How many menus is user specific, not app specific. In flight with ForeFlight, as with WingX, everything I use is accessible from the map page, although I prefer the full screen airport information page as opposed to the pop up window to brief my destination. And even that is accessible without leaving the map. That's pretty much true with most of the EFBs I'm familiar with.
Not yet. Like I said, trying to cash flow the in-panel stuff, so every single dollar counts right at the moment. Ha. There’s money in savings for it, but I’m living like I’m broke for the next couple of months to finish off building a separate pile of cash for the avionics shop. The trucks breaking wasn’t in the plan, but no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. LOL. I stopped shopping for Android tablets and got my butt to work. ;-) I can’t decide if I like “simple” or “horribly cluttered but all available”. Usually simple works for me, but like @midlifeflyer said, once you get used to how to get to anything from the map screen, you miss it a little on other simpler interfaces. That said, FF on iOS 11 and a Mini 2 is starting to become painful. It’s getting bloated and the hardware isn’t getting any faster.
@denverpilot I thought most EFB charts were free, no? Must be the fancy charts? Does foreflight charge you for these?: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/digital_products/vfr/ https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/digital_products/ifr/
I have used pretty much everything on the market and my current favorite is AeroVie. It is the "up and coming app" I believe that does weather better than any other. I really like it and use it most often (and have most of the apps loaded on my iPad).
I almost always use Aerovie for IFR preplanning if the weather us at all iffy. I'd definitely put it in my shortlist if I was starting out or still relatively new in the iPad EFB world.
No. They don't charge extra for those. The extra charge is for alternative maps and enhancements they created.
This thread has convinced me to continue using fltplngo instead of shelling out money for Foreflight.. just can’t justify the huge price tag of Foreflight. Love FltPlan.com too.. got my weight and balance figured out perfectly. Just wish the nav logs it produces were a little more visually appealing..
Just as others will be equally happy shelling out the cost of a little more than an hour of flight to get the features and flow they want.
Fltplan Go just released Garmin FlightStream support. Game changer in my book. If you have not used the app you don't know what you are missing. And the app is FREE.
Two reasons - first, the Jepp EFB software stinks (as did its futile attempt at VFR charts a few years ago...remember that one?). Second is the one you cited - corporate accounts. When you think about it, these are really a single reason. I've flown commercially (in cabin) next to charter & company pilots, all of us with our iPads out. They're required to use Jepp and hate it. Most of them have WingX and/or FF installed along with Jepp (if allowed).
Which is the basic premise for the concept of MVC for cross-platform development. The front-end doesn't change and doesn't care about the back-end. I've written far too much software that is required to be cross-platform and the #1 requirement is don't get locked into the OS. There are definite performance advantages to integrate into the OS, but if you need that type of performance (sorry, I don't consider any EFB for GA to need that type of performance) then you go with a dedicated system (e.g. satellite systems). Can't even remember anymore how many DALs (data access layers) I've written (and two of 'em while I was at Jeppesen) so that the user interface didn't care what the back-end OS and database systems were (mix & match to your heart's content). I was delighted to see the first step with WingX a few years ago at OSH, but it's still struggling to match the iPad version. Part, if not all, of this is the closed nature of iOS and the free-for-all concept of Android. [sidebar - anyone notice that the MS Surface is pretty much left out of the loop on just about everything aviation?] Oddly enough, I think it's easier to write for Android (Java) than anything Mac (Swift or the next absurdity Apple invents). But then I have a couple decades of Java development. Looked at Swift then deleted it. When someone pays me to develop in Swift, then I'll go learn it.
IFlyGPS 740b tablet - anyone know what the underlying technology is? A variation of linux or did they invent their own? I'm thinking of the Stratux approach - software app but you can still get into the Linux command line if you need to. I took my old RPi2 from the original Stratux release and turned it into a teaching tool. Some of my students can't afford $500 or more for a laptop, but $50 for the Pi (includes case & power supply), $15 for a usb keyboard and mouse, and the HDMI cable, they can plug it into a TV and have a perfectly good computer (don't forget the $15 for a decent sized SD card).
If you're willing to go the PDF route, charts are free. What Jepp, FF, and every EFB does is adapt them for specific use within the application for your convenience and added features of the software. Consider Jepp's IFR charts - same data as on the NACO charts but in a different format. I've never understood why some commercial aviation companies require pilots to use Jepp charts (US) vs NACO. Outside the US, of course Jepp is often the only option.
And that's at least a significant part of why. Even "local" carriers like Cape Air (primarily Boston to the Cape and Islands) venture internationally. Uniform training, uniform systems, uniform procedures, is a mainstay of commercial operators.
You got me curious enough to ask. Believe it or not, the 7-series iFly GPS runs on Windows CE. I guess that might partly explain that they have a Windows beta which runs well.
Old joke... I remember when they had Windows CE, Windows ME, and Windows NT. Combined they were Windows CEMENT.
Guess what you get from Jeppesen if you add the Jepp charts to ForeFlight? Those awful VFR charts they did, are still around... and worse... they vectorized it, so things disappear as you zoom out. Got to see it on someone else’s iPad today and went “ewwww.”
