Foreflight - major layoffs

[Ed Haywood]

iFly is legit better than GP.

I prefer iFly for VFR. If I was flying IFR with Garmin avionics, I would probably lean GP.

I had trust issues with iFly for a few years after it froze up on me in a situation where that was a bad thing. We're reconciled now.

 

[Jim K]

I prefer iFly for VFR. If I was flying IFR with Garmin avionics, I would probably lean GP.

I had trust issues with iFly for a few years after it froze up on me in a situation where that was a bad thing. We're reconciled now.

I do wonder how many of the issues I had with ifly (occasional crashes and pretty common database update issues) were due to cheap hardware. When i switched to GP, it was unusable on the 8" android tablets I used in the plane for ifly, and I was forced to buy an iPad.

 

[Ed Haywood]

I do wonder how many of the issues I had with ifly (occasional crashes and pretty common database update issues) were due to cheap hardware. When i switched to GP, it was unusable on the 8" android tablets I used in the plane for ifly, and I was forced to buy an iPad.

I don't know how the programming for different display sizes is done, but I suspect larger formats may throw it more of a curve ball.

Also, cheap android tablets are notoriously ... cheap.

I use my old phone as my primary flight nav device, and carry my current phone as a backup. My phones are Google Pixels, so they are running stock Android. I stripped the old phone of all non-flight apps and widgets.

I also carry an iPad but haven't used it in flight in more than a year. For VFR a phone screen is more than adequate. If I was IFR, I would want a tablet for plates.

 

[Half Fast]

I do wonder how many of the issues I had with ifly (occasional crashes and pretty common database update issues) were due to cheap hardware. When i switched to GP, it was unusable on the 8" android tablets I used in the plane for ifly, and I was forced to buy an iPad.

Could be. I run iFly on their own hardware (740b) in the plane, and I run it on an iPad on the ground for flight planning. Haven't had any lockups or crashes.

 

[Ed Haywood]

Could be. I run iFly on their own hardware (740b) in the plane, and I run it on an iPad on the ground for flight planning. Haven't had any lockups or crashes.

iFly was showing two new tablets at Oshkosh. Both were quite nice. One was so bulky you would probably need to update your W&B though. (joke)

 

[Half Fast]

iFly was showing two new tablets at Oshkosh. Both were quite nice. One was so bulky you would probably need to update your W&B though. (joke)

Yeah, I looked at their new device on their website, but it won't fit my panel like the 740b does. For now, I don't see any reason to change.

 

[Hang 4]

Caterpillar Sells Majority Interest in 3PL to Private Equity Firm for $750 Million - TT

Caterpillar Inc. has agreed to sell a majority interest in its third-party logistics business to privately held Platinum Equity for about $750 million, while retaining its in-house international network to support its dealers and customers.

www.ttnews.com

ETA: when Cat was founded it was a merger of Holt and Best and was privately held by the families and private investors, to include bank partners. The IPO came shortly after the company was formed, so it was extremely short lived.

That's a spin out of a non-core asset, not Cat being owned by PE. A better questions is why did Cat think they could compete in the 3PL space.

 

[schmookeeg]

Not sure I understand the heat on this topic. I'm assuming just about all of us in here have been PE Hartzell'ed up to the elbow. If you haven't yet, you will.

Thoma didn't drop whatever coin on FF to improve OUR lives.

 

[RobHart]

I work for SkyDemon (European planning and navigation app), and while we have had basic FAA charting data since we started we haven't really taken any significant steps to push into America due to Foreflight's dominance.

However, in the last few weeks we have been reviewing this, and with the kind help of a couple of guys here we have been developing our vector chart to be a bit more pleasing for the US, as well as integrating some additional US documents and data.

I anticipate that a new beta version with these updates will be coming early next week, and it would be really great if I could find a few more curious US pilots to give it a try and let us know their thoughts; ideally they would be familiar with Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, since those are the states we have focused on for the initial data population. We mainly develop for VFR pilot needs, but there are some IFR supporting functions too.

If this sounds interesting, feel free to drop me a PM and I will give some details about getting set up with the free trial once the beta is available.

 

[WDD]

I had trust issues with iFly for a few years after it froze up on me in a situation where that was a bad thing. We're reconciled now.

I do wonder how many of the issues I had with ifly (occasional crashes and pretty common database update issues) were due to cheap hardware.

I had an occasional crash of I Fly, running on an Android Triplex tablet. Maybe twice a year, but seemed to always be at the worse time. I don't know if it was that Android just isn't as rock solid as Apple OS, or if it was the hardware, or both. Before that I was running F Flight on an I Pad, and it would never have a software crash. It was in bright sunlight hard to see.

So a few months ago I bought the new high NIT Android Tablet from I Fly. It's the size of an I Pad Mini, fits well in the cockpit. So far no crashes, but it's of course far too early to judge.

Sustained sun light readable screen brightness is great - so much brighter than an I Pad. Wouldn't even consider an I Pad in the cockpit now. Battery life is limited, so in the cockpit for a flight over 1 1/2 hours I'll instead run it plugged into a charger/UCB outlet.

 

[Ed Haywood]

So a few months ago I bought the new high NIT Android Tablet from I Fly. It's the size of an I Pad Mini, fits well in the cockpit. So far no crashes, but it's of course far too early to judge.

I looked at that at Oshkosh. Seems like a nice piece of kit.

 

[OneCharlieTango]

If you want a little nostalgic laugh, take a look at what PoA was saying in early 2019. Lots of people said they were going to dump FF for FlyQ because of the Boeing acquisition. Now that Boeing is selling FF, I'm even more mad than I was then!

Here's a grownup thought: when a multibillion dollar company makes decisions, it probably isn't about you. And whatever opinion you have is probably uninformed.