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ForeFlight is far and away the best flight planning app out there. It is currently the only one approved by TC to replace paper. It isn't exactly stellar as far as using it as a primary navigation GPS.

 

AirNav Pro is a good situational awareness app. I have it on my iPhone as a backup. The charts that come with it though are out of date and seem to be bootleg scans of VNCs and VTAs

 

FltPlan Go seems to show promise to compete with Forelight, but doesn't seem to be quite there yet.

 

If you're looking for a true GPS app for the iPad, look at Garmin Pilot. Not cheap, but you can get all the bells and whistles of a 795 for about 75 bucks a year. It can even interface with an ADS-B transceiver. The only glitch is it's not currently available on the iTunes Canada store...

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I imagine that the FLTPlan GO app will be improved upon. I find it a VERY cheap alternative to Fore Flight. Now I don't have to fork out $500 for an Ipad, and another $200 a YEAR for foreflight, when I can have this one for free. I have only played with it on my phone, and it certainly does the trick. You just have to save the info. The charts are a little hit and miss yet though. Can't wait to play with Geo-Referenced approach plates during training this fall!

 

Cheers

H.

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Winnie,

 

The geo-referenced plates in Foreflight are really awesome, and I did my US ATPL-H ride with the IFR plates overlayed on the VNC chart which helped immensely with situational awareness while swapping plates/airports and approaches in busy US airspace and poor wx. I gave Foreflight heck several times for not having this geo-reference capability in Canada and I'm pleased that they (or Nav Canada) have finally delivered this feature.

 

Instant weather while within in cellular coverage is a huge plus too. Can't afford the Sirius XM weather package right now.

 

As anti Apple as I am, I don't mind the ipad mini as a complement to my other techno gadgets, and I got the 128 GB Retina Cellular/Wifi version which was much more than $500 when I got it at initial release, particularly when you couldn't actually buy it anywhere :( Overall the package has been a good investment considering the lack of GPS alternatives. Wake up Garmin! I am able to continuously store all VFR/IFR data for Canada and the US with plenty of storage left for marine and other navigational data/apps.

 

I am running my rig with the XGPS-160 external GPS and that greatly improves position accuracy over the on-board GPS. There are other external GPS units but this one is WAAS capable and picks up GLONASS - plus I can use it with my Android phone apps too. The XGPS comes with a little rubber bootie that sticks fantastically to the plexiglass bubble in normal temps. We'll see how good it sticks at -40... ;)

 

For a software developer I am very impressed with Foreflight's responsiveness, technical support and great customer service. They even took my scathing feedback regarding not being Android compatible with good grace, diplomacy and tact.

 

On initial glance flightplan go looks promising, but I'd like to see Nav Canada make the digitial IFR/VFR data available to everyone, as opposed to only one business that does not support any platform other than iOS. Aside from being unfair, it puts other developers at an insurmountable competitive disadvantage when it comes to providing any useful Canadian nav capability.

 

Cheers,

tin lizzie

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