SAD!

I am sure that you have observed that I have not posted a lot recently. That is because my wife, Pam, has become very ill. In December, while in NYC, she had a severe eye bleed and has not been able to see out of her right eye since then. She has had one surgery a month ago and will need another in 10 days, and hopefully will be able to see again.

Pam had a kidney pancreas transplant 19.5 years ago, and in testing why her eye went bad, we found out that her kidney and pancreas are in failure. Having been through every test know to man at Mayo Scottsdale, we will receive the results March 30 to determine if she is able to have another transplant.

To those of you who have known about this, we appreciate your kind words and prayers. To those that did not....I will be writing again in the near future, and we thank you for your support.

SUPER BOWL 49

Super Bowl 49 has come and gone from Phoenix. It culminated in 7 years of work from our last Super Bowl. We all learned a lot from our mistakes which made for a much more successful event in 2015 for Aviation.

In our previous Super Bowl ATC was a disaster. It took 6 to 8 hours for planes to depart Scottsdale (SDL) Monday after the Super Bowl. This year almost everything went perfect. My accolades go out to the FAA and SDL Aviation Director Gary Mascaro.

Last Super Bowl Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) and SDL used the same departure. This meant only one plane could depart from either DVT or SDL at a time. With great cooperation from the FAA new departure procedures were put into effect so that planes could depart from DVT and SDL at the same time and would not be in conflict with Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX). There were no ground delays at either DVT or SDL this year.

The week leading to the Super Bowl saw the worst weather I have seen here in 36 years. We had thunderstorms with zero visibility Friday before the Super Bowl. Planes had to divert to other cities or just did not depart for SDL. Sunday morning we were fogged in. You could not see 50 feet in front of your eyes, and all airports in Phoenix were closed. Around 11 AM the fog lifted and we had arrivals until the 2 PM cutoff due to the TFR.

The only negative was some clueless person in the Air Force decided this would be a good week to degrade GPS signals that covered New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and parts of California. With the support of AOPA Headquarters we were able to get this lifted the day before, day of and day after the Super Bowl. Whoever decided to do this, did not have much in the way of common sense or intelligence.

Below are some pictures of SDL during Super Bowl weekend. Phoenix is not allowed to bid on another Super Bowl for 5 years, and I am looking forward to another great event.

 Computer at SDL showing arrivals for game day

Flight School airplanes relocated

Terminal building rented out by Landmark FBO for corporate pilots on game day

FOREFLIGHT- WINGXPRO THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY

I have flown with an IPad and ForeFlight (FF) or WingXPro (WX) since their inception. I started with FF switched to WX for the past 4 years and I am now flying with FF today.

I feel qualified to tell you today what I think of each program so you can make a qualified decision on your purchase. This is a more important decision than ever as ADS-B In has come into the picture and Stratus 2 does not work with WX, as the several other units that work with WX do not work with FF. You are looking at making a $900 investment and need to be right the first time or it gets expensive. I had a Sky Radar unit for WX and had to purchase a Stratus 2 for FF so I have $1,700 invested in ADS-B IN equipment.

I feel strongly that if you are not flying an airplane with a glass panel, that the IPad with these programs are the most important item you can have in the cockpit. I will go into this below. Even corporate jets are flying now with IPad’s and some sort of aviation app. I call the IPad the poor mans glass cockpit.

WEATHER & TERRAIN

There is a wealth of weather information available to pilots today. In the OLD days before personal computers and IPad’s weather briefings were coded to cut down on information. In the age of computers there is no reason to have coded weather briefings any longer. FF weather briefings are still coded and WX is plain english. 

Winner WX

Airmets and sigmets are outlined on the moving map on FF. Just touch it and all the information comes up on a dialog box. WX does not have this feature. 

Winner FF

Weather radar or NxtRad can be shown on the map page with ADS-B IN in flight. With WX you see both radar and terrain hazardous to flight, and with FF you have to toggle back and forth to terrain hazards to your flight and radar. I want to make sure I am clear of any obstructions when flying. The charts tell me this, but terrain avoidance is much easier on the brain. 

Winner WX

HSI SYNTHETIC VISION

When I purchased FF I paid an extra $25 for synthetic vision (SV). I really wanted the HSI feature more than SV but did not realize I could have had this without an additional charge. I do not think I will purchase SV next year as in my flying I do not need it. One big plus is that SV does give you obstacle terrain hazards. Green if you are not in any conflict, yellow 100 to 1000 foot clearance and red if you are going to fly into something. The graphics are seamless and more professional than WX. Flying mostly VFR I try to keep my eyes out the window. I think SV detracts from this in VFR flight. Flying an older plane the HSI gives me an excellent back up. 

Winner FF

APPROACHES

FF overlays the approach over your IFR chart, you can have just the approach plate displayed or split screen between the HSI and the approach plate. You keep your HUD which gives you airspeed distances and time to waypoints. WX will not let you overlay the approach chart but you can use a full screen for the approach and loose all HUD data or split the screen between IFR chart and the approach plate and still see HUD information.

Both FF and WX offer geo referencing  on the approach plates for an extra charge which I will discuss later. 

