iPad and SkyCharts

The article suggests that you need a Bad Elf to enhance the GPS in the iPad (mine is the 64gb, 3G version). In the glass top we have in our RV-6 the received signal is excellent. Using SkyChartsPro ($20 at the App Store) I've found reliability of the signal to be excellent here in the mid-Atlantic. The TAS, G/S, DTRK and ETA data is all precisely the same as I see on the 430. Tracking airways with the iPad and SkyCharts is absolutely just as precise as with the 430, and a heck of a lot easier to program, too.

Coming out of KIAD this past summer, on an IFR flight plan to KHNV, ATC issued a completely revised clearance just a moment before we were finally cleared to takeoff. After 45 minutes of taxiing, with the oil temp starting to tickle the redline, and 30 or 40 GA airplanes behind us awaiting release, re-programming the 430 just wasn't practical. We simply pulled up the IAD SIDs from within SkyCharts, and programmed, very easily, the first two waypoints on the SID, blasted off and, once the flight plan was entered into it, flew the iPad over the rest of the route. Checked with ATC for confirmation of our track, and we were right on. Used the iPad, with the 430 as backup for the rest of the IFR leg. Worked impeccably.

I don't know how the apps that were mentioned in the article Mr. Pansier posted would compare, but SkyCharts gives you IFR charts, or Sectionals, and Terminal Area Charts, all the SIDs, STARs, and airport charts. All for $20/year. Can't be beat....even has a rudimentary Terrain Warning setup.

The only downsides to the iPad as a nav device is direct sunlight. Going full-bright on the display helps readability quite a bit, but it also tends to heat up the iPad, as does direct sunlight. If the iPad gets too hot, it shuts down until it cools. That can take way too long at 180 KTAS. You need to keep it out of direct sunlight.

The iPad is a terrific overall solution, and not just for navigation. Making a quick fuel stop? Pull up any of the available weather websites to see what's ahead of you, or file a flight plan using DUATS.

You just have to have one...and get SkyChartsPro, too. You'll really be glad you did.

Chip
 
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iPad and SkyCharts

My posting, above, may seem to be saying that the iPad needs something to enhance the GPS signal. Not so. I meant to make clear that the 64gb, 3G, iPad works perfectly without any external device, like Bad Elf.

Chip
 
I don't accept (read back) a clearance that I haven't reviewed end-to-end and understand all segments. We also don't launch (IMC) until all primary and secondary navigation is fully setup. I don't care how many people will have to wait.
We were coming out of Front Range Denver a couple years ago and got a full re-route clearance before departure. It was one of those super complex, way out of the way, clearances. The published DP would have been easier. The controller wanted a readback, but I told him he would have to wait until I consumed what he had just given me. Out came the charts (wish I woulda' had the ipad back then :). It took pilot and copilot almost 10min. to re-plan the flight on the fly, fuel, time, etc., everything changed on the runup pad with this. Be careful not to get in a rush when working in the system IMC.
VFR is a different deal, all you have to do is get cleared to go, put all knobs forward and be sure you have enough fuel to make the nearest airport :).
Sometimes the iPad can be pretty slow to get a gps lock. An external device might help with that, but I don't want to carry around a gps dongle for secondary nav.
 
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