL. Ground elevations were 3k to 7k roughly.

For the record, the iPad maintained GPS throughout the seven hour flight.

Dave
 
I've noticed that I have cell connection with my iPhone 4 and 5, AGL 2000-3000 feet. I have an app (Glympse) that sends my location to my wife, lets her know where I am. Doesn't affect instruments in the plane, and as AT&T doesn't complain neither will I.
 
It seems like Glympse might be an incredibly useful (and somewhat frightening) free App. Download and configuration were simple, but I haven't tested it much yet. It does what it says when I'm sitting in my living room.

Some of my flights are over pretty desolate streches, and I can't even get a text to go out, so I have pretty low expectations on tracking in those areas.

I'll try and stress test it next weekend.
 
From Vlad's various trip reports and personal experience, the keys to using a cellular days service while flying is the AGL and the number of available cell towers. I tend to fly in excess of 6000' AGL and could not rely on having cellular data.

YMMV.
 
I "hear" it works on my iPhone 5 also. However, I think that would be illegal. But it beats activating the iPad mini for short flights. Depends a lot on altitude and distance from towers (swamps etc) :D
 
David Paule said:
Last week I took a brief trip using the 1st gen iPad and WingX with me. My iPad is the kind with cellular and GPS.

With WingX running the whole time, I found that WingX autonomously downloads current weather data and has that available. That was great, being able to see the extent of some thunderstorms which I had to detour around. Plus I had winds aloft, to help me choose the cruising altitude.

That's why I'm writing this - no special weather data subscription needed, no special equipment needed. Turn the iPad on and go.

It's been correctly observed that you don't need a cellular data plan to get the benefits of the built-in GPS. You can turn it on or off if you wish, such as if you have wi-fi and want to minimize cellular data usage. In my case, I do have a data plan and had the cellular connection on during the flight. I seemed to have excellent cellular connectivity the entire time, at altitudes up to 10,500 feet MSL. Ground elevations were 3k to 7k roughly.

For the record, the iPad maintained GPS throughout the seven hour flight.

Dave
Click to expand...

But you are PAYING for cellular DATA so you still have a FEE to pay to get something some of the time.

Having over 1,000 hours of X/C time, I can tell you that there are more times that you will not have cell data service than you will.

ADS-B Wx service in the SW at 9,500 and 10,500 is also not available everywhere even though the ADS-B map shows that it is. (or at least that is my experience)
 
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