Free Android/smartphone App for ATC Flight Following

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swedeflyer

Filing Flight Plan
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May 28, 2014
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SwedeFlyer
There's a free app on Google Play, that helps you initiate ATC flight following. Try it out let me know what you think.
Peter


Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ile.contactatc

or go to Google play and search for 'Private Pilot ATC Help'

Brief description:
This app is for VFR Private Pilots, it helps you locate an appropriate Air Traffic Control Facility and Frequency. It will also display the information you need to provide to ATC for the initial contact. It uses your phone's GPS to provide proper location information for Air Traffic Controllers to pin point you on their Radar. You can now toggle between the most 10 probable ATC facilities and frequencies that can offer you flight following. You do this by Swiping to the Left/Right on the display. BTW, The application and Data is for the US Only
 
swedeflyer said:
There's a free app on Google Play, that helps you initiate ATC flight following. Try it out let me know what you think.
Peter


Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ile.contactatc

or go to Google play and search for 'Private Pilot ATC Help'

Brief description:
This app is for VFR Private Pilots, it helps you locate an appropriate Air Traffic Control Facility and Frequency. It will also display the information you need to provide to ATC for the initial contact. It uses your phone's GPS to provide proper location information for Air Traffic Controllers to pin point you on their Radar. You can now toggle between the most 10 probable ATC facilities and frequencies that can offer you flight following. You do this by Swiping to the Left/Right on the display. BTW, The application and Data is for the US Only
Click to expand...

Link doesn't work for me
 
You have an app that knows which sectors are staffed at a given time?

If not, you would do just as well to call 122.0 and ask. They actually know.

If you're at an airport, just about every aviation app has the green book in it. And the green book itself works fine.
 
MAKG1 said:
You have an app that knows which sectors are staffed at a given time?
If not, you would do just as well to call 122.0 and ask. They actually know.
If you're at an airport, just about every aviation app has the green book in it. And the green book itself works fine.
Click to expand...

Why don't you try it and then let me know what you think. The whole idea with it is that it takes figuring out the frequency and your relative location to be a quick glance. Now obviously if all you do is flying within an hour or so from your home airport this app would be silly. ....
 
Pretty neat idea for students! How do you calculate which frequency to use?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
EpicDraws said:
Pretty neat idea for students! How do you calculate which frequency to use?
Click to expand...

Actually I found it also useful when you're enroute VFR unfamiliar territory, no ATC and then later maybe weather is deteriorating etc... Who do you call, what frequency, do you start dabbling in the AF/D, do that when the air is turbulent, should you have done better planning, maybe a filed flight plan, well, you didn't.

The position reporting feature I think is useful to students to start estimating their distance to some land mark. Maybe I'll do a version that gets you to any airport, displaying frequencies and gives you direction, visually and sentence for control tower communication or unicom.

The frequency to use is a pretty simple decision tree, basically it queries the nearest airports, and gets the Approach or Departure facility and frequencies, if at higher altitude (>10K) or if closest airport is further than 30 miles it gets the Center frequency instead. The algorithm is not exact that's why I give the user up to 10 choices.
Peter
 
Sounds neat. I may give it a try since I do a lot of VFR with FF.

Most Garmin units (430, 530, etc..) to my knowledge come with ARTCC frequencies in the nearest function along with nearest VOR, Airport, etc ...

Sometimes the controller wants a lot of info, and others seem fine with just your call sign and roughly where you are and where you're going, before they issue a squawk code.
 
I don't see it in the play store anymore. Searched on "ATC Flight Following."

Great App. Have it on my phone, want it on my tablet!


UPDATE: found it under "Private pilot ATC help."
 
Last edited:
kgruber said:
I don't see it in the play store anymore. Searched on "ATC Flight Following."
Great App. Have it on my phone, want it on my tablet!
UPDATE: found it under "Private pilot ATC help."
Click to expand...

I am about to make another version of the app, there are some annoying quirks, and it looks silly on a tablet, was going to make it more tablet friendly, maybe increase the font size and a Quit button on the main screen. If you have suggestions, gripes and ideas I'd love to hear them.
Cheers,
Peter
N36RV
 
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