Good EFBfor iPad?

[ZachLW 37]

"This isn't 'Nam - there are rules"

Lmao! I'm going to pop in that blu-ray after work today.Anyway. Suggesting someone be dishonest and rip an EFB developer off (or in this case the chart company[edit]) (on a developer's forum, no less) is hugely inappropriate. Edited January 11, 2012 by ZachLW

[NoahBryant 26]

Anyway. Suggesting someone be dishonest and rip an EFB developer off (on a developer's forum, no less) is hugely inappropriate.

Who said that?

[ZachLW 37]

Who said that?

My advice would be to list out all the chart providers and simply use their free trial consecutively and thus maximize your time with premium, easily accessible charts. I did this and it surprisingly worked for over a year.

[NoahBryant 26]

Hmm missed that I guess. Sounds inconvenient but oh well.

[KriVa 307]

If you fly around the major airports in Europe a lot, the free version of Lido iRM from LHTechnik might be worth a look.

[tutmeister 712]

planningcharts.de is a great resource with some well designed charts. You can grab all the files in one convenient zip file from here. I recommend you sign up to be notified of any updated ones.As far as EFB's, FS Kneeboard is great, I love it, but I'd love to finally have one app that I could use worldwide for all my flying. I know that's the holy grail, but it never hurts to wish out loud! :D

[ZachLW 37]

I will say (Paul, to you especially) that Aivlasoft has been impressing me (Noah, sorry. I haven't tried FSKB). Now that I've gotten the hang of it and importing Flightaware recently used plans, I'm having a blast. It's much like FSCommander, but feels a little more UI friendly.That I have a networked setup is the only reason I'm considering the full purchase. Networking Aivlasoft was actually a cinch -- of course Windows 7 also makes it easy.

[bburkley 0]

I will say (Paul, to you especially) that Aivlasoft has been impressing me (Noah, sorry. I haven't tried FSKB). Now that I've gotten the hang of it and importing Flightaware recently used plans, I'm having a blast. It's much like FSCommander, but feels a little more UI friendly.That I have a networked setup is the only reason I'm considering the full purchase. Networking Aivlasoft was actually a cinch -- of course Windows 7 also makes it easy.

I do the same with FlightAware Zach, and it's really coming to life. I know the price was the only thing that made me hesitate at first, but got lucky and they had a 20% off sale right when I was thinking of buying it. Plus, once we have this:http://www.pfpx.com/we'll be able to import even more realistic routes, etc.Just a thought, wonder if PMDG would ever consider working with Aivlasoft to adapt this software for the 777 EFB, I know they mentioned it was a possibility they would include that option. I understand the T7's EFB interface is quite a bit different, but it would be awesome if Aivlasoft could create an EFB plug-in type software for the 777 and that way save PMDG some of the grunt work creating a whole new computer within our computer. Be that as it may, Aivlasoft's EFB as it stands, serves as a great stand-alone EFB add-on for airline ops or any aircraft in my opinion.

[NoahBryant 26]

I'm in the same boat Paul, 99% of the reason I only fly in the US is the unavailability of good planning tools. I'd love to explore the Canadian parts of ORBX but without a good sectional it's no fun. I tried Aivlasoft twice and I couldn't get it to work either time. User error I'm sure, but still.

[tutmeister 712]

I'm in the same boat Paul, 99% of the reason I only fly in the US is the unavailability of good planning tools. I'd love to explore the Canadian parts of ORBX but without a good sectional it's no fun.I tried Aivlasoft twice and I couldn't get it to work either time. User error I'm sure, but still.

I hear you. I actually went and bought paper charts awhile back from a Canadian online pilot store. Expensive and annoying in the flightsim environment. So EFB is the way forward and I've learned my lesson with paper, it's simply not the same as when you're in a cockpit. *wife comes in, laughs so hard at me geeking out that the coffee she's bringing ruins the whole damn chart!* (just kidding but I could imagine that happening, at least with my iPad she just thinks I'm surfing the net while flying online haha).

[wanabflyer 53]

I too have Aivlasoft EFB with the display networked on a laptop. Now i'm over the price (Took advantage of the 20% off), it's starting to grow on me.

