Ipad Apps for New Pilot

I was just flying from T67 (Near Fort Worth, Texas) to KHYI (South of Austin, Texas) this Monday evening. It was a nice night cross country, but on my return trip my GPS stopped working. I flew for awhile without a GPS and with only VOR and ground references. It was all fine like this, but I eventually pulled out my phone (backup), after leaving Austins Charlie airspace, and the GPS worked on it, so I got practice using my phone charts as well.

The next day on Tuesday, I was with a safety pilot practicing simulated IMC. Near the end, the safety pilot's iPad GPS stopped working. He spent about 10 minutes looking all around to try to find where he was. I was trying to help him out because I knew exactly where we were since I like to practice pilotage every now and then. This guy normally flies a plane with a G1000 and was so use to GPS flight.
 
I have bunch of gadgets I bought when training. They fill a shelf nicely. Used lot of them very little and waiting till they turn antique so I can sell em and buy more gas! Seriously all I use is iPad with foreflight and Jesse's weight and balance app. I do have the stratus 2 which I use mostly on trips. I file ifr mostly so I really don't need much. I had to file ifr today to go 40 miles. Couldn't leave otherwise. Don't buy bunch now. Just gets in the way.
 
neilw2 said:
When I was in my late teens and twenties I was pretty heavy into playing guitar. I ended up being in a band and used to practice all the time. When I first started I bought all these effects pedals to try to have a better "tone." Once I learned to play better, I realized that the electric guitar often sounds best plugged straight in the amp. The sound is less processed...more pure not going through all my gadgets before reaching the amp.
Click to expand...
Did somebody mention pedals!?!?

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I just did my private check ride. The examiner wouldn't let me use the Garmin 430, or my iPad for much of the ride. I struggled with a part when he said, using anything other than the GPS and your iPad (show me on the paper chart where we are). I struggled a little bit - not because I don't know how to use the VOR's, but because my iPad was in the way so I was very clumsy with the map.

Anyway, when I was in Junior High School, or maybe grade school - I remember many very smart, well intentioned teachers telling me that I needed to learn a slide rule because what if a calculator fails - or all that other stuff people say to hold onto the past. Well, I don't even think I could buy a slide rule.

Electronics are the future. They will become increasingly part of the plane. IN fact, the instruments we use will likely be obsolete soon enough. As VOR ground stations breakdown, they will not get replaced. Having an iPad on your yoke doesn't mean you can't look at the window, and use a paper chart. I like it for the taxi diagrams, and bringing up frequencies, etc. Everyone I know that flies commercial or for a job - has an iPad - even with all their fancy glass panels. I find it hard to believe that an iPad, iPhone, and your Garmin 430 - will all fail at once. That seems a weak argument for paper charts (although I always will keep one out - I just don't think I will continue to purchase the most up to date one)

I am using fltplan go - and it is really great considering it is free. I'm sure the others have some more bells and whistles, but I'm not sure those are worth the price differences.
 
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