iPad Pilot News

One of our favorite features in ForeFlight is its ability to continuously monitor your position, altitude and flight profile to provide a number of in-app audio and visual alerts. These are designed to keep you aware of potential hazards and improve situational awareness in-flight and on the ground. Here we'll go through each alert function based on phase of flight to explain its purpose and configuration options.

The team from Sporty's and iPad Pilot News presented several iPad seminars at Sun 'n Fun last week. Here are the information-packed slides from the most popular presentation, "iPad Proficiency Check: How to Fly Like a Pro with Your iPad", to review at your own pace.

Apple recently released version 11.3 of its mobile operating system. The update primarily addresses the operating system's ability to automatically throttle device processor to conserve battery, especially in older devices. iOS 11.3 will now allow users to disable or enable the "power management feature" to prevent unexpected shutdowns.

Like all electronic flight bag apps, Garmin Pilot has a lot of powerful features built in. But if you haven’t spent the time to tap every button and try every menu, you probably haven’t had a chance to use them all yet. Here are 5 hidden tricks to check out the next time you use the Garmin Pilot app.

Learning how to use VORs and NDBs isn't very exciting, but it's still a requirement if you want to earn a Private Pilot certificate or Instrument rating. Often it comes down to a problem of visualizing how the different systems work. A recently-updated app, IFR Flight Trainer Simulator, can help with this learning curve.

The flying season’s unofficial kick-off is next week, as the gates open for the 2018 edition of the Sun ‘N Fun Fly-in at the Lakeland airport. There will undoubtedly be new products to see and spectacular airshows to take in. But for iPad pilots, there will also be some great opportunities to learn about the new iPad Pro models, latest iPad tips, apps and accessories.

Bad Elf recently partnered with Jeppesen to develop a new method to wirelessly update avionics database cards without having to leave the airplane. This uses the new Jeppesen JDM app for iPhone/iPad and Bad Elf's new Wombat media transfer device.

During a primarily education-focused event, CEO Tim Cook and his executive team detailed Apple's "creative new ideas for teachers and students." Unfortunately there was no specific mention of ideas for pilots and flight instructors.

A common question we get at iPad Pilot News lately: "which ADS-B receiver should I buy?" With all the options (over a dozen at last count), it's easy to get confused. Here, we'll try to offer a practical guide to choosing the right ADS-B receiver. We will focus on the most popular models.

Everyone knows how to open an app on the iPad--just tap the icon and it's off to the races. But what about closing apps--do you know the difference between sleeping an app, shutting down an app and deleting an app? It's an important distinction that comes into play when an app starts misbehaving.