[Buddy2 0]

To the OP: My 1.5 year old boxer pup is named Walter... "LOOK! JUST BECAUSE WE ARE BEREAVED, THAT DOESN'T MAKE US SAPS!!!"I do most of my flying in the US, so I can't comment about worldwide coverage... But I use flightaware in safari for all of my flights. I've only found this useful since the new iOS update with the tabbed browsing. What I do is go to the IFR route analyzer... Press and hold on the departure ICAO until it asks "Open in a new tab"... Same thing with the arrival airport.Then on that tab, I'll go to IFR Plates, and then open all the SIDS for the departure and the airport diagram.... Both in their own tabs....Same on the arrival, just with a 3rd tab with the approaches....Probably not the "best" way, but it works for me and my wallet :)Cheers!Bud

[tutmeister 712]

While we're on Lebowski, count me another fan of Walter. I'm a Proud attendee of LebowskiFest UK 2007!

[quadraspleen 7]

heh, to all fans of Walter: "You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me....."So, I've been using a few of the available EFB's for iPad and can report thus (if anyones interested) :) And also, these are first impressions. I haven't really got to use any of them heavily but I have used them all at one time or another. These aren't intended to be reviews; if I get some real time in with them I may stick something up in the readers reviews section. Please don't take these as definitive answers!FSkneeboard: Good app. Pretty much all you need for flying in the USA bar flight-planning functionality. All the charts and procedures are there. Also it has an NGX checklist! Very useful. Good weather, too. Good layout. relatively cheap. It has a "premium" big brother, which I've also got, which is very similar but seems to have bigger muscles, so to speak. Moer of everything and a slightly neater layout. You have to buy all of the juicy stuff in-app. I think you can keep what you've downloaded on your device once your subs have run out. They also charge for each new AIRAC cycle, which is annoying as I already have a Navigraph sub. More on that later.EFB: Similar in offering to FSKeeboard but not as well laid out and seemingly less on offer in terms of readily available charts. Good weather. Again, US only. Needs a yearly sub. Not as intuitive to use as FSK. Pretty cheap though. Again I think you can keep downloaded plates; charts etc. This seems to be a common thread.AVCaddy EFB: Really good flight-planning app. Does all of the above but in a really logical way: you choose dep and arr ICAO; time; plane type (really comprehensive profile creator for this); pax and fuel and it creates a route (or you can manually add one) and then leads you through it with charts and procedures inc. TFR's. Very logical and easy to use. Again, US only :(OZRunways: Very good, well laid out and easy to use app. Australia only. It has all Au fields and pretty much all of the charts for them. It has VTC, VTC insets, VNC, TAC, ERC lo and hi, WAC, PCA and a full openstreetmap map. You can do manual flight-planning. It has full AIP's for the whole of Au and a whole heap of other very useful Airservices docs on file for ready availability. Basic weather info. It's free but only for a month. Again, you can keep all you've d/l though. It changes each AIRAC cycle.FSAssistant: This isn't strictly an EFB in the same way as the rest. It has a link to RouteFInder and it can follow your plane in FSX (with a little daemon that you stick into your EXE.xml file. You can save docs to it through iTunes. It has a "transfer flightplan" link when you've chosen your plan on RF, but I can't see how or where it goes.So, that's it for now fellow Crapple owners. It's a small choice (there are more, but they're big bucks. The most expensive one here was £13.99) but I can only see it getting better. It's a relatively new platform, and as RL pilots start to use them as EFB's, which I understand some airlines have now sanctioned, it will accelerate the number of available titles, I'm sure.What I _really_ want is an app that does all of the above, but lets me use MY Navigraph subs, not have to pay extra for app-specific content. I think Airtrack does this but I haven't yet splashed out the 17 quid until I know it will work!I'm going to keep going through them and I'll report back

[michal 44]

Some even flat out refused (Canada being one).

FltPlan has a real life EFB apps for IPad with the US and Canadian charts - all free. I tried them, it is OK but the downloading speed is not too good. But hard to complain when something is free. Edited January 22, 2012 by michal