Gps usage and what to use?

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muleywannabe

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Cherokee235
I am a 50 hr student pilot. I am basically down to my solo cross country and night flight and its check ride time. I am familiar with a vor and my plane has a non updated gps that is just basically like a vor where you follow the line but it works great. Here is my question...

Being late in the game like I am, would you buy a gps like a garmin aera or an iPad mini with foreflight etc? I am thinking why not have another backup source and a sure fire flight device that you can actually follow along a path. Seems like a lot of pilots are using this now. I know using the vor is most important but why not have an extra source of safety for navigation?

Your thoughts????
 
I'd highly recommend an ipad/foreflight. there are droid apps that are fine, too, but I'm not familiar with them. Honestly, I'd use whatever you already have. In my case, I inherited my daughters old ipad. I started with a bad elf since I didn't have a 3g/4g version. I eventually got a stratus 2 and upgraded my ipad to a mini. It sits on a yoke ram mount, and it's perfect for the mooney.

consolidation of all the sectionals and airport facility guides is awesome. If you work your way to a stratus (or something similar), in flight weather is very nice.

Your instructor may limit its use during training, but I'd definitely have it handy just in case, and I guarantee you will use it often after you get your PPL. I have a 430W in my plane, and I still use the ipad screen 95% of the time.
 
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Find someone with an iPad and see how you like the the aviation apps. Do the same for the Android tablet and apps. Then decide which you prefer.
 
Try it out. I would buy one but don't change your procedure or what you use for a checkride. I would use it for after, for the ride go with what you've rehearsed the entire time
 
I prefer an ipad mini and WingX. I tried using my android tablet and some of those apps but nothing really matched what you can do with Foreflight or WingX. I settled on WingX for several reasons, plenty of threads about that. However it's hard to debate that the Ipad isn't the most accessible ghetto MFD out there.
 
I like the IPad with FF, I also like the portable Garmin products. Both have the ability to take to another plane.
 
If you get a ipad be sure it's a cellular one, as those are the only models which have a onboard GPS chip.

I've had great luck with my iPad mini retina cellular with foreflight
 
James331 said:
If you get a ipad be sure it's a cellular one, as those are the only models which have a onboard GPS chip.

I've had great luck with my iPad mini retina cellular with foreflight
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Or you can get an external GPS; personally I did that as some of my colleagues had reception issues with iPads in the King Air cockpit. Probably not an issue in what you are training in, but I couldn't say for sure.

Either way, if you have a non-cellular iPad already just by an external GPS; if you are buying a new/used iPad either route is an option.
 
I prefer the external GPS, it's allegedly more accurate.

I only wish there was a summary of like 5 bullet points for each program... wingx, FF and garmin pilot, rather than several 45 page threads
 
TUPilot said:
Or you can get an external GPS; personally I did that as some of my colleagues had reception issues with iPads in the King Air cockpit. Probably not an issue in what you are training in, but I couldn't say for sure.

Either way, if you have a non-cellular iPad already just by an external GPS; if you are buying a new/used iPad either route is an option.
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Just more stuff to drag along, not break and keep charged IMO.

I've had mine well into the FLs and well over 250KTS with 5-10m accuracy, which is more than enough for what the device does.
 
I have foreflight now and I like it. I also like the garmin pilot app too. I enjoy technology and thought why not learn from the flying apps on an iPad mini. Which model and carrier would you suggest?
 
muleywannabe said:
I have foreflight now and I like it. I also like the garmin pilot app too. I enjoy technology and thought why not learn from the flying apps on an iPad mini. Which model and carrier would you suggest?
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IPad mini retina.

You don't need a cell phone carrier
 
I guess lots of flyers do it when just flying rentals VMC or training, but the first thing I'd want after the tablet is an external WAAS GPS/w/weather/traffic antenna. AHRS is nice, but you don't need it for VMC.
 
James331 said:
IPad mini retina.

You don't need a cell phone carrier
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exactly, you don't have to activate the 3g/4g. It uses the built in gps, but for the price difference of a wifi ipad, you can get an external gps. I know you're at a point where you have to buy everything, but IMO, you can't beat FF with a stratus. For a VFR pilot, stratus 1 is perfect. If you go on to the instrument rating, stratus 2 with the backup AHRS would be better.
 
