New iPad Review

There's the knock at the door, you feel the package in your hands, you unwrap it ... Who doesn't like the excitement of exploring new stuff?

If you've read the reviews to date you probably know the basics: The new iPad is a bit faster than the iPad 2, it has more cache, but it also needs that cache to support the high-density "retina" display. If you choose to get the 4G model (I chose Wifi), there are reports of impressive data bandwidth - 14MB/sec or better in some urban areas. Used judiciously, this could be a very good thing. Use that bandwidth gratuitously and you'll go through your monthly data limit in no time, not to mention your battery.

The new iPad is a bit thicker and heavier than the iPad 2, but to tell the truth I couldn't really notice any difference. If you have a magnetic Smart Cover, it will work just fine with the new iPad. Rear cases for the iPad 2 are incompatible with the new iPad and third-party suppliers are only now beginning to get some offerings out there. On eBay I found an inexpensive, bare-bones transparent case for the new iPad that works with the Smart Cover for a mere $12.99, including shipping. Other third-party cases may be sexier, but they can set you back as much as $60, or more.

Early benchmarks seem to indicate the iPad 2 and the new iPad are essentially the same when it comes to processor and memory performance. I find the new iPad a bit faster when it comes to downloading chart updates and the crispness of the retina display is a noticeable improvement when viewing PDFs and Jeppesen's rendered charts. Try something like scrolling through Google Earth and you'll see a marked difference. In general, most any text that is rendered on the new iPad's retina display looks a lot better.

Storage, WiFi, 4G ...

I previously recommended the 16GB iPad as being sufficient for most pilots. Lately I've had to clean out unused apps and data from my iPad 2 because I was down to 1.8GB of free storage. For the new iPad, I chose 32GB and that seems to be adequate for my needs. Then again I have loaded three EFB apps as well as numerous presentations, spreadsheets, and PFD documents. If you want to store a lot of music or a movies for that long airline flight, you may want to give some thought to more storage or consider an external storage device.

My choice was to continue to with the WiFi model rather than go 4G, mainly for budgetary reasons. Yesterday I flew with a pilot who had just gotten the 4G version. Just before engine start, he realized he hadn't transferred his ForeFlight Checklists. No problem. He was able to sync his check list to his iPad over 4G in what seemed like about 10 seconds. As an aside, ForeFlight Checklist Pro, having been designed for the iPhone and needing to be run in 2X mode, looks fantastic on the new iPad retina display.

The downside of 4G would seem to be battery life. After a 1.5 hour flight, the battery on the new iPad 4G was down to 5% from almost being about half charged at the start of the flight. More investigation needs to be done, but it would appear that disabling 4G or using an auxiliary power source in flight is a must with the new iPad. After two solid days of flying, my new iPad WiFi battery life seems exactly the same as the iPad 2.

Another preliminary observation is that my new iPad may run a bit warmer. Right now the weather is cool in Northern California, so time will tell if the extra graphics and cache will contribute to higher operating temperatures. Right now, I haven't seen any heat-related issues.

Upgrade or Wait?

To buy or not to buy? That is the question for many pilots. If you are an original iPad owner, moving up to the new iPad is a no-brainer. If you currently own an iPad 2, I don't see a pressing reason to upgrade unless you need 4G performance, you have filled up your storage, you have need for the retina display, or you just must have the latest/greatest and you have the requisite disposable income. If you do choose to trade up from the iPad 2, you'll undoubtedly be able to sell it for a higher price now than if you wait until the next product offering.

Rumors abound about a smaller form factor (7.85") iPad being released in October 2012 to compete with the Kindle-sized readers. A smaller iPad could be a viable device for yoke mounting in an aircraft, but we all know about rumors. The reasonable assumption would seem to be that any follow-on to the new iPad (whatever it will be called) won't hit the market for at least another year. The bottom-line for me is that the new iPad WiFi is drop-in replacement for the iPad 2 and performs just a well as its predecessor.

