Entries by Bret Koebbe

App roundup: airplane flight tracking

While airline mobile apps are great for booking flights and storing boarding passes, they’re less than ideal for flight tracking. Here’s a look at various ways to track all the details for your next airline flight from your iPhone or iPad.

Keep your head up with iPad audio alerts

The iPad is an engaging visual tool, but many pilots forget about its many audio uses. Especially for those pilots who worry about spending too much “heads-down” time with the iPad, it’s worth understanding how apps use audio to make flying more efficient and safe. Let’s look at some of the options, and how to set up an audio connection to your headset.

How to use the AHRS, CO monitor and flight data recorder on Sentry Plus (video tip)

The Sentry line of ADS-B receivers from ForeFlight are best known for their ability to receive subscription-free datalink weather and traffic, but they can do so much more. In our latest video tip, we’ll show how to use three advanced features in Sentry Plus: the attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) for backup attitude, carbon monoxide detector and alerts, and the automatic flight data recorder and replay.

ForeFlight adds Airspace Alerts in latest update

ForeFlight released its first big update for 2023 and it includes a new in-flight airspace alerting feature that pilots of all experience levels will appreciate. The update also includes a few new power-user features, including NOTAM filters, plate/chart binder printing, airport rescue and firefighting information, Honeywell ADG integration and new Runway Analysis aircraft support.

The top 20 apps for pilots – 2023 edition

There are thousands of apps that are useful for pilots, from flight training and weather briefings to calculators and games. With that in mind, compiling a list of the top apps may seem foolish, but once again we’re going to try—after all, a brand new iPad pilot needs to start somewhere. This list isn’t necessarily our 20 favorite apps, but rather the ones we see in use most often.

App troubleshooting: how to close, delete and restart

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.