Foreflight with iPad mini sans ADS-B

[Dennis]

I've been flying for several hours in my Skycatcher with my iPad Retina mini loaded with Foreflight. I do not have the ADS-B (Stratus). I'd like to share my experiences with this combination.

iPad Retina mini:
I have the model with cell tower access. This is important because it has a very accurate GPS chip in it, a feature not found in the WiFi only models. The altitude and position information displayed agrees with the Garmin G300 displays.

I have riveted a fixture to hold the Garmin RAM Mount TAB-TITE Universal Clamping Cradle out of 0.030 6061 T6 aluminum. The major support is off of the left door air shock. A secondary support is a glare shield screw. The iPad is located to the left and slightly above of the Garmin primary display. It is positioned so that I can glance at it without disturbing my traffic scan. I operate the mini at maximum screen brightness during the day.

ForeFlight:
I was suprised to learn that ForeFlight provides weather radar, NOTAMs, airport surface winds and a whole host of in-flight useful data. All without ADS-B. My flights to date have been at 5500 feet or below in Illinois and Wisconsin. I loaned the unit to my neighbor who flew to Michigan at 14,500 feet in his Bonanza. He reported that he lost weather data but all other tracking and flight information was available.

I recently got an upgrade to ForeFlight and appreciate the user friendliness. When I plan a trip, I click the little suitcase icon and it "packs" everything I'll need for the trip -- maps, NOTAMS, airport info, etc.

Today at KDKB when I landed the display automatically reverted to airport view, showing runways and taxiways. Great for avoiding runway incursions!

When I took off it automatically reverted to the sectional display. I was circling Casa de Aero (68IS) at 3500 feet and it brought up the preferred routing for jets going into O'Hare at 4500 feet above me. Very nice.

Summary:
I am very happy with the ForeFight/iPad mini combination and believe it will both relieve my cockpit workload and enhance safety. I think I will add the Stratus ADS-B so I will have weather at all altitudes. I guess the traffic advisories would be useful too. I invite comments from other ForeFlight users and interested pilots.

Fly safely and often.

Dennis Persyk Skycatcher N900DP Based Casa de Aero Airpark 68IS

[newamiga]

I use my mini and a combination of Foreflight and the Jepp VFR app as a secondary flight display. I use a panel mounted Garmin 796 as my primary and it does a great job. It is nice however to use the iPad as a what if tool and backup moving map to the 796. My only complaint is the battery life seems to be an issue with the Jepp app. Foreflight drains it too but not as badly as the Jepp app does. I fly with the iPad on my kneeboard. It works well except when the sun is directly on it.

Carl

[MrMorden]

I use Garmin Pilot on a full-sized iPad 3, and have had good experiences. I previously used ForeFlight, but switched to GP primarily for the vector maps, which are much more readable and contain all the info you need for VFR flying. The one time I tried I was not able to get data in the air at even fairly low altitudes, but I'm sure a lot of that depends on location and the density of mobile towers below you.

I plan to pick up a GDL-39 3D to get ADS-B weather and (probably useless) traffic with my setup. A recent trip back from Florida with marginal weather highlighted the usefulness of having some form of in-flight weather. I'm going to wait until Oshkosh to see if there is a new product coming out or if the GDL-39 will be on sale at the show.

[AJChenMPH]

My CFI uses Foreflight and likes it a lot.

I'm running FlyQ on my iPad 3 and have it paired with a Dual XGPS170 ADS-B receiver. Have it strapped to my leg as a kneeboard and use it as backup instrumentation, as well as all the other features that's built into FlyQ, including SVT...like it a lot.

[CTLSi]

......

[MovingOn]

.......

[Jack Tyler]

Generalizing about the utility of ADS-B and/or traffic can be unintentionally misleading to others, as much depends on where and how a person flies.
-- a good example of how traffic can be helpful is a normal run we make from Jacksonville, FL (up in FL's NE corner adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean) due south. A 100 mile x 40 mile region surrounding Daytona is jammed full of training aircraft performing a wide variety of practice drills and simulations, on various headings and absent altitude compliance. Many appear to have pilot & instructor heads buried deep inside their cockpits. I do feel much safer there with traffic info. Altho' we routinely use flight following, there's no way those busy controllers can see everything simultaneously. OTOH when departing Jax to the SW-W-NW, it always proves to be of little value.
-- a half-hour or hour flight on a fine weather day isn't going to make one revel at the magic of having NEXRAD radar in the cockpit. OTOH while trying to navigate around the state of Florida in the summer-time with our Boomers, it's extremely helpful and has far more utility than the HIWAS broadcasts and in-flight Flight Service briefings. Another benefit of on-board wx comes with living in the Midwest or other windy areas, as you have a chance to monitor the developing wind patterns at one's destination well before getting within ATIS/AWOS range. You may find a decent fuel price on an airport with multiple runways (and so less cross-wind component) is behind you by the time you're picking up the destination airport's wx broadcast.
-- whether you normally work with a Center or an Approach facility - and which facility - or whether you fly without flight following will also shape how much you value having onboard wx. Keep in mind the age of the ASRS and ASR radars used by these facilities respectively spans decades, and so their ability to offer radar wx info to the controller varies greatly. You only have to fly in the Southeast during summer once or twice to hear the panicky voices coming from some aircraft when they're trying to pry more reduced viz/rain/convection info from a controller than the controller can offer.
-- if you fly longer distances and therefore have to digest the area forecast data offered in a text brief, I think you'll welcome the SIGMET/AIRMET overlays as much as the NEXRAD displays. But for those who do local joyriding, updating of these overlays won't mean a thing.

We just got back from a FL - MT - MN - FL run, perhaps 4,000 NM or so. We were pleased to see that ADS-B really is 'turned on' now out West. Mountains can still prevent station reception on occasion, so it isn't always 100% available on every flight...but you normally don't need it to be to have the larger wx picture relevant to your day's flight lasting several hours. And as promised, the near-area NEXRAD display routinely updates about every 6 mins, while the national display updates about half that often. For the kind of flying we do, we wouldn't be without an ADS-B receiver - in our case, a Stratus II + Foreflight Pro (mostly for the geo-referenced approach plates). But for friends we visited out in Montana, some of them don't even have an electrical system and their kind of flying wouldn't benefit from these gizmos whatsoever.