Embracing Hi-Tech

Since last April, I've logged around 300 hours of flight time and probably twice as many hours of ground training using the iPad. While the iPad isn't perfect, I've found it invaluable as:
electronic flight bag
note pad
logbook
book library
video player
E6B calculator
credit card reader, and more.

I can access practical test standards, present a lesson, quickly calculate aircraft weight and balance, access aircraft checklists, and get weather briefings. Sure it's taken some learning and adapting on my part, but the iPad has made me a more effective and efficient instructor (multi-tasking offered by the latest iOS4.2 is a big help, by the way). My students see me using an iPad, see its capabilities, and naturally test the waters by asking if they should be using one, too. My qualified answer is "Sure, if you want to."

Spare the Rod

Some instructors and pilots see this permissive attitude as heretical. It's a common practice for instructors to deprive student pilots of access to certain equipment as a way to focus their attention and promote learning in a scenario-based teaching approach. A student who spends too much time looking at their instruments instead of outside the cockpit might be helped by the instructor covering up those instruments. When first learning cross-country navigation, it's common for students to  navigate using a chart, the magnetic compass, and prominent landmarks before learning to use a GPS receiver or other radio navigation systems. Introducing pilotage as the student's primary mode is crucial because, GPS or not, they must ultimately be able to locate unfamiliar airports with their eyes. But this does not mean that all flight instruments are to be avoided or that GPS usage will make a pilot incompetent.

Where things go South is when instructors become obsessed with thinking that if some deprivation is good, more must be better. This can take the form of "When I was a young pilot, no one used a headset, my instructor smoked cigars inside the plane, and I had to navigate using compass, a stopwatch, and with one hand tied behind my back."


Riiight.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, most new training aircraft come equipped with GPS and autopilots, yet some instructors still pride themselves on refusing to let students use this equipment - ever. Pilots need to recognize this for what it is: kooky talk. Even the FAA requires instructors bestowing solo cross-country privileges on a student (14 CFR 61.93(e)(8)) to ensure the student is proficient with:

Procedures for operating the instruments and equipment installed in the aircraft to be flown, including recognition and use of the proper operational procedures and indications.

Getting Qualified

This gets to the qualified part of my permissive approach: Pilots must show they can competently use any equipment in the plane, understand the limitations of the equipment, have a viable back-up strategy if the equipment fails, and demonstrate they are proficient using the back-up strategy and that their piloting performance is not adversely affected. This applies to everything installed in the plane and, by extension, to any equipment the student decides to bring with them: E6B slide rule, electronic E6B, fancy calculator watch, handheld GPS, or iPad (or any EFB for that matter).

The obvious back-up for an iPad/EFB is a selection of paper charts and a good scenario for EFB users is the simulated failure of their treasured device. It's reassuring to know that one can still locate, unfold, and use a paper chart, or thumb through an Airport/Facilities Directory, or locate a chart in a terminal procedures book. If you don't use a skill, you'll lose that skill.

I teach student pilots to use the autopilot, if one's installed in the airplane and that includes recovering from a runaway trim scenario. Of course they must be proficient at hand flying, but using the autopilot to give them a breather on long flights can actually enhance learning and if it reduces fatigue, it's the safe thing to do. Flying with an autopilot isn't cheating, it's a different kind of flying that need to be understood and practiced. A student of mine was about to go for his check ride recently and he asked if he could use the autopilot while planning his in-flight diversion. My response was "Sure, tell the examiner what you're doing. Of course he may tell you that you may not use the autopilot ..."

Share the Wealth

There's more and more cool stuff out there everyday and a lot of it, used intelligently, can make flying safer, easier, cheaper, and more enjoyable. New stuff needs to be properly learned, understood, and managed. And that means instructors need to stay current and learn the new stuff rather than steadfastly embracing old school. From the beginning, change has defined aviation and the new stuff just keeps coming. Thankfully, there's no turning back.

