Garmin’s top-of-the-line portable weather receivers, the compact GDL 52 and GDL 51, receive more than just GPS and weather. With an active SiriusXM subscription, pilots and passengers can also enjoy music and live sports in flight. Once you’ve configured all your devices, it’s very easy to listen to SiriusXM Radio, but the first time you do it there are a few steps to follow.
Sentry includes all the essential features—weather, traffic, GPS, AHRS, carbon monoxide detector—but at a size and price that make it a great fit for almost any pilot. This week, ForeFlight announced an updated Sentry that doesn’t add major new capabilities, but offers enhanced performance.
The Settings app is so complex that Apple includes a search function within the Settings app to locate buried preferences. All these settings and configuration options are great for customizing everything to your liking, but at the end of the day there are really only a few settings you need to be concerned about when using the iPad as an EFB in the cockpit. Here’s a quick rundown.
One of the most common questions we hear as pilots is, “Do I really need to put my phone in Airplane Mode?” The airlines have been saying yes for years, but many travelers think this advice is outdated and it’s safe to ignore. Is that true in a small airplane? And what is Airplane Mode anyway? Here’s our advice.
Portable ADS-B receivers like Sentry are must-have devices for many pilots, delivering subscription-free weather that helps make better in-flight decisions. Beyond datalink weather, many pilots have also discovered the value of having a portable ADS-B receiver as a backup. There’s another level of redundancy that most pilots don’t consider, though: GPS failure.
Ten years ago, Garmin created a new category of portable avionics when it introduced the D2, a pilot watch with a built-in GPS and aviation database. That was followed by a slew of upgraded models, the latest of which hit the market this week. The D2 Mach 1 Pro is Garmin’s largest and most powerful smartwatch yet, and is another node in Garmin’s Connext platform.
Datalink weather has the potential to make your flying safer and more comfortable—but only if you know how to use it properly. Join Air Facts editor John Zimmerman for an in-depth look at ADS-B, SiriusXM, and how to use them in flight with popular iPad apps. Topics include: weather accident trends, five rules of datalink weather, differences between ADS-B and SiriusXM, and real world weather flying scenarios.
One of Garmin Pilot’s standout features is its split-screen mode. While many pilots know how to use split-screen for viewing approach charts or traffic, there are also some valuable tools for weather planning, both before takeoff and during cruise. Here’s how to use the Widgets and Flight Profile features.
Flying to a new airport can be an intimidating experience, but with a little time spent studying ForeFlight you can learn a lot and enjoy a safer arrival at Big City International. This means more than just checking the runway layout and the tower frequency, though; in recent years, a number of new resources have become available. Here are five to check out.
Electronic flight bag apps like ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot have dozens of weather resources, from radar images to icing forecasts, but sometimes these familiar weather products aren’t enough. One tool we’ve recently been using is the WeatherLink app from Davis Instruments. Here’s what it can do.
If you’ve flown with synthetic vision for long, you’ve probably noticed that the speed and altitude don’t match the panel. What’s going on. The answer is pretty simple—the panel and the iPad are showing different data from different sources—but the details are important. Here’s a somewhat geeky dive into the details.
You can do almost everything on your iPad without touching a button—in fact, all the new iPhone and iPad models have removed the home button completely. Whether it’s closing an app, switching apps, opening the control center, or searching for something, iOS has multiple gestures that can save time or unlock additional features.
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