Winner FF

MOVING MAP

To my eyes the charts look crisper and more defined on FF. I do not like that I have to toggle between items on FF that are standard on WX. The profile view on FF is excellent and better than WX.

Winner Slightly to FF

Costs

WX clearly gives you more bang for the buck. For $75 for one year you get everything on WX that you would get on FF that would cost $175 a year except geo reference approach plates.

I am paying the extra money to FF for terrain warnings, profile view, SV and height above ground to name a few. If FF offered this on their basic package, as does WX, I would only buy the basic as I can fly an approach that is not geo referenced. 

Winner WX

Quality

Here is the rub. I left WX because of their lack of quality control. Weather did not work when I needed to do a briefing on multiple occasions, taxiway and runway warnings did not work until I was taking off on from a runway and a plethora of other issues.

I really depend on my IPad with an aviation app and could no longer depend on WX. That being said I still use my Garmin 396 as a backup, always on and running.

BIG WINNER FF

Are any of these apps perfect for aviation....NO! However from where we have come with nothing in the cockpit but paper charts, I am thrilled with what we have today. 

Bang for your buck go with WX and hope it works. I am flying with FF now for a reason.

SUPER BOWL 49...MILITARY, FAA, AOPA

SUPER BOWL 49 UPDATE

This is a followup to the column I wrote earlier this week about the problems with the military issuing a NOTAM on GPS degradation of signal during Super Bowl and the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament this week in Phoenix.

Since my last column I called Nellis Air Force Base right outside of Las Vegas where the NOTAM originated.They did not know anything about it. I also talked to the FAA and AOPA. The FAA told me if there were any problems they could shut down the GPS testing and are prepared to do so. AOPA met with their military liaison, and they came to an agreement to not do any testing the day before, the day of and the day after the Super Bowl. I guess something is better than nothing. The military did not take into account the large number of Net Jet flights coming into Scottsdale Monday and Tuesday for the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament this week. We also have a large contingent of corporate jets scheduled to arrive Thursday for the Super Bowl.

I could never find out who wrote the NOTAM to the FAA from the military. This is really stupid to perform these test when there will be over 1000 corporate jets flying into the Valley this week. We have put up with GPS testing by the military for years out of Las Vegas. Don’t you think by now they could get it right. I do not understand why this program goes on in perpetuity.

https://www.faasafety.gov/files/notices/2015/Jan/WSMR_15-02_GPS_Flight_Advisory.pdf 

SUPER BOWL 49

SUPER BOWL 49

In 11 days the Valley of the Sun will be hosting the Super Bowl again.

I served on the Aviation Committee for Super Bowl 42, and even though we thought we had everything covered, ATC turned out to be a disaster. Due to weather, planes at Scottsdale, SDL, had to depart southbound into Phoenix Sky Harbor, PHX, traffic. In addition only one plane was allowed to depart at a time from Phoenix Deer Valley, DVT, and SDL as they both used the same IFR departure. It also did not help that there was a major thunderstorm that closed the airports at noon. Departures the Monday after the Super Bowl were running 6-8 hours wait time. Albuquerque Center would not provide squak codes to those waiting to depart. It was a mess.

This year high five’s go to the FAA. We were able to create new departures so that DVT and SDL now have a different departure. These departure stay out of conflict with PHX. So everything should be great, that is until yesterday.

I received a NOTAM from the FAA issued by the military outside of Las Vegas that they decided to degrade GPS signals during the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament and the Super Bowl. This covers Southern California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. We expect over 600 private aircraft for these events, and the airlines have added numerous flights. In todays world these airplanes navigate primarily with GPS. Their signal can go out completely or be so degraded that GPS is not usable.

I emailed AOPA, called the local NBAA rep and have not had a response yet. I then called Senator John McCain’s office who was rude and blew me off. Next call was to Senator Jeff Flake’s office who was receptive, took all the information and will meet with their military liaison.

I do not know what the military was thinking when they issued this NOTAM. I can only hope that someone can get the ball rolling to rescind this test period.

NAVIGATION APPS FOR IPAD

You noticed the topic of this column is for IPAD’s. If you want to fly with one of these apps you are going to have to own an IPad. The stuff that is out there for Android is really bad. 

There are basically around 5 companies in the business with only 2 dominating and 1 that really owns the business. I am writing off Jeppensen and FlyQ, with not that much positive to say about Garmin. Garmin has done an excellent job with panel mounts and portable GPS systems. They came to the IPad market late with their app and while improved, it still leaves a lot to be desired. Their AHARS only shows in a full page and you loose the moving map. This to me is unacceptable.

That brings us to the 2 leaders ForeFlight (FF) and WingXPro (WX). 

WX offers a lot of features and is the best bang for the buck if you are a VFR pilot or IFR pilot. WX offers you everything you will need IFR included for $75 a year. The only thing you would pay extra for is geo referenced IFR approach plates. WX gives you the availability of split screen views in any situation. You could have an approach plate in one screen and a chart on the other. The problem is that if you go full screen with the approach plate you loose all pertinent information on the chart. This means you loose distance to next waypoint and heading. I do not like this approach to IFR flying.