The Problem with Checklists

Having finished reading The Checklist Manifesto, which deals with how checklist procedures can and have improved the delivery of medical care, I found some thoughts on aviation checklist procedures bubbled to the surface. The author, Atul Gawande, credits aviation as the inspiration for implementing checklist procedures in medicine. While there's no doubt that checklists help pilots complete complex procedures, the mere existence of a checklist doesn't immunize us from disaster. Pilot and aircrew performance is tightly linked to the quality and appropriateness of the checklist as well as checklist discipline. And let's not sidestep the whole issue of having to face a situation for which no checklist exists.

Appropriate and Useful

A fellow freight pilot once observed that there are just two kinds of mistakes that pilots can make: Those that embarrass us and those that can damage the airplane and/or kill us. An airline pilot friend once confided that he realized he could make errors in the cockpit at any time. His goal was to uncover any errors and correct them before they became a safety issue. For checklists to be an effective first line of defense against fatal mistakes, they must contain the crucial tasks and actions that apply to the situation at hand. Once a good checklist has been made available, pilots have to follow it. Here's a video a horrific accident during the test flight of a turbine conversion for the Caribou. The crew apparately neglected to remove the control lock, with deadly results.

One of Gawande's central themes is that the development of useful and appropriate checklists is aided by organizations that exhibit teamwork, continuous enhancement, and decentralized control. Gawande cites a study where a checklist was developed for the medical procedure of inserting central line. The steps were simple but it turns out that some of the crucial ones were often skipped, resulting in a high rate of infection, complications, and even patient death. When a checklist was developed for central lines and adhered to, the rate of infection dropped dramatically, survival rates improved and (here's what got a lot of attention) hospitals saved a ton of money. Interestingly, it was nurses who often reminded doctors when they were about to make a mistake, like forgetting to don a surgical mask or use a sterile drape.

The sort of cooperation being suggested by Gawande, where decision making, process improvement and double-checks are performed by people on the front lines, is not always what happens in aviation. Top-down organizational structure is often the rule in aviation, with the FAA being at the top of the heap. When I flew freight, I was astonished to learn that the checklists for our aircrafts' optional equipment weren't included in the regular manufacturer's checklist. Checks that needed to be done every day were strewn throughout the Supplements section of the Approved Aircraft Flight Manual. Creating a company checklist seemed like the answer, but that would have required a lot of time, effort and money since the checklist would need to be ... wait for it ... approved by the FAA. So there were procedures in the manufacturer's checklist that were incorrect or missing and the FAA's regulations (the ones supposed to ensure safety) condoned an environment where required equipment checks were easily forgotten or skipped altogether. At least this gave us something to talk about during recurrent training.

Gawande's glowing view of aviation checklists aside, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that many aircraft manufacturer checklists are woefully inadequate, incomplete, and in some cases they even contain incorrect information. One manufacturer's After Landing checklist for a late-model aircraft in which I instruct contains just one task: FLAPS UP. Don't mistake this simplicity for elegance, because in point of fact it is inadequate. Checklist procedures continue to be spread throughout Approved Aircraft Flight Manuals, due to the manner in which aircraft and their components are certificated, and this may lead a pilot to incorrectly conclude that all of the manufacturer's checklist content is irrelevant. 

The good news here is that student pilots (and certificated pilots, too) flying under 14 CFR parts 61 and 91 can develop their own checklists. Just ensure that whatever checklists you develop contain, at their core, the manufacturer's checklist items. Creating your own checklist can be a great learning experience, but borrow an idea from Gawande's book and have some other pilots and instructors check your work for accuracy and completeness.

Familiarity Breeds ... Complacency

Assuming you have correct and complete checklists, there is another issue to address. Do the same routine countless times and you'll find you tend to skip using the checklist, do the tasks from memory, or use a flow check or mnemonic. Variety is the spice of life and I think it might even be the key to safety. There's emerging research that indicates what we have always suspected; endless routine is booooring and it can actually keep our brains from performing well.

On the ground, I still recommend using the checklist as a do-list, but that doesn't mean you can't have a passenger participate by reading the checklist to you. In the air you can mix things up by alternating between the checklist and a flow check or a mnemonic backed up with the checklist. Mix up your procedural routine and you may find checklist procedures to be less onerous, just be sure you don't skip any steps in the process.

