JohnSBA
Pre-takeoff checklist
There's a new free VFR GPS moving map Android app named Avare, and the development team is seeking pilots to try out the app and offer feedback. Avare is open-source, ad-free, and requires only two Permissions: GPS of course for the moving map feature; and SD card access so it can store Sectionals for the contiguous U.S. states (lower 48). It also includes an AF/D, airport diagrams, full functionality in Airplane Mode, and several other features the pilots on the development team wanted. Avare is here on the gPlay store.
In case anyone's curious how I'm involved in Avare (pronounced "ah Vair"): In 2005 or so I met a guy named Zubair who was in our local flying club and he helped get me fired up to finally go for it and get a PPL. Over time we developed a friendship that lasted after I got the Private, after he let his license lapse, and even after his Android phone configuration company relocated to Boston. Last year I got a new Droid X and started this POA thread looking for exactly this app. Small, quick, simple, free, and open-source. When I couldn't find an app like I wanted, I started bugging him to write one. Being way busy with work, and also by then with a young family of four, he kindly and repeatedly refused. A couple of years ago I did manage to get him to do the BFR and start flying again. It was quite a pleasant surprise a few weeks ago when he told me he'd written Avare and asked me to check it out. I was easy to convince!
I liked it so much, I offered to write up some documentation for him, and then this website for Avare and a smaller free app he'd already done: http://apps4av.com/
So anyway, if you have an Android device and would like to help us test out Avare and decide what features to add next, you're invited. Just launch the Play app and install Avare. Note that though Avare is only about 250k the first Install is about 450MB due to the charts, AF/D, etc. So you'll probably want to use WiFi unless you have free data on the device. Once you've checked it out, we'd very much like to hear from you via Comments on the website above. You can also contact me directly via the website's About page. If there's interest I'll post followups here occasionally too.
I flew Avare version 1.9.2 from SBA to AVX and back with the DX plugged into aircraft power, and it worked perfectly. Now I'm very excited to fly again with v2.1.1 and play with all the new features. Especially the "Sim Mode" that lets me browse Sectionals at will using the Base button to zip to any airport I input so I can browse there. I already have ideas on a request to change how that works. Today a user contacted us via a website Comment about a GPS problem on his device, and Zubair's already cooked up a fix for him and released a new version. Can you tell I'm happy?
In case anyone's curious how I'm involved in Avare (pronounced "ah Vair"): In 2005 or so I met a guy named Zubair who was in our local flying club and he helped get me fired up to finally go for it and get a PPL. Over time we developed a friendship that lasted after I got the Private, after he let his license lapse, and even after his Android phone configuration company relocated to Boston. Last year I got a new Droid X and started this POA thread looking for exactly this app. Small, quick, simple, free, and open-source. When I couldn't find an app like I wanted, I started bugging him to write one. Being way busy with work, and also by then with a young family of four, he kindly and repeatedly refused. A couple of years ago I did manage to get him to do the BFR and start flying again. It was quite a pleasant surprise a few weeks ago when he told me he'd written Avare and asked me to check it out. I was easy to convince!
I liked it so much, I offered to write up some documentation for him, and then this website for Avare and a smaller free app he'd already done: http://apps4av.com/
So anyway, if you have an Android device and would like to help us test out Avare and decide what features to add next, you're invited. Just launch the Play app and install Avare. Note that though Avare is only about 250k the first Install is about 450MB due to the charts, AF/D, etc. So you'll probably want to use WiFi unless you have free data on the device. Once you've checked it out, we'd very much like to hear from you via Comments on the website above. You can also contact me directly via the website's About page. If there's interest I'll post followups here occasionally too.
I flew Avare version 1.9.2 from SBA to AVX and back with the DX plugged into aircraft power, and it worked perfectly. Now I'm very excited to fly again with v2.1.1 and play with all the new features. Especially the "Sim Mode" that lets me browse Sectionals at will using the Base button to zip to any airport I input so I can browse there. I already have ideas on a request to change how that works. Today a user contacted us via a website Comment about a GPS problem on his device, and Zubair's already cooked up a fix for him and released a new version. Can you tell I'm happy?