Tips for using your aviation iPad apps with home flight simulators

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Home flight simulators provide a cost-effective way to stay proficient with your IFR and VFR flying for times when you can't make it out to the airport. Here's a thorough guide covering how to use them with your favorite EFB app and training tips to get the most out of each session.

Garmin Pilot split-screen: reviewing all the options

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One of Garmin Pilot's standout features is its robust split-screen menu. With the tap of a button, you can view the standard moving map screen alongside traffic, terrain, charts, and much more. It's that unique combination of powerful and easy to use, and we find ourselves taking advantage of it on almost every flight. Here's a look at all the options.

Using your iPad on a Caribbean flying trip

Today you can confidently navigate the islands with everything you need right on your iPad, including geo-referenced VFR and IFR en route charts, airport and airspace databases, synthetic vision and even ADS-B weather in certain spots. Here we're going to take a closer look at ForeFlight Mobile and Garmin Pilot, since they offer the most comprehensive resources for Caribbean-bound pilots.

Annual maintenance checklist for your iPad

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Pilots trust the iPad because it is easily the most reliable and functional tablet available today. Even with this reliability, it's important that you periodically take time and dive deeper into your iPad's settings, apps and accessories to make sure everything is configured properly to ensure peak performance.

Understanding all the ForeFlight FPL and Edit features

ForeFlight offers the most comprehensive set of flight management features, accessible from the Edit section of the FPL window on the Maps page. This small but feature-rich drop-down window allows you to enter aircraft performance data, enter/modify flight plans, add arrival/departure and instrument approach procedures to your route, and choose the right altitude.

How to customize the Control Center on your iPad and iPhone

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The hidden Control Center screen remains one of the most useful features on iPhone and iPad, allowing you to quickly access commonly-used settings and apps. It's especially useful during iPad preflight, allowing you to quickly optimize wireless and network settings before takeoff without the need to leave your EFB app.

How to use iPad audio to make flying safer

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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 monitor your ADS-B Out system’s performance

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While ADS-B Out avionics are pretty simple to operate (they're basically just upgraded transponders), it is important to ensure your system is working properly. Simply choosing the wrong setting during installation can lead to significant errors, and we've heard a number of stories where this has happened. Fortunately, it's free and easy to check.

Garmin Pilot tips to use on your next flight

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One of our favorite things to do on a long cross country flight is to learn the hidden features in electronic flight bag apps. On a recent flight, we spent some time exploring all corners of the Garmin Pilot app, and as usual we found it packed with features. As we've highlighted before, there are dozens of little tools that can make your flying safer and easier. Here are five new tips.

ForeFlight Performance Plus review: what’s included?

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When ForeFlight introduced its Performance Plus subscription level in 2017, many pilots assumed it was aimed at professional pilots flying turbine airplanes. But over the last few years, ForeFlight's top-end plan has found a lot of fans among private pilots flying piston airplanes too. Here's a look at the growing list of features, and how they work.

How to make sure your ICAO flight plan doesn’t get rejected by ATC

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The transition to the ICAO flight plan form for flights within the U.S. has been pretty seamless, but there are still some gotchas to be aware of when filing IFR. Here are some common routing mistakes that will cause your flight plan to get rejected from ATC computers.

Six ForeFlight Tips to Use on Your Next Flight

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If you’re like most pilots, you’ve developed a comfortable relationship with ForeFlight on your iPad and can perform routine functions. Now it's time to go beyond this and learn six new tips to use on your next trip with ForeFlight.