I'm a big fan of Foreflight's Checklist app for the iPhone (it works on the iPad, too). What's nice about this app is that it's hard to lose your place as you check off items. Should you miss something, the app takes you right back to the first thing you skipped. If you discover a missing task or want to change the order of tasks, you can edit a checklist on the spot; no need to print out a new version, laminate it, etc. I fly a lot of different aircraft types and the checklist app really helps me keep it all straight without carrying a gazillion paper checklists.

Infrequently Used = Easily Forgotten

With abnormal or emergency checklists, we're faced with the opposite problem of routine checklists. Under stress and time pressure, these seldom-used checklists can make us feel confused and clumsy. The answer is to review these checklists by doing some arm chair flying from time to time, imagine an abnormal or emergency situation, then work you way through the checklist. You can also practice this in a simulator, just like the airlines do. Review emergency and abnormal checklists once a month and you'll be less likely to be flummoxed should a real emergency occur in flight or on the ground.

Designers and engineers can't anticipate every possible situation that a pilot or flight crew might face, so there isn't a checklist for all possible abnormal or emergency situations. Several years ago, flying in the wee hours of the morning of course, I heard a single, loud chirp every few seconds combined with annunciator lights flashing on and off. After a few confusing minutes (it didn't help that I'd barely gotten 6 hours of sleep in my 8 hour rest period), I determined the generator was being tripped off-line and then coming back on-line, all on its own, over and over. A quick review of the checklists showed there was no defined procedure for this problem. I followed the "generator offline" checklist as best I could and thankfully there was a standby electrical system. When I got on the ground and described the problem to maintenance, their first reaction was "That can't be!" Eventually the root cause was found and it did turn out to be an oddball failure.

I've witnessed numerous landing gear system problems for which there was no checklist. Most aircraft have emergency landing gear extension procedures, but many do not have checklist for situations like the landing gear failing to retract or only two out of three landing gear being extended. One of the most potentially dangerous situations you can face in single-pilot operations is an abnormality or emergency for which there is no checklist. This is where pilots try to use their knowledge of the aircraft systems to decide the correct course of action, in effect creating their own checklist in the moment.

The key in these situations is don't be in a hurry. Think very carefully and avoid impulsively jumping to any conclusions or simple explanations. If you have another pilot or a passenger on board, involve them in the process even if that only means you talking out loud and them listening to your thought process. You can learn a lot by listening to yourself talk.

Pessimistic or Realistic

It's been said that a good pilot is a pessimist, but I think being a realist may be better. Avoid an overly optimistic or inflated view of your skills, your knowledge, or your currency. Remember that there are mistakes that can embarrass you and mistakes that can kill you. The only thing standing between you and a fatal error just might be an open mind and a good checklist.

Night Vision and the iPad

Flying at night in a dark cockpit with an iPad can be frustrating because the screen brightness controls are limited and difficult to access. Even at the lowest brightness setting, displaying an approach chart is pretty hard on night vision adaptation, but there is a built-in feature that can help. File this under "I should have known about this feature, but only just learned about it." (Thanks Dennis!)

Tap on Settings and select Accessibility, then set Triple-click Home to White/Black. This allows you to triple-click on the home key to toggle the display between normal and inverse.

Here's how an approach chart looks in inverse mode, which is much easier on the eyes at night.

The terminal procedures selection screen in inverse mode is also much easier on the eyes.

This is an IFR low altitude en route chart in inverse mode. It looks a bit weird at first, but it's actually quite usable.

On the other hand, VFR sectionals in inverse mode are a bit trippy.

With the night display issue pretty much solved, my next wish is to have IOS 4.2 and multitasking on the iPad in early November, though it may be closer to Thanksgiving before it's available.

