How long have you been using an iOS or Android EFB?

[midlifeflyer]

You mean using electronic checklists in general? What held you back?

Yes. I’ve seen people use them very effectively. But I personally found it a lot of extra work - very inefficient - compared with holding a paper checklist at eye level, confirming what I had already done and taking care of anything I missed. And I didn’t feel there was enough advantage (too lazy) to work on changing.

 

[TCABM]

Interesting. Garmin Pilot definitely has some sort of Garmin flavor to it, but I have a GTN in my plane and a bunch of G3000 time (that operates very much like the GTNs) and I still can't even come close to making GP do what I want.

So today is the first planned flight with GP on both an Android tablet and an iphone 16. It seems a flightstream of either flavor is necessary for flight plan transfer. I guess I'll find out if we have an FS210 hidden somewhere in the plane today, although if we do, nobody knows about it and we don't have an AFMS for it.

If the FS truly truly is required as Garmin states, I'm not sure I want to drop an AMU and a half for that and our partner group isn't interested in funding it as community property; apparently they did that with a portable ADSB-In device and someone walked off with it.

 

[midlifeflyer]

So today is the first planned flight with GP on both an Android tablet and an iphone 16. It seems a flightstream of either flavor is necessary for flight plan transfer. I guess I'll find out if we have an FS210 hidden somewhere in the plane today, although if we do, nobody knows about it and we don't have an AFMS for it.

It doesn't seem that likely that it's there but no one knows it. Someone should have given out connection instructions unless they wanted to keep it a secret. OTOH, based on some of the avionics knowledge I've seen out there, I guess it's possible. Go to the System screen on the GPS. It will tell you if it's there; the "Connext Setup" icon will be greyed out if it's not.

 

[TCABM]

It doesn't seem that likely that it's there but no one knows it. Someone should have given out connection instructions unless they wanted to keep it a secret. OTOH, based on some of the avionics knowledge I've seen out there, I guess it's possible. Go to the System screen on the GPS. It will tell you if it's there; the "Connext Setup" icon will be greyed out if it's not.

Okay, I’m fairly certain that button is active because I cleared out a bunch of devices from former partners recently using Manage Paired Devices function which, IIRC is a submenu of Connext Setup.

Garmin’s documentation indicates that button may be active when a GTX345 is also part of the system and configured for the GTN to manage the GTX BT function. I was under the impression the 210 automatically went into pairing mode 60 seconds after power up, but again, that’s in G documentation that may have been superceded.

A small minority of our group have an instrument rating; the others aren’t interested in “putting lipstick on a VFR pig”. Truthfully, I need to find a better partnership. A 1/5 share in a well funded 2002 SR22 with upgraded Avidyne displays came up that’s a good opportuntiy, but they want CSEL and 500TT/100SR-XX min time.

I asked how firm they were on the TT and time in type and they were ‘rock solid’.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Okay, I’m fairly certain that button is active because I cleared out a bunch of devices from former partners recently using Manage Paired Devices function which, IIRC is a submenu of Connext Setup.

It is. But when you have Flight Stream capability the Connext Setup menu leads in turn to a page which mentions Flight Stream. In the photo for example, we are looking at an airplane which can connect to a remote GTX 345 transponder or to Flight Stream.

So, what did you find out when you checked?

 

[TCABM]

It is. But when you have Flight Stream capability the Connext Setup menu leads in turn to a page which mentions Flight Stream. In the photo for example, we are looking at an airplane which can connect to a remote GTX 345 transponder or to Flight Stream….
View attachment 136008

Thanks for that.

….So, what did you find out when you checked?

OVC007 so I chose not to do night pax currency. I have a backup reservation Wednesday evening and time this coming Sunday.

I’m kind of bummed because I haven’t flown since 11/10 due to the plane being grounded for a broken charging system (alternator wire), leaking primer line, and weather. With a 40-min commute to the airport it’s hard for me to justify a couple of hours to do a quick power up.

This partnership is great from a very economical stand point but the limitations of partner group and base location is irritating.

 

[TCABM]

…
So, what did you find out when you checked?

View attachment 136008

No Flightstream.

I was able to connect to the 345s bluetooth though from this page.

And this is what GP showed on the GPS page even after re-starting Pilot after successfully getting on the BT.

I think I missed a step on the devices page of GP, so I’ll have to experiment again if my flight on Sunday goes as planned.

I had a hard stop to have the plane in bed by, so I didn’t spend much time beyond getting connected thru the GTN and telling it to auto reconnect.

 

[midlifeflyer]

And this is what GP showed on the GPS page even after re-starting Pilot after successfully getting on the BT.

I think I missed a step on the devices page of GP, so I’ll have to experiment again if my flight on Sunday goes as planned.

I had a hard stop to have the plane in bed by, so I didn’t spend much time beyond getting connected thru the GTN and telling it to auto reconnect.

Sounds like a missing step. WAG: close and restart Pilot after pairing on the OS level?

This should not apply to a GTX345 but just as an FYI, not all devices show up on the Devices page. I know that makes no sense but I learned that because I have an XGPS170D for backup which feeds location, weather, and traffic to Pilot just fine but doesn’t get listed on that page.

 

[TCABM]

Sounds like a missing step. WAG: close and restart Pilot after pairing on the OS level?

I paired at the OS level and then opened GP (droid). I did not go to the devices page at all so I expect that’s the missing step.

 

[midlifeflyer]

I paired at the OS level and then opened GP (droid). I did not go to the devices page at all so I expect that’s the missing step.

Maybe, maybe not. The Devices page is informational - what you are connected to, not a way to connect.

 

[moparrob66]

If i get one of those EFBs, how do I connect it to muh ADF? Do I gotta upgrade to LORAN?

 

[AV8R_87]

You need a bluetooth interface mod to your ADF. It will rapidly tune to different stations, getting the ball game scores and triangulating your position.

 

[midlifeflyer]

If i get one of those EFBs, how do I connect it to muh ADF? Do I gotta upgrade to LORAN?

If you are still flying via ADF in the US, stick with your paper charts. They go well together.

 

[TCABM]

If i get one of those EFBs, how do I connect it to muh ADF? Do I gotta upgrade to LORAN?

Stapler. LORAN not required.

 

[TCABM]

Maybe, maybe not. The Devices page is informational - what you are connected to, not a way to connect.

So I finally got it to connect on tonight’s flight. The missing step on Android was going to the devices page and selecting the GTX3x5. Once that initialized once, all was good going forward.

I can see the value if you’ve got a Flightstream, G3x or 750. Even then, I’d use iOS over Garmin simply because of the inability to load a procedure to the flight plan on android. Can’t send to the panel what you can’t load on the tablet.

I can’t see shelling out a premium and getting an iPad for my use case. If we ever had a flight stream, I’ll reconsider and compare Foreflight at that time as well.

I’ve got a couple more flights scheduled before the trial ends so I’ll keep using until then.