+1 on the Ipad with Foreflight or Garmin Pilot. IMO it works very well, if you have an iPhone, you can use either one of these apps on it, even if its just for reference. I used it during my solo XC's as well and was nice to have it.
 
iPad mini retina + Stratus (maybe you don't need the Stratus 2 in which case some good deals to be had on the Stratus 1).

I did a few extra XC's since I had my own plane when I was wrapping up my PPL and while I did the XC's by the book off my navlog for the one's required I used FF for the others to acclimate myself to it. I knew by reputation my DPE was probably going to talk about EFB tools and he certainly did. We did all the weather conversation using what was available in Foreflight during the oral portion.

I have the iPad mini retina and a Stratus 2 and I can't imagine flying without it. I have a yoke mount and it's just the perfect size. The amount of information and situational awareness that tool provides is pretty dang amazing - especially now with the synthetic vision add-on.

Anyway, for the price per year...FF is pretty tough to beat. It's the equivalent of an hour...maybe hour and a half of renting a plane...for the entire year subscription. With respect to purchases/investments you'll make as a pilot...they don't get more bang for the buck than that.

For the record, when you earn your certificate and do some 'real' flying...chances are you won't be banging off VOR's to find your way around. :) I still love tracking them during XC's and it's good conversation to entertain my non-pilot passengers...have them lookup a VOR on the map, enter the frequency, listen for the code, then show them how it works. They are all pretty amazed and enjoy the learning experience when things are quiet during cruise.

Good luck!!
 
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It's a crutch. You don't need it for a student cross country and should be building the confidence that a dead battery isn't flaming death. Use ded reckoning backed by VORs for a student cross country and leave the doodads at home.

The LAST thing you want is a distraction in the airplane. There will be plenty of that without the new gizmo.
 
muleywannabe said:
I am a 50 hr student pilot. I am basically down to my solo cross country and night flight and its check ride time. I am familiar with a vor and my plane has a non updated gps that is just basically like a vor where you follow the line but it works great. Here is my question...

Being late in the game like I am, would you buy a gps like a garmin aera or an iPad mini with foreflight etc? I am thinking why not have another backup source and a sure fire flight device that you can actually follow along a path. Seems like a lot of pilots are using this now. I know using the vor is most important but why not have an extra source of safety for navigation?

Your thoughts????
Click to expand...


The dedicated units have better screens than the iPad, the iPad option I use is Garmin Pilot (same user interface as the Aera and the GTN 650/750 radios) and runs SVT on all platforms.
 
Thank you all. I would only use this for the sole reason of back up for now. I want to be 100% proficient in the VOR and ded reconing before I get into full glass panels and full on GPS.
 
muleywannabe said:
Thank you all. I would only use this for the sole reason of back up for now. I want to be 100% proficient in the VOR and ded reconing before I get into full glass panels and full on GPS.
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Seriously, you're a student pilot.

Use something without batteries for a backup. You absolutely, positively, must be confident that you can do that or you can turn a nonevent into an emergency. Tablets have the unfortunate property of crashing when you can least tolerate it, so the tablet itself needs a backup. Which can be your backup in the first place….

You have several different methods to get home or to your destination. Use another one as backup. If you're planning on using VORs with DME, be prepared to measure cross-radials if you can't get a DME signal (BTDT). If your only nav radio pukes, have landmarks on the ground identified (pilotage) and headings and time between them (ded reckoning). As a student, you must always have reference to the ground. Know how to fly the mag compass in case your DG blows up (BTDT, too). Have all your expected frequencies written down, and paper charts available.

Most importantly, know your lost procedures. Hint: interstate highways and big lakes and rivers are pretty easy to find on sectionals, and you can look for major bends, curves, and intersections if the terrain and towns don't help.

What you don't want to do is create new failure modes. Like having that tablet crash -- or be unreadable -- when you need it to read a frequency or avoid Class B airspace. Save that for when you aren't quite so new at the navigation thing.

Stuff DOES happen during student cross-countries. Just don't make it self-administered.
 
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The ipad/EFB/GPS combo is the most versatile and, IMHO, provides the most usefulness per dollar. The iPad can be used for many things. What else can an Aera be used for but flying? Even within the flying context, the iPad brings more versatility than a dedicated device. You can store any documents you want on it, buy myriad flying add-ons (E6B apps, checklists, calculators, custom spreadsheets, logbook apps, and on and on).
 
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