Search Amazon.com for ipad

Darn Clab, Bard Calm

Reading Matthew May's In Pursuit of Elegance got me thinking about how, try as we might to keep things simple, aviation tends to be a complicated activity. Many GA aircraft have a peculiar steam punk sort of appearance when compared to the simplicity of modern automobile designs. Perhaps the lack of progress in simplifying aviation designs has to do with the very regulations that are supposed to ensure aviation safety. Compare a non-IFR-certified handheld GPS receiver with an IFR-approved panel mount unit: The handheld units generally have simpler user interfaces while the panel mounts seem needlessly complicated. But it's not just avionics that complicate the picture. Instrument approach procedures, with the advent of RNAV, have certainly gotten more arcane. The promise of FADEC notwithstanding, GA pilots routinely fly behind aircraft engines produced with the latest manufacturing techniques, but based on designs from the 1950's that require more user input and a lot of monitoring. In the face of research that shows the human brain is not very well-suited to monitoring, pilots, instructors, and the FAA recommend procedures like checklists, flow checks, and mnemonics to help manage the workload and remember to do important stuff.

Checklists & Do Lists

Every practical test standard (PTS) publication from the FAA contains the phrase "... completes appropriate checklist ..." Not just once, but several times. Typically checklists contain a series of tasks grouped by the phase of flight - preflight inspection, engine start, taxi, before takeoff, and so on.

A checklist can be used as a "do list," where a pilot completes one item at a time, in sequence. Some instructors teach pilots to read the check list out loud in a single-pilot environment. In multi-crew environments, one pilot may read the challenge part of the task while the other pilot responds after the required action has been completed. Checklists need to be used intelligently in single-pilot operations, which is why the FAA included the following language in the Instrument Rating PTS:

The situation may be such that the use of the checklist, while accomplishing elements of an Objective, would be either unsafe or impracticable, especially in single-pilot operation. In this case, a review of the checklist after the elements have been accomplished would be appropriate. Division of attention and proper visual scanning should be considered when using a checklist.

That's good advice, though I'd change the word "should" to "must." In any event, what the FAA seems to be suggesting is that the use of a flow check or mnemonic is called for during high workload situations, after which the pilot can use their checklist to verify that they haven't forgotten anything.

Go with the Flow

A flow check is a procedure where a pilot sets aircraft controls in a particular sequence that follows the layout of the controls, thereby making the position of the controls a reminder to the pilot of what to do. The flow check may or may not group the actions to be accomplished in the same exact order as the checklist. A flow check is not foolproof because as your attention shifts to each gauge or control, you must take the appropriate action and take notice of any abnormal or emergency conditions. When using a flow check in single-pilot operations, you'd best to back it up with a real checklist when time permits.

Becoming a (Wo)Man of Letters

Mnemonics are memory devices that can help a pilot accomplish a sequence of tasks from memory when they don't have the luxury of picking up and reading a checklist. I've taught many of the common mnemonics (like CGUMPS and the five T's), even though I'm not necessarily fond of some of them. My teaching experience has shown me that to be effective, an acronym needs to be catchy and it should contain unique letters that spell out some recognizable word. While no mnemonic is perfect, correlating a series of tasks to a string of identical letters requires more mental effort. And if the same letter is used multiple times, the order of the tasks is more likely to be mixed up in the heat of the moment. Consider the following two mnemonics for an approach briefing.

M - Missed approach
A - Altimeter(s) set
R - Radios set, Nav & Com
T - Time from FAF to MAP
H - Heading on intermediate and final approach
A - Altitudes at FAF, stepdown fixes, DH or MDA

A - ATIS

A - Altimeter

A - Airspeed

A - Approach speed

A - Avionics

I've seen pilots make more mistakes with the five A's, the five C's, and the five T's. I've seen pilots unintentionally omit one of the items. Just as often they confess that they know they are forgetting something, but are only able to recall the first letter of the item.

Of course, which mnemonic works for you is up to you. Here's a mnemonic that seems to harken back to an era when smoking was more commonplace. I don't use it, but some pilots swear by it.

