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

[Gatordev]

And there's the problem- it shouldn't be a choice of one or the other. Were it not for our wonderful procurement system, we should be able to put an ILS on every single aircraft in the entire USN-USMC inventory for what we spend on just a few EA pods.

Completely agree. HeyJoe showed me a really neat little box, the size of a Rubix cube, one day that did some stuff that a bigger piece of equipment regularly does. And the amazing part was that it was designed to plug into all the new airframes in the fleet (non-legacy).

And yet somehow, I still can't shoot a precision GPS approach with my nanometer-accurate INS system that's already installed.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Got my iPad, my OtterBox, and my Invisibleshield anti glare screen. Looking forward to try it out on the CCX. Not so much from a moving map standpoint, but seeing if I can use the plates and charts in lieu of a full nav bag. That, and the ability to check WX with it overlaid on the sectional. ForeFlight is showing much potential...


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[Harrier Dude]

And yet somehow, I still can't shoot a precision GPS approach with my nanometer-accurate INS system that's already installed.

Your complaint is really with lawyers and air traffic controllers, not acquisitions types.

I'm slowly learning that all the meetings that are held to determine the future of aviation are chock full of lawyers and ATC folks. They won't invite pilots. We tend to make their jobs too difficult.

 

[zippy]

I'd be interested in how foreflight works out for you. I've messed around with it and it looks pretty amazing. I don't have a subscription, but it's cool to just have a complete set of non current charts to browse through.

Foreflight is pretty awesome. I've used it to several times to fly across country in the VTs.

 

[Gatordev]

Your complaint is really with lawyers and air traffic controllers, not acquisitions types.

I'm slowly learning that all the meetings that are held to determine the future of aviation are chock full of lawyers and ATC folks. They won't invite pilots. We tend to make their jobs too difficult.

Often times, I would agree, but when you have a system that has everything the lawyers and ATC would be happy with and the ONLY other means of navigation is a system that isn't kept in service in many places that we operate, it gets kind of silly. The institutional inertia of the community back when the aquisition process started certainly didn't help, either. I'm surprised our displays are NVG compatible.

 

[Harrier Dude]

Often times, I would agree, but when you have a system that has everything the lawyers and ATC would be happy with and the ONLY other means of navigation is a system that isn't kept in service in many places that we operate, it gets kind of silly. The institutional inertia of the community back when the aquisition process started certainly didn't help, either. I'm surprised our displays are NVG compatible.

Concur, but that wasn't my point.

It IS silly, but it's keeping air traffic controllers employed and vital to the system, yet protects them from being blamed to the maximum extent possible.

The system is designed to shield them from work, blame, and inconvenience. Our job as pilots is to support them.

 

[Gatordev]

I see what you're saying. I don't know that I agree, but I understand.

 

[Harrier Dude]

I see what you're saying. I don't know that I agree, but I understand.

Let's put it this way: The GPS that you have in the -60, or the one in the Harrier, is perfectly capable of guiding you through a GPS approach with much better accuracy than the TACAN that you currently use.

Unfortunately, due to concerns about liability on the part of the FAA and air traffic controllers (masked as concern for your welfare) you are not legally (from the lawyers) allowed to do that because the accuracy isn't EXACTLY as good as an IFR rated GPS system, and it has the added detriment of being user manipulated, which means that you might screw up entering the points.

In other words, you could do things better, safer, and easier your own way, but because you would put them in legal peril, you're not allowed to.

They could care less that you might be putting your life in jeopardy (you aren't, really).

By the way, the landing will be at your own risk. Unlike all the other ones.......which were somehow at their risk.

 

[pilot_man]

I find it slightly humorous that my craft and its GPS are perfectly capable of delivering 2000lbs of steel and explosives onto a target with only a couple of feet or inches in error, but that same system isn't capable of getting me to a safe landing with whatever mins I need for a precision approach. The bureaucrats can suck it.

 

[phrogpilot73]

By the way, the landing will be at your own risk. Unlike all the other ones.......which were somehow at their risk.

I hear this all the time at the heliport in Norfolk.

"Heliport is not in sight from Chambers tower, landing will be at your own risk."

I guess their risk is spilling coffee in their lap when they realized we crashed and died.

 

[hscs]

I hear this all the time at the heliport in Norfolk.

"Heliport is not in sight from Chambers tower, landing will be at your own risk."

I guess their risk is spilling coffee in their lap when they realized we crashed and died.

And you will hear the same at most Air Force Bases when you don't land on the runway....

 

[SemperGumby]

In IJET/AJET, many instructors and some students (depending on the IP you have) use them for xc's. They're great for checking weather (which you can have overlayed on any type of chart), filing flight plans, GPS is great for taxiing at unfamiliar airfields (shows your location on an airport diagram), and if ATC gives you a completely random fix to go to, searching it is a snap. Flightplanning with a JMPS computer and Foreflight is a snap. Finally, now that they're not issuing any sort of pubs in hard copies here (FTI's included) the iPad is money for carrying all your pubs + NATOPS around. Apple is supposedly developing a slightly smaller iPad as well...if they also integrate high quality GPS so you don't have to have the BadElf attachment, I will most definitely be purchasing one.

How are you receiving weather at altitude, or above 1200'-1500' AGL?

 

[jtmedli]

How are you receiving weather at altitude, or above 1200'-1500' AGL?

It reportedly works up to 10000 MSL or something like that with the GPS link.

 

[mmx1]

I don't think he meant in-flight, but if you want in-flight weather, there's ADS-B

http://www.foreflight.com/stratus

 

[phrogpilot73]

Apple is supposedly developing a slightly smaller iPad as well...if they also integrate high quality GPS so you don't have to have the BadElf attachment, I will most definitely be purchasing one.

I looked at the BadElf, but ended up going with the Dual xGPS150A. Bluetooth, WAAS enabled, and gets a fix (even from cold start) in about 30 seconds. They say the battery lasts 8 1/2 hours, but I haven't had time to test it yet. I turned it on, paired it, and was shocked when I got a <3m fix within 30 seconds, and I was INDOORS.