Bad Elf GPS
MY OPINION
ARTHUR ROSEN
POOR MAN’S GLASS COCKPIT
Having found my Garmin 396 screen getting smaller and cluttered as I get older, I did some studying on how I can safely improve my visualization while flying. One alternative is the Garmin 696 but it is too expensive for my needs. I previously checked out the IPad and programs available for the IPad, but I wasn’t satisfied with apps that were available. I recently reviewed the apps again and found tremendous improvement, so much so that I decided to go ahead and make the investment.
My first decision was where and how to mount the IPad. I did not wish to place it on my knee as I look out the window when flying VFR and wanted the IPad in my scan when flying IFR. Another concern was blockage of my flight instruments. A decision was made to mount the IPad on the yoke arm of my Bonanza in landscape mode. I couldn’t find a mount that would work and emailed RAM Mounts. Jerry Evarts promptly replied to my request. I assume RAM hadn’t sold any mounts in this configuration so it took a couple a days of emails back and forth along with a picture of how I wanted to mount the IPad. Jerry came up with a C clamp that mounted on the yoke arm, along with a 2 end swivel connector and then the IPad mount all for $70. Ram is an excellent company to work with, and I appreciated all their support. I would rate their customer support as excellent, and Ram is a company that really cares about their customers.
I moved my Garmin 396 from the yoke arm to sit on the glare shield as I still need it for XM music and weather. At this time there is no way to receive XM on the IPad.
The IPad is susceptible to glare in sunlight. To help alleviate this I ordered a glare shield cover and a cover to protect the back of the IPad at a total cost of $35. I found when flying that I have to turn the brightness 3/4 on the IPad and full brightness on ForeFlight to have a good view of the IPad in sunlight. This helps save battery life by not using full brightness on the IPad.
Having many conversations with friends that fly with the IPad they stated that the IPAD GPS wasn’t the greatest in holding a signal and was not as accurate as a Garmin Aviation GPS. There are 2 external GPS units that work with the IPad, one being a blue tooth model that would sit on top of the glare shield and the other is the Bad Elf that plugs into the bottom of the IPad. The bluetooth GPS would have to be recharged, and I didn’t want something that could run out of battery life in flight. The Bad Elf GPS measures 1inch by 1 inch and 1/4 inch thick. It’s really small and so good that it picks up the WASS GPS signal in my house which my Garmin 396 won’t. $99 from Amazon.
I bought the 32 gig IPad without GPS. It works over wireless, and if I am in a non wireless environment, I can tether to my phone using the phone as a modem. The external GPS uses slightly more battery of the IPad, but with the battery life of the IPad this has not been a concern. I have 200 songs, 400 pictures and several apps on my IPad. After downloading the ForeFlight app and 5 states (CA AZ NV CO NM) with all airports, IFR low enroute, VFR sectionals, approaches and taxi diagrams; I have only used 4 gig of my 32 gig IPad.
2 apps are available for navigation. One is WingXPro7 and the other is ForeFlight. For the full blown package WingXPro7 cost $199 and ForeFlight cost $150. I made the decision to buy ForeFlight after talking to several friends, and they all stated ForeFlight’s customer support is EXCELLENT! I always receive a response to my email questions within 24 hours or less. Their replies were thoughtful, and they never tired of answering my questions. I can’t say the same for WingX. ForeFlight comes with a free 30 day trial. You do not receive geo referenced approach plates and taxi diagrams with the free trial. There are 2 programs for ForeFlight. The first supplies all sectionals, low enroute IFR charts, high enroute IFR charts, arrivals and departures and approach plates. Your location shows on the charts in the manner of an airplane. It also comes with all arrival and departures but does not include taxi diagrams or geo referencing on the approaches which cost $75 a year for a subscription. The second includes taxi diagrams and approaches that are geo referenced plus all items in the $75 app for $150 a year. I decided to buy the Pro package with geo referencing on approaches and taxi diagrams. The only thing missing is a way to receive XM weather and music.
I found ForeFlight very easy to use. One builds a flight plan on the file page. Victor airways can be used on an IFR flight plan instead of putting in all waypoints as I do on my 396. To eliminate having multiple waypoints on an airway you can check off the bends only option in setup. Next step is to get a weather briefing and file your flight plan. If you do not wish to file a flight plan you can just do a briefing. Go to the maps page and weather is overlaid on a map for your route. Unfortunately weather is not overlaid on the sectional or IFR charts as in WingXPro7. There is an abundance of weather information, TFR’s and NOTAMS available to review after your briefing is completed. Remember this all has to be performed with an internet connection, and that the weather information is static once you leave this connection.
