Sport Pilot Talk

It's not a new idea! I have a friend with a homebuilt that had his sole glass panel unit removed from his airplane for repair. No back up airspeed or altimeter. He decided to go fly with his Ipad. He is lucky he has a lot of time flying the airplane otherwise he would have spun in from letting his airspeed get to low. His pitch attitude didn't look right and it didn't feel right. He said never again. I know it's not the same as what your doing, but he almost killed himself and a passenger trying to use the speed off the Ipad. By the way it was using the Ipad for speed setting up for landing that got him in trouble.

I agree. .10 of a second glance at the Ipad for the 3x landings I did with it on a calm day.
I'll just train myself to glance at the speedometer that FD put in AFTER I feel that I am ready to flare. If I am still above 45 then I'll let her fly a little more.
Simple enough.
As everything has been said and done, I shall take my Request to be Notified when a new post comes along.
I'm leaving this post and might very well take a nap now.

Once you start to raise the nose from your final approach it's more about how it feels and looks and not about what the A/S says. Head outside the airplane and practice and you'll get it down.

Amazing interview about your time serving on the USSYORKTOWN Dan!
What a lifetime experience!!

http://aspecialdayguide.com/interview_w ... ngress.htm

I do believe that both the FCC and FAA ban the use of wireless devices on airplanes. That would include using an iPad (unless in "airplane mode") since it operates on the cellular network:

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/wireless-devices-airplanes

The problem is that the wireless device while airborne has line-of-sight to multiple cellular communication towers. This creates problems for the network as the device establishes connections with more than one tower.

I would recommend that the orginal poster delete his self-incriminating posts before the FCC receives a complaint.

Most tablets/phones disable the GPS in airplane mode. All the FCC requires is that the cellular function is disabled.

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dave

Gerald, that rule applies to Parts 121 and 135. Most.of us operate under Part 91, so yes, the iPad is legal in flight. I would still recommending turning off 3G or 4G in flight, but GPS is fine.

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The opinions expressed in this post are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the position of the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof. H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, LSRM-A/GL/WS
AvSport of Lock Haven
http://AvSport.org fly@AvSport.org

The iPad is a wonderful tool for the cockpit. It has made my flying so much easier and safer. No longer do I have 3 feet of map spread across the cockpit or have to pull out the reading glasses to look up an airport in the book.

However using the ground speed from an iPad or any other GPS based device to get your airspeed is a recipe for disaster.

I have flown into a 20 kt headwind into KAUS on a number of times and 30 kts on an occasion. Plus those numbers change constantly. But more scary is that on at least 10 occasions I have had to land into that airport down winds and 10 knts of downwind could have put me well into stall territory at 30 feet above the ground. Plus I have come into uncontrolled airports when the active runway has been downwind. So to work the pattern and not kill anybody I had to do downwind landings.

I haven't read all the responses but using GPS ground speed for airspeed is a foolish game that will bite you in the ass.

Theo

Also you can disable the 3G/4G on the iPad selectivly and that is a wise move as above 2500 AGl cell signals are not that good and when your device keeps searching for a tower it just uses battery power. Deactivating the cell will give you extra hours of power.

The FCC rule applies to everybody, you can't use a cellular device airborne.

Now if you have a GPS antenna that would be fine. I was under the impression the iPad was being used with the built-in location services, which uses the cellular tower network.

Those iPads that are cellular capable have a fully functional GPS. This GPS will use cell tower data to get faster lockons, but will still work with the cellular data radio disabled.

Those with wifi only iPads will need an external GPS. There are number of inexpensive bluetooth GPS units that will provide GPS location data to the iPad for apps like ForeFlight.

In general the external GPS units support WAAS and faster operation than the iPad built in GPS.

Jim is correct.
As I said before you can turn off the cell function of the iPad and the GPS still works. I do not need to a seperate antenna to get good GPS readings from the iPad in the Remos, 172 or 152.
So that would make it FAA compliant.

Just get in the aircraft, get a current weather update and pull down the latest weather graphics, turn off Cell connection and then go flying. Its pretty easy.

One issue I do have with the iPad is altitude. The readings I get are generally plus or minus 60 feet somtimes more but rarely less. It is also slow to update altitude.
Some guys say they use the iPad for precission approaches. I would not.
Nor will I use its GPS to determine airspeed on final. After I cross the threashold I don't look at anything but the picture.

However I have been told that the iPad can bluetooth into some Glass cockpits, which if possible would give a person the chance to get airspeed on the iPad.

Bluetooth can be a little buggy... still it would be way cool to have the Glass Panel calibrated accurate numbers fed into the iPad!!

Anybody know more about Bluetooth Data Out to iPad from the glass panel (manufacturers, models, etc)?