Do you use an iPad in the cockpit? Would you?

[ChuckMK23]

Yep. For airlines and commercial flying, flight crews pass through a lot of places with good wifi all the time- the random hotel each night, swing by the crew lounge if the airport is a company base, FBO if your operation works out of that side of the airport, and last but not least hitting the update button when you're at home before you head out the door to work.

The updates on the popular Jeppesen app run anywhere from about 10-100mB and only takes a few minutes on good wifi (like hit a couple buttons on the iPad and it's done while your'e still taking a shower). Sometimes there's a little update once a week but the big updates are every two weeks. That's a little different than the "pubs Christmas" routine at the squadron of a hundred pounds of paper charts arriving every 28 days.

Makes me wonder if naval air adopted these how much wifi squatting we'd see at the on-base Starbucks and Subway- whether guys sitting in the parking lot or carrying their company iPad inside while they buy a couple macadamia nut cookies or a cup of coffee.

AF issued ipad is Verizon LTE with unlimited DoD data plan. ??

 

[kmac]

Probably because in most instances, updating them requires Wi-Fi, which isn't available in most Navy work environments, so it becomes a big PITA.

I can understand the difficulty for guys on the ship. VAW-123 just used VRC-40 to get updates while ashore for the former‘s tablets. Last year VFMA-323 did something similar with VRC-30 to get data. There’s not an NSN for an AeroApp data disc, so there has to be a better way.

Otherwise you’re only updating it every 28 days, and even then it should be a smaller update every other cycle.

 

[Brett327]

AF issued ipad is Verizon LTE with unlimited DoD data plan. ??

Not much help when all you can get is 2 bars of signal at most bases I've worked at.

 

[squorch2]

Probably because in most instances, updating them requires Wi-Fi, which isn't available in most Navy work environments, so it becomes a big PITA.

Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter : Electronics

Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter : Electronics

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$26 per ipad.

 

[Brett327]

Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter : Electronics

Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter : Electronics

www.amazon.com

$26 per ipad.

Where are you going to plug it in?

 

[Pags]

Where are you going to plug it in?

I'm pretty sure it's cool if I plug a random device into an NMCI jack. I'm sure there are all sorts of rules against it, but when I was on the ship it had a commercial WiFi setup inside the mess decks and O country that we turned on when in home port. When we came home they plugged in base cable and that gave us the sweet internet juice.

 

[Brett327]

I'm pretty sure it's cool if I plug a random device into an NMCI jack. I'm sure there are all sorts of rules against it, but when I was on the ship it had a commercial WiFi setup inside the mess decks and O country that we turned on when in home port. When we came home they plugged in base cable and that gave us the sweet internet juice.

Sure, but those setups are pretty rare.

 

[HuggyU2]

I don’t recall ever having any issues departing VFR out of a USAF base as a transient in the T-38.
Internally, the USAF wanted their crews flying IFR primarily... but there was never anything to stop a transient.
I do remember Pensacola, Yuma, and NZY requiring me to get a face to face wx briefing with their wx shop before I was allowed to file.

 

[squorch2]

Where are you going to plug it in?

The internet, duh.

more seriously, there are many ways to get internet to non-NMCI devices - even wirelessly! - just not a lot of will to do so.

 

[Brett327]

The internet, duh.

more seriously, there are many ways to get internet to non-NMCI devices - even wirelessly! - just not a lot of will to do so.

Yes, but not is squadron spaces, which is the point. Saying that it’s technically possible is not helpful.

 

[Jim123]

I see a couple of problems of putting good wifi on ships and in squadrons. There's the technical problem of not having classified information spill onto the wifi network. This one's not a show stopper and obviously some units have figured it out for themselves. There's also the cultural problem, that is that DoD IT tends to be predisposed to telling you why you can't do something because of rules X, Y, and Z rather than figuring out how to make it work by finding permissive rules and applying those. Not that there aren't good, "solution-oriented" IT people out there and not that this mentality is only in the IT community.

 

[squorch2]

Yes, but not is squadron spaces, which is the point. Saying that it’s technically possible is not helpful.

Yes, in unclass squadron spaces.

this is a solved problem, practically and technically.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Yes, but not is squadron spaces, which is the point. Saying that it’s technically possible is not helpful.

My last Navy squadron, we had Wi-Fi throughout the entire squadron spaces. It only got turned off once the squadron went secret in the spaces.

 

[Brett327]

Yes, in unclass squadron spaces.

this is a solved problem, practically and technically.

I’m not sure you understand my point. I know that exists, but very few places have it, so it’s not helpful for whom I’m betting is the vast majority of people.

 

[RoarkJr.]

They’re passing out iPads with foreflight now at VT-3. Just for instrument folks at the moment but I think we’ll eventually all get them.