The airports page is amazing. It includes current flight rules after doing a briefing, current plain english weather at that airport, runways and information on each runway if there are multiple runways, procedures, notams, services and more.
Turn the Airplane mode to off and you are ready to fly. This will save battery life as the IPad won’t be continually seeking a wireless connection while flying. Everything hereon is performed by the GPS. Go back to the file page and hit maps, and it will take you to the route page and then enter the chart you want IFR or sectional. A flight plan overlays on the chart, and you may close and open it at any time.
My first flight with the IPad was only 70 miles direct from Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) to Payson, AZ (PAN). Everything went as planned, and upon return I went to the flight plan on the chart and reversed the route for our flight home. One major disappointment was there is no way to get distance to a waypoint and airport or enroute time on ForeFlight. This is necessary information for any GPS.The only items available for GPS were: airspeed, altitude, track, and accuracy of the GPS. I called ForeFlight when I returned and received a call back the next morning from Tyson Weihs owner of ForeFlight. Tyson was very aware of the situation and ForeFlight is working to reprogram the GPS information which would go from 4 to 6 blocks of information. It is to be hoped that these blocks will be user programable and include ETE to the next waypoint, ETE to complete the trip and distance to the next waypoint and airport.
The best feature for me on ForeFlight is that we get rerouted a lot when flying IFR. Instead of having to reenter information as I do on my Garmin 396, you just touch the next waypoint on the chart to where you are routed to, and you are on your way. That’s it! This was my major decision factor in buying the IPad and ForeFlight.
Our second trip with the IPad I filed IFR to Las Vegas MaCarran (LAS). We were rerouted twice. Once we were sent to another airway, then direct to a VOR off the airway and finally to the airway we were rerouted to. This was a no brainer using ForeFlight. I just pushed the VOR on the chart, hit direct and then pulled the route line to the new airway. Unfortunately we were given vectors to final and did not get to fly the geo referenced approach. Coming home we flew VFR to depart LAS faster, and the sectional chart was great.
We flew to San Diego Montgomery Field (MYF) April 2 and were able to fly the geo referenced ILS approach in actual. It was comfortable seeing the approach and our relationship to the approach on the approach plate down to minimums. Now I wish that ForeFlight would also have missed approach diagrams. Another improvement for the future?
There is one other interesting item for the IPad at a cost of $1150. It is a portable ADS-B In receiver by SkyRadar. This is a small unit that resides on the glare shield. SkyRadar receives real time NextRad weather, METARS and TAF. ADS-B In does not supply nearly the weather information that XM does. SkyRadar also allows you to see traffic on the IPad with a caveat. It only works when a plane with ADS-B Out is flying in your vicinity to awaken the ground station to report traffic. There aren’t many airplanes out there flying with ADS-B out so your chances of seeing traffic at this time on SkyRadar are minimal. WingXPro7 just announced that their app now works with ADS-B in. At this time ForeFlight will not.
I still carry paper backup enroute charts and paper approaches for my destination and alternate. My enroute charts are out of date, and I will not buy new ones as I compare the route on ForeFlight and the paper chart to ascertain that there are no changes to the airways. If there are changes then I would buy a new enroute chart. This is a lot less then I carried before.
My wish list is for XM on the IPad. This would enable me to have one GPS mounted in the cockpit and have the 396 for backup emergency and XM weather. As I am sending in this column an announcement was just made for a wireless XM adapter from Baron. Check it out at their web site.
Having some time to study WingXPro7 before submitting this column I would now consider buying WingXPro7. Split screens, extended runway center lines, ADS-B live weather and traffic, TFR’s on the chart, terrain warning, along with GPS distances and ETE’s make this a better product at the current time than ForeFlight. However I have read several instances of WingXPro7 crashing on the IPad and their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. In the end you will have to make the decision which app is best for you. Either way one can’t go wrong from the benefits derived using the IPad as a moving map.
My thanks to all the vendors that I worked with to make this poor man’s glass cockpit come to reality.
Arthur Rosen is a retired Judge living in Scottsdale, AZ. Arthur is AOPA-ASN for Scottsdale Airport (SDL), was Chairman of the Scottsdale Aviation Commission, served on the Super Bowl Committee for Aviation, past President of Arizona Soaring Association and Aviation Expert for ABC TV-Phoenix. Arthur can be reached at Judge613@gmail.com, followed on Twitter at Judge613 and his BLOG:
http://aviation-myopinion.blogspot.com
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