C - Controls, free and correct
I - Instruments, left to right, top to bottom
G - Gas set to fullest tank, auxiliary fuel pump
A - Altimeter set
R - Radios, runup completed
T - Trim(s) set for takeoff
I - Interior, doors and windows secure
P - Propeller full
S - Seatbelts, switches

Lastly, here are some memory devices I learned from Lou Fields, a Naval aviator who returned to civilian life in the late 1960's and has been an instructor and designated examiner at the Oakland Airport for as long as anyone can remember.

This is Lou's before takeoff check for an IFR departure:

D - D/G, De-ice

A - Airspeed, Attitude Indicator Altimeter

R - Radios

N - Needle & Ball

C - Clearance, charts, cockpit

L - Lights

A - Altimeter error

B - marker Beacons

And here's Lou's instrument approach checklist.
B - marker Beacons on
A - ATIS recorded
R - Radios set
D - Directional gyro checked/set

C - Clock
A - Altitude error noted
L - Landing check completed
M - Missed approach briefed

In single-pilot operations, it's obvious that mnemonics have shortcomings similar to flow checks: You best back-up a memorized list of tasks with a checklist.

Mistakes Still Happen

After a long day of flying behind glass panel aircraft, is it any wonder how some pilots might yearn to fly a taildragger made of wood and fabric, with a few simple controls and the minimum compliment of instruments? The problem is that even in a simple aircraft a pilot with good checklist discipline can still make critical mistakes. There are steps pilots can take to reduce these risks and I'll cover that in my next installment.

The iPad's here ... almost

Note: See my latest post on the iPad here


No, I wasn't at the big soirée in San Francisco and I have yet to actually handle an iPad, but after all the rumors I, like many others, was excited to see the actual device on display. As my readers know, what I'm primarily interested in is the iPad as EFB and it looks like it could work nicely for that purpose, with some caveats. First the good, then the not-so-good.

The Good

As one might expect with Apple, the construction quality and the form factor are excellent.

Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
Weight: 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (0.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Decent estimated battery life of 10 hours.

Nice looking, crisp display. Haven't seen it in daylight, but if it's like my Macbook Pro then the LED backlight display with auto contrast control is quite good.

Price seems reasonable and competitive, though I'm thinking I'd probably go for the version without 3G.

Lots of connectivity options for moving data to and from the device, though you'll have to buy the 3G version to get the SIM card tray. D'oh!

The Not-So-Good

Maximum operating altitude is 10,000 feet. The first thing everyone says when I mention this is "But it has a solid state disk drive!" Now this is pure speculation, but the altitude limit could be due to any number of components - the display, the internal switches/accelerometers that detect rotation and movement, who really knows? The altitude limit is not such a big deal for displaying approach plates as I know of few airports with a field elevation at or above 10,000 feet.

Operating temperature range could be an issue for some folks, depending on your location and the season: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C).

At the moment there is no support for multi-tasking, though the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 is rumored to support multi-tasking.

The other issue with the iPhone OS is that some of my favorite applications that I'd love to see run on this device, like ReadyProcs for instance, would need to be ported. Depending on the APIs, this may not be a huge deal or it could be a lot of work. I'd speculate that Nacomatic and PDFPlates should be pretty usable with an iPhone-based PDF viewer.

iPhone applications for viewing maps, like SkyCharts and ForeFlight should be much more useful on the iPad.

Right now, this is all academic. The device won't go on sale for another 60 days and even then, one can expect shortages. But at least the cat is out of the bag.

ForeFlight Checklists for the iPhone

After the ditching of US Airways 1549 in the Hudson River earlier this year, an interesting fact came out of the review of the accident: In order to apparently save some money, the index tabs on the aircraft check lists had been removed, making the check list more difficult to use. Now in emergency situations there isn't always going to be time to run the appropriate check list, but I kept wondering "wouldn't it be nice if there was as electronic way to quickly access and display this information?" This would be especially nice for frequently used, non-emergency check lists.

Well ForeFlight has created two iPhone apps, Checklist Lite and Checklist Pro, that allow you to create your own aircraft check lists in an easy-to-access format. The Lite version of the app is free and the Pro version costs $19.99. Either app will function just fine with your iPhone in airplane mode. Again, let me disclose that I was provided a complimentary version of ForeFlight Checklist Pro by the developers in consideration for my reviewing their product.