The problem with WX is I cannot rely on it. Two out of the three past trips I have taken the weather has not worked. WX does not seem to monitor the app to see if it is working. I have had numerous other quality problem with WX and therefore cannot recommend it.

FF is the other major app for IPad navigation. If you are a VFR only pilot you do not have a lot of information that is pertinent to flight. The most important thing is that you do not have terrain awareness with the VFR program. I do not think this is in the best interest of safety. You are forced to buy the $150 program to get terrain awareness, safe taxi, height above ground and other features along with geo referenced approach plates. I do like how you can overlay the approach plate on top of the chart so you maintain all pertinent information flying an approach. FF allows you to set the transparency on the plate so it does not block out the chart. FF does have one split screen with the Stratus 2 ADS-B IN unit which is an AHARS, and flying a legacy airplane like mine is an excellent feature. WX also has the same setup with a second generation ADS-B IN unit.
FF has coded weather. Nobody today with a computer or IPad needs coded weather. This needs to be updated to plain english weather briefings.

I have a real gripe with all the apps in that what ADS-B IN unit works with one app will not work with another. If you have the Garmin app you need a Garmin ADS-B. If you have WX there are several ADS-B’s to choose from none of which work with Garmin or FF. FF only works with Stratus ADS-B units. You must be very careful which app you buy and which ADS-B unit as this is a great expense. If you decide you do not like WX and want to switch to FF you will have to buy a new ADS-B unit.

I have a friend that teaches classes approved by the FAA training people on Garmin, FF and WX apps. In the class there are usually 30 with FF, 1 or 2 with Gamin or WX. Take that as you may.

After flying with WX and FF the only app I can recommend is FF, not because of the features but because FF is much more reliable!!! It works and I can depend on it.

One other recommendation I can give is do not perform an update on an app for a coupe of days after it comes out. That way if there is a bug you will usually hear of it before downloading. FF had their first bad update that I recall last month and immediately notified their customer not to download it. It was too late for some.

In closing NEVER update an app if you are going on a trip. Wait until you get home. This way there should not be any problems.

I am recommending FF because of their quality control.

AOPA NEEDS A WIN

AOPA has had some tough battles over the years and until recently had a pretty good record. I know my Congressman and one Senator, but I have no clout when it comes to General Aviation issues. That is why AOPA is so important to me and GA. AOPA used to have around 419,000 members but that number is way down today due to attrition of pilots dying off, losing medicals and fed up with what has happened with AOPA in the past. The estimate of AOPA membership today is around 300,000. Phil Boyer took AOPA to great strides when he was President.  It only takes a short time to destroy someones hard work, and that is what happened when Craig Fuller became President. He alienated the membership. Now Mark Baker is in office and is trying to do everything the right way and doing a good job at it. When I am no longer able to fly I will remain a member of AOPA for all the good they do for GA.

Unfortunately AOPA’s track record has not been the best on issues lately. AOPA has lost several battles on airspace redo, with GA being squeezed out on Class Bravo Airspace. It is so bad in Phoenix that we have a ceiling in the class B that has been lowered to a shelf that is lower than the mountains adjacent to it. 6 people lost their lives because of this.

AOPA just spent, with others, hundreds of thousands of dollars for a vote to keep Santa Monica, CA (SMO) open. AOPA did everything right, but unfortunately only approximately 20% of the population even bothered to vote. AOPA’s referendum was defeated. We are fortunate that the FAA and DOT has final say so on this.

AOPA has 2 major issues on the table. 

The first being elimination of the 3rd class medical. I have always thought that the 3rd class medical is a joke. AOPA petitioned the FAA to change the 3rd class medical to allow VFR flight with one passenger in an airplane of 180HP or less. The FAA blew AOPA off and shelved this. AOPA then went to Congress to change the 3rd class medical rules. Congress came up with a much better offer to fly below 14,000 feet, VFR only, in any piston airplane. It sounded like Congress was ready to move on this. Then came the midterm elections and now the holiday break and nothing went forward. AOPA will have to start over again after the first of the year. Government never moves fast, and I do not know if I will see a result in my lifetime.

The second issue is ADS-B OUT. AOPA appeared before a Congressional committee 2 weeks ago and stated that there are approximately 180,000 airplanes in the fleet. Of these approximately 88,000 are worth $40,000 or less. The minimum cost I have seen to install ADS-B OUT in an airplane that does not have an IFR WAAS GPS and Mode S transponder is $7,500 parts and labor. Do the math and owners of these planes can not afford to purchase ADS-B OUT at current prices. AOPA is asking for portable units to be qualified to handle ADS-B OUT at a much lower cost to the airplane owner. This seems like a no brainer except the FAA has never approved a portable unit for anything in the cockpit.

AOPA is all we have folks. If these two issues do not succeed I am afraid we will loose even more members. I hate to say this but there will be a lot of parked GA airplanes that will not be flying any longer which leads to empty airports. Maybe this is what the FAA wants.

If you are a member of AOPA please renew, and if you are not....please join now.