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There is no "realtime" weather when in flight. The only time you can get weather display is when receiving a 3G signal (if you subscribe) or WiFi, and you can't get either in flight. The iPad will display nexrad, clouds, pireps, sigmets/airmets, winds etc but it's not XM weather. XM requires a separate receiver and antenna and it's not interfaced as of yet with the iPad. I'm sure it won't be long before you'll be able to get inflight XM weather on the iPad though.
Ron
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Liegner, MD <liegner@embarqmail.com>
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Sent: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 9:32 am
Subject: [LML] Re: My Friend's iPad experience iin the Cockpit
Can one display realtime XM weather (specifically NEXRAD summary)
on the iPad in flight? I currently do this on AnyWhere
Map.
Jeff
For no additional cost ForeFlight allows
you to load the program on your iPhone too. With those two plus the
696, I'm finally paperless.
Ron
On Jul 5, 2010, at 8:04 PM, John Hafen <j.hafen@comcast.net>
wrote:
I second the iPad report below.
I got the iPad in hopes of having a great
electronic approach plate reader. In that alone, it is worth the
investment, rather than having to do paper updates to 4+ binders of
Jeppesen plates every couple of weeks.
So I'm happy with the iPad and
ForeFlight, just as a plate reader.
The moving map capability is an added
bonus. One can track present position on a VFR Sectional or IFR
enroute chart. If you take a second to key in a route, a little
blue plane flies down that purple route and tracks progress with only
GPS input (Wi-Fi and Cellular data in the iPad "Settings"
turned off before takeoff). In addition to a present position
and moving map (that you can pinch zoom and finger around), you get
Groundspeed, GPS altitude, and Track.
AND, I still (at least for the time
being) carry current PAPER approach plates for key airports along the
route of flight. Just in case.
On the ground with Wi-Fi or Cell Data
access, the weather charts (Satellite, Radar, Flight Rules, Wind,
Visibility, Ceiling, Sky Coverage, Temperature, Dew point spread, and
Lightening) provide a pretty darn good real time supplement to the
info you get from 1800 WX BRIEF.
John Hafen
IVP 413AJ
On Jul 5, 2010, at 5:51 AM, Jeffrey
Liegner, MD wrote:
This is a report from a Malibu pilot
friend...
I got an iPAD about a week and a half
ago. Yesterday was my first experience to use it in the cockpit. I
flew from MMU to Kendall Tamiami. I downloaded the the latest
Foreflight app V3.5.1 and all the sectionals, approach plates, low
altitude charts and high altitude charts for the eastern
seaboard.
I have to admit it was surprising how
well the touch screen interface works to make using the charts easy.
The speed of changing screens also helps as well as the pinch-touch
zoom to allow scaling and moving around the charts. The first
electronic chart reader that actually makes them easier to use
than paper. I have all the same charts on my panel mount Garmin
GMX200. But they are much harder to use because of the smaller
screen(6.5" diag) and the lack of a easy user interface.
The approach plates are almost the
same size as paper so they are easy to use.
I haven't used it to file flight
plans yet but the couple of times I tried to fill out the mandatory
fields I flubbed it up because one of my fingers touched the screen
outside of the virtual keyboard area and the pop up window causing the
window to close without saving the data already entered. Sometimes the
touch screen is too sensitive.
The screen brightness is adequate even
in direct sunlight. The auto brightness stinks. I don't know how Apple
would release a product with auto brightness that works so
poorly.
Some of the other short comings: I
have used Jeppesen approach plates for the last 20 years. They aren't
available yet. I like them much more than the government approach
plates. That is why the pros use them. Jepps says their iPad plates
will be out soon but they will probably cost an arm and a leg compared
to the Foreflight subscription.
The biggest drawback is that the iPad
is on the AT&T network. I subscribed to their data service. The 3G
is available at my house in NJ. But so far only EDGE in Lake Placid
and in Key Largo. I will probably have the same problem in the
Outerbanks and many other places I will go to. So when
traveling I connect it via WiFi to my Verizon 3G to WiFi router
which has my Verizon aircard as the back haul. Like the VISA
commercial, Verizon's 3G service is available everywhere you want to
be.
AT&T's EDGE service I found is
slower than dial up. Its painfully slow.
The moving map works surprisingly well
considering the single channel GPS receiver in it. But in my airplane
you have to hold the iPAD close to the windshield or the side window
to see enough satellites for it to work. If you do place it to have
good views of the
satellites it position and
altitude it agrees very well with my Garmin 430W
Like any cellular device don't expect
its 3G/Edge service to work once you are more than a few thousand feet
up. So you better have everything you need downloaded into it and
don't expect any weather updates in flight.
An important little trick I found
is not to turn airplane mode on. Turning airplane mode on seems to
turn off not only the WiFi and cellular radios but also the GPS
receiver. So I leave airplane mode off and turn off the WiFi and
Cellular receivers from the settings menu to conserve battery
life.
I'm not wetting my pants over it but
the iPAD is a damn good EFB. Beside that it does a number of things
very well such as a book reader. The electronic version of the WSJ is
also surprisingly easy to read on it, as well as many other
apps.
The problem is what happens if it goes
tits up on you. What are you gonna have as a backup? All the same old
paper stuff?
It has already froze up twice on me
twice while installing an app. The equivalent 3 finger windows salute
is to turn it off and reboot it again. Fortunately it does that fairly
quickly.
Feel free to share this
report.
Greg
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