I suggest that if you're serious about check lists on your iPhone (or iPod Touch) that you spring for the Pro version because it allows you to create, edit, and sync check lists on a web site using your browser as an editor. I found this much easier than editing on the iPhone itself (which is all the Lite version supports). Once you have created a check list on the web-based editor, you can sync it with your iPhone. The Pro version also gives you access to a variety of check list templates for a select number of popular aircraft.

In this review I'll just be covering the Pro version, discussing how to use the ForeFlight Checklist web site to create a new check list, then how to sync the checklist with your iPhone and use it with the aircraft in question. ForeFlight has also produced this how-to video.

After purchasing the Pro version, you register a checklist account on ForeFlight Checklist web site. The first thing you'll see when you log onto the ForeFlight Checklist web site is a list of checklists. Their scheme is to name the checklist with the plane's tail number, but I fly a lot of different aircraft with different tail numbers and many of those aircraft are of the same type. So I chose to name my check lists after the type of aircraft, rather than the registration number, so I could have one check list for each type. Your mileage may vary ...



The ForeFlight Check Lists are organized in a three-level hierarchy: The top level, called Group, contains Normal and Emergency/Abnormal items, You can't add, delete, or change items at the Group level. Now I like the check lists I create and use to have a comprehensive list of all the V-speeds in one place, so I created my own Subgroup called "V-Speeds" that contains a List group with those speeds.



You can decide what items you want in the Group and List levels of the hierarchy by using the the icons to the right of each header. You can move items up or down, rename, or delete, them. You can even copy List items to another Group within your check list or to a different check list altogether. The List level contains the actual check list items, organized in a Challenge/Response format along with a provision for notes on each item. If you want to create a header to separate lists of challenge/response items, just type something in the Challenge field and leave the Response and Notes fields blank.



Once you have created your check lists on the ForeFlight Checklist web site, it's time to launch the app on your iPhone (or iPod Touch). That's when you'll see this splash screen reminding you that a check list on your iPhone is not a substitute for the manufacturer's supplied data that should be in the aircraft.



You won't see any check lists when you first launch so you can tap the + button in the upper left and start editing on your iPhone or do what I did and tap on the sync button in the lower left edge of the screen (shown circled in red).



Syncing is pretty fast, but it can be unexpectedly destructive and the process currently provides no warning if the sync action you are about to do will delete a check list entirely. I found this out the hard way - D'oh!


Once the sync is complete, you'll see all the checklists that you created on the web site are now on your iPhone (or iPod Touch).



I tapped on the GA7 check list and this brought up a list of the normal check list Groups by default. To see the emergency/abnormal Group, tap on the red emergency button on the lower right corner of the screen.

Here's how the V-speed list I created on the web site appears when displayed on the iPhone. Granted this is not a check list per se, but hey, it works for me.

To use a check list, select it from the Subgroups list, simply tap on each item as your complete them, and you'll see a green checkmark appear next to the item and the screen will automatically scroll to the next item. No more losing your place in the check list!

If you exit a check list before completing all the items, ForeFlight will remind you: Notice the icon next to that Group item is only partially green, which means you have some unfinished business to attend to.

Return to an uncompleted check list and the display automatically scrolls to the first incomplete item. Pretty foolproof way to recover from the "interrupted check list" syndrome.

Finish all the items in a check list and you'll see the icon next to that Subgroup item shows it is complete. If you want to reset all the check lists in this Subgroup, simply tap on the reset button on the lower right edge of the screen.

From an instructional standpoint, the Notes feature for check lists items is particularly useful. Take the GA7 engine start procedure, which specifies that only left magnetos are turned on until after the engine is started. Placing a brief explanation in the Notes field is a great way for a pilot to learn (or remember) why something is being done the way it is.

