Fltplan Go TRSA question?

[MuseChaser]

I'm using Fltplan Go's Android version (Samsung Galaxy Tab S2), and in general it works great, pairs with the Stratux I built, and is worth every penny... . After flying with it a while, it's pretty intuitive for most things. However, I can't find an easy way to look up TRSA frequencies. Admittedly, I did my private pilot training back in the pre-EFB days and am still more comfortable with printed maps and a kneeboard than my tablet, but those days are pretty much gone so I'm trying to drag myself forward.
The only way I've found to pull up TRSA frequencies in Fltplan Go is incredibly clunky.. from the map view, long press on the controlling airport, then touch the down arrow next to the airport in the menu that pops up, then the "info" button, then the "view airport" button. At that point, you're looking at the frequencies screen for that airport, but still no app/dep frequncies listed. You have to then click the "OPEN A/FD" button and, at that point from w/in the A/FD, you can find that, for instance, the Elmira app/dep con can be contacted at 128.425. Doing all that in bumpy flight conditions on a 7" screen would be a virtual impossibility. Granted, sorting out your planned frequencies on the ground first is always wise, but it's good to be able to find things in the air if plans A and B both go belly up.
What am I missing?

 

[EdFred]

A sectional with the frequencies tab on it. .

We have three trsa within 30 minute flight of me. Just get the atis because they're always changing which frequency they're using anyway.

 

[MuseChaser]

A sectional with the frequencies tab on it. .

We have three trsa within 30 minute flight of me. Just get the atis because they're always changing which frequency they're using anyway.

Yeah... I DO miss those handy features of paper sectionals with NO buttons to push and nothing buried underneath hidden menu structures! Thanks for the reply.

 

[bkspero]

I don't have a good alternative, but here's another kluge for you to consider. Start as you described to get to the airport dialog box with the "View Airport" button, but instead of selecting "View Airport", select "View Procedures". Select any of the instrument approaches and the Approach control frequencies will be in the 3rd row of boxes down from the top.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Tap the AFD button on the airport page is too much work?

I don't use Go! regularly, but I think it's the same for getting Class B and C frequencies.

Yeah... I DO miss those handy features of paper sectionals with NO buttons to push and nothing buried underneath hidden menu structures! Thanks for the reply.

I don't miss spending time folding and unfolding just to find, that part of the chart is on the other side. Tapping "Airportsl, typing in a 4-character identifier and two taps works fine for me.

 

[MuseChaser]

Tap the AFD button on the airport page is too much work?

For me, it's not a question of "too much work," it's a question of time spent trying to tap and type accurately on a 7" screen on my yoke while being bounced around in a crowded cockpit. It's barely possible sometimes. It's not as simple as tapping the A/FD button; if you're on the map view, it's quite a few taps to even get to that option.

I don't use Go! regularly, but I think it's the same for getting Class B and C frequencies

B and C approach frequencies are shown right on the sectionals in white boxes. TRSA frequencies are not.

I don't miss spending time folding and unfolding just to find, that part of the chart is on the other side. Tapping "Airportsl, typing in a 4-character identifier and two taps works fine for me.

Like I said, it's a transition for me; I was good with paper charts and could find what I needed very quickly with a sectional and an A/FD...faster for somethings than I can right now with Fltplan Go. Just trying to get better, that's all. I have a little trouble flying the airplane in bumpy conditions with my eyes down trying to type on a 7" tab on my yoke, so fewer, less precise taps and little or no actual typing would be preferable to me. I hope to become as proficient with an EFB as you obviously are.

I don't have a good alternative, but here's another kluge for you to consider. Start as you described to get to the airport dialog box with the "View Airport" button, but instead of selecting "View Airport", select "View Procedures". Select any of the instrument approaches and the Approach control frequencies will be in the 3rd row of boxes down from the top.

Thank you. That's the same "kludge" the FltPlan support team offered me when I contacted them almost two years ago about this. It does work, but it's still quite a few taps. Most of the app is great. However, if you can bring up airport, navaid, and intersection options and info on the sectional by a long press, why not incorporate the ability to long press the black "See Twr Freq Tab" on the sectional near every TRSA to bring up the frequencies?

