BK App for iPad - anyone seen the demo at OSH ?

Scrabo

Scrabo

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Scrabo
Bendix/King on Sunday announced an application aimed at simplifying operations for pilots in-flight.
The app, called myWingMan, provides full enroute navigation via a moving map display, as well as real-time weather information and synthetic vision to improve situational awareness.
The myWingMan app also includes integration with certified aircraft systems, allowing pilots to synchronize flight plans and other data between the app and selected panel avionics such as the Bendix/King KSN 770.
Bendix/King will soon be offering a free 60-day trial for the app, and will then be transitioning to an annual subscription-based pricing model with options for a version with VFR chart chart capabilities ($99 per year) and a version with IFR chart capabilities ($149 per year).
 
I haven't seen the demo but I will be looking for it tomorrow. Sounds interesting...
 
I was pretty excited when I saw that thread - until I found out you weren't talking about this.
 
Nothing from BK should be bought at this point, nothing is supported.
 
Henning said:
Nothing from BK should be bought at this point, nothing is supported.
Click to expand...

It does seem they're hell bent on joining Narco. I don't know how long iPad apps and rebranding of other people's stuff mixed in with a "You'll pay it only if you have no other option and your next meal depends on it" pricing model will keep a business afloat.
 
My only question, is this a Bluetooth replacement for the Q1 of the Av8or Horizon? If the answer is 'Incompatible' my comment is "Then you owe me the whole system."
 
Saw it Tuesday. Not bad, but not as good as I had hoped for. The synthetic vision has two levels, stock being a video game joke and then useful with some $800 external device.

Just my opinion.
 
I wasn't impressed. I got the full demo from a BK rep. Many features I asked about, he said the software was capable of but then declined to demo as it "wasn't finished yet". It also crashed on me while panning a sectional. It feels like a me-too entry into the iPad market, and didn't blow me away at all. The software was also....ugly. I was told there are no plans for ADS-B input, either.
 
Henning said:
Nothing from BK should be bought at this point, nothing is supported.
Click to expand...


My impression of Bendix King matched Hennings, so I did a little googling. Since they belong to Honeywell, it's near impossible to separate them out to determine their financial health. I did see a positive for them, in that they are hiring engineers.

With the record of their recent past in new product introduction, it's not as promising as some of the other choices out there.

Selecting new technology that is going to stay around is always difficult, and sometimes not much more than a roll of the dice.
 
You get a 60 day trial period to try it out. There are two basic levels. For $99 you get what they call the VFR version, sectionals basically. For $149 you get the IFR version which adds IFR low and high plus geo-referenced plates (don't remember if it geo-referenced taxi diagrams) Both of those versions have the wingman view for synthetic vision based on the internals of the iPad itself. Add in the Levil AHRS unit and you get the panel display of synthetic vision.

There were some nice features. The can store often used flight plans in the cloud. Also had buttons labeled PreFlight, Taxi, etc. etc. that when touched would bring up information pertinent to that phase of flight. It will do three windowed views which pretty much forces you into landscape mode. All the demoing is done in landscape mode. A couple of the guys I spoke to wouldn't really talk about ADS-B compatibility. One said he couldn't. My guess is they will have to do something to keep up with Wing-X, Forelight and the Garmin app.
 
Without ADS-B in the initial release, this app is dead on arrival.

3 windows, all images I have seen show a "G" meter - really whats the point ?
 
I played with one of their panel mount GPS units in the displays. I selected an airport using some weird joystick-like human interface, after screwing around trying to figure out the awful UI, and it brought up the wrong plate at the right airport.

They gave me a t-shirt and offered a wristband to go to their BBQ.

I walked away thinking, "If their demo is that crappy..."

I think they're in trouble. I've been silently rooting for them to make a comeback to follow on the early GPS successes with the KLN-89/90 and maybe even the -94, but they seem to have jacked it all up somehow. Garmin still wins. Hell, Avidyne looked better, and I hate their build-quality.

And old man King died this year, too. Not that he had anything to do with operating the company after it was sold to Homeywell, but just saying that the brand name means squat in this case.

They really have fallen since the time of the stuff in my panel. The KX radios are still worth a couple thousand on the used market each and are almost 20 years old. That was quality electronic engineering there.

Now? Not so much. They're trying, but they're missing the mark...
 
Scrabo said:
Without ADS-B in the initial release, this app is dead on arrival.

3 windows, all images I have seen show a "G" meter - really whats the point ?
Click to expand...


A G meter is what allows you to learn repeatable precision maneuvers, it also tells you just how hard you can pull to get to 3.8 lol, you'll pull harder than the hardest you ever pulled and still have a G to go.
 
I've seen(read) new information about the MyWingman App. Has anyone done any further testing regarding it since this thread was running?

HR
 
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