For flexibility, you can consciously choose to skip a check list item by tapping the yellow Skip button instead of tapping on the item itself. Be aware that when you exit the check list containing one or more skipped items, ForeFlight will show the check list as being completed as long as all the other items were completed. You can also use the reset button to reset a single check list or an entire group of check lists. Pretty darn flexible, if you ask me.

To display the emergency/abnormal Group of check lists, tap on the red emergency button on the lower right of the screen.

Tap on a particular Group, like Engine Failures, and you'll see the list of Subgroups.



Then just tap on a Subgroup item to access the check list you want to complete.

And after you've gone to all the trouble of creating a check list, wouldn't it be nice to be able to share it with another pilot? ForeFlight has thought of that, just tap on the Share button on the bottom of the check list screen and select the check list you want to share.



The app will prompt you for the pilot's email address and email them a link to use for accessing your check list. The other pilot just needs to open the email on their iPhone and click on the link it contains to get a copy of your check list. Now all that's needed is a way to bill the other pilot for your time and effort!

Like all the ForeFlight apps, I found Checklist Pro to be well-designed and executed. So if you're an iPhone or iPod Touch user with a check list fetish, I recommend you check out ForeFlight Checklist Lite or Pro.

ForeFlight Charts for iPhone

ForeFlight recently released two new apps for the iPhone, ForeFlight Charts and ForeFlight Checklist Pro. As promised, here's my take on the charts app, including who might benefit from using them, and what I like along with enhancements I'd like to see in future version. As before, I want to disclose that I was provided with complimentary versions of these iPhone apps in consideration for reviewing them. Expect a review of ForeFlight Checklist Pro soon.

The premise behind ForeFlight Charts seems simple: Provide pilots the ability to quick access VFR Sectionals and Terminal Area Charts on their iPhone even if it is in airplane mode and doesn't have a 3G or WiFi connection. Aside from the limited screen size of the iPhone, this $9.99 app succeeds. You can enter an airport, route or just select your current location and in no time you're looking at the VFR chart for that area. Use the usual gestures to zoom in or out and scroll. The screen refresh rate is good on my 3G iPhone and is probably faster on a 3GS phone.

Consider the problem faced by a student pilot (or any pilot for that matter) who needs to plot a course between two airports, but the airports are on different sides of the chart. With ForeFlight charts you can enter the departure and destination airport to quickly find out the straight-line distance and the magnetic course for a direct route between the airports.





It would be cool to be able to do this in flight from your current position, but the iPhone's airplane mode disables the GPS and it's illegal to leave a cell phone active while in flight. I'm told that users who jail-break their iPhones can disable the phone while leaving the GPS receiver active, but this is an issue that Apple really needs to appreciate and address.



You can configure a cruise airspeed and fuel burn (in gallons, liters, or pounds per hour) and, enter a route, and get a rough estimate on the flight time and fuel requirements. Of course this does not take into account winds aloft or the fuel required during climb or descent, but it gives you a rough idea.



The routes you can enter a somewhat limited since ForeFlight Charts doesn't seem to understand Victor airways, VORs, or other waypoints, but you can enter a string of three or more airport identifiers to create a direct route between each. It also a bummer that ForeFlight Charts does not support IFR low-altitude en route charts. Perhaps they'll consider that for a future release.

One unfortunate design assumption is that you already know the ICAO or FAA identifier for each airport. There is no search feature, but remember this app is only $9.99. If you want a more robust search feature, I guess that's what ForeFlight Mobile is for.

So my short laundry list of what I'd like to see in a future release:

• IFR Low-altitude En Route Chart support
• Search for airports by name, city, or state
• Ability to understand Victor airways, VORs, and intersections

All in all, I think ForeFlight Charts is a usable package at a reasonable price. Keep in mind that you'll need to pay $9.99 each year to be able to continue to get current charts, but that's a heck of a lot cheaper and more convenient that what NACO has given us. While this app won't yet replace a paper chart, pencil, and plotter for student pilot use, it is still a great learning and teaching tool. It's also handy for arm-chair flying when you want to imagine all those cool trips you'll be taking in the future. And when the Apple tablet computer finally becomes available, these sorts of apps will become that much better.