AND.... where's the AHRS support on Android they've been 'hoping' to implement for almost two years?

For the price, it's phenomenal and I'm grateful it's available. Don't mean to focus on the one or two frustrations in an otherwise great free app.

 

[EdFred]

For the record Avare doesn't have the frequencies on the AFD either. The issue isn't *really* with FltPlan Go, it's with the data from the FAA. I just looked at the downloaded 5010 files from the FAA website. Approach frequencies do not show up in any of the three download files (facilities, runways, remarks) for the local TRSA or even my local class C airport. All of the EFBs just download the 5010 files every 28 days or 56 from the FAA and data dump it into the program.

The only place I can find any approach frequencies from the FAA data is on the actual page of the chart supplement, and I don't know where that data is pulled from, but it does not appear to be downloadable data. So it appears the only way to get it is to pull up the PDF page.

Edit:
The data must be available *somewhere* since the FAA populates this page from a database:

https://nfdc.faa.gov/nfdcApps/services/ajv5/airportDisplay.jsp?airportId=elm

 

[midlifeflyer]

Like I said, it's a transition for me; I was good with paper charts and could find what I needed very quickly with a sectional and an A/FD...faster for somethings than I can right now with Fltplan Go. Just trying to get better, that's all. I have a little trouble flying the airplane in bumpy conditions with my eyes down trying to type on a 7" tab on my yoke, so fewer, less precise taps and little or no actual typing would be preferable to me. I hope to become as proficient with an EFB as you obviously are.

Then it's really just about learning the system and getting used to the UI. It's more about how to get to things than the information itself. If you are committed to the change, I'd suggest looking at a few of the other options because, the way they get to information is different. If you learn Go! you are going to have a very similar transition issue if you decide you want to move to one of the pay EFBs.

In the Android world, I would take a look at DroidEFB and, especially, iFlyGPS. In iFly, for example, TRSA frequencies are two taps and a scroll away. Tap on the airport in the Map and a small info box comes up. Tap on "Airport Info..." and you get a full page where you can scroll down to the frequencies, including the TRSA ones. Below is on a Tab A and I have used the app on a phone also. And, if you ever decide to move to an iOS or Window device, the app works the same, so no new transition for the EFB



Go! OTOH, is more cludgy (it is free after all). If you tap just right on the airport on the Map screen, it will bring up a box from which you can get to the standard airport info screen. But as you've already noticed, this does not contain the TRSA (or Class B or C) frequencies and you then have to bring up the AFD.

 

[midlifeflyer]

For the record Avare doesn't have the frequencies on the AFD either. The issue isn't *really* with FltPlan Go, it's with the data from the FAA.

It's still the app and the FAA data source it uses. Airnav.com (predating all of the apps), and skyvector.com, along with the Foreflight, iFly GPS, FlyQ appas, among others, include the frequencies as part of the airport information.

 

[EdFred]

It's still the app and the FAA data source it uses. Airnav.com (predating all of the apps), and skyvector.com, along with the Foreflight, iFly GPS, FlyQ appas, among others, include the frequencies as part of the airport information.

I'm wondering where those are downloaded from because they aren't on the downloadable 5010 airport data. Must be a different database they are getting the info from.

Found it.

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/aero_data/NASR_Subscription/

Which is way more data to parse, and is not clean to work with.

 

[midlifeflyer]

I'm wondering where those are downloaded from because they aren't on the downloadable 5010 airport data. Must be a different database they are getting the info from.

Found it.

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/flight_info/aeronav/aero_data/NASR_Subscription/

Which is way more data to parse, and is not clean to work with.

Yeah, I tried t use it once and it was hopeless. Then again, I don't have the interest in parsing the many which do use it do.

I don't know how long it's been around but I'm pretty sure it was being way back (in Internet terms) when Paulo Santos started Airnav and hosted it on the Georgia Tech servers sometime back in the mid-to-late 1990s.

 

[EdFred]

I use the 5010 data for the things I do. And I could probably write the code to use all the NASR files, but it's just plain text with no delimiters, and I'm sure if looked at it there's some sort of pattern, but at first glance it looks to be crap thrown at a wall.