Product Review

By Mark Cattell

Apple iPad Mini

Today a lot of pilots are using Apple iPads in the cockpit.  There are several apps available for them which provide moving maps with VFR sectionals, IFR charts and IFR approach plates.  At a recent club meeting we gave you a little preview of an iPad using the Garmin application.  It’s amazing what you can do with one of this electronic tablets and I understand that these electronic charts are legal to use in the cockpit for your primary source of chart data.  The big advantage is that for a very low cost you always have up to date charts.  For the IFR fliers, gone are the days of expensive chart subscriptions and swapping out pages in your binders of approach plates every few weeks.

Until recently I had not actually used an iPad in flight.  The standard iPad was just too large for the available space I had left on or around my RV panel.  Last month the new iPad Mini was introduced which seemed like the perfect size for the smaller cockpit of an RV.  So Randy and I took the plunge and bought this new smaller version of the iPad.  The basic revision is $329 which is more than adequate for aviation database storage.  The capabilities of the iPad more than rival that of the $2000+ portable aviation GPS’s on the market today.

Randy and I both use the iPad Mini with the Garmin GDL39 which provides a WAAS GPS signal to it via Bluetooth.  As mentioned in a previous newsletter article, the GDL39 also provides for ADS-B weather and traffic on the iPad when using the Garmin app.  The battery life on the iPad Mini is longer than you want to sit in your airplane.  You can plug it into a 12V outlet to maintain a good charge.

I purchased a RAM mount for the iPad.  This mount sticks on my dash with an adhesive pad and clamps around the iPad firmly.  I preferred this type of mount so I didn’t need to remove the cover to attach it to the mount.  The RAM mount allows for easy positioning and well worth the $50 or so investment.

I was very impressed with functions of the Garmin Pilot app I was using with the iPad in flight.  I’m currently trying to get recurrent on IFR and really liked having the electronic approach plates.  The electronic approach plates are geo-referenced so it shows your position on the approach plate with a moving aircraft symbol.  Very cool and is great for providing situation awareness of you exact position as you are doing the instrument approach.  You can also easily zoom into to a specific part of the chart so we older guys don’t need to break out the readers while flying.

 

For the most part the iPad is very usable in the cockpit.  What you don’t get for the lower price of the iPad is the high daylight visibility screen like you would on the expensive portable aviation GPS units.  With an RV you have lots of light coming in the canopy from above.  I’m assuming that it would be much more readable for those of you with a high wing airplane.  The dark screen used on the Garmin app for traffic tends to be highly reflective.  So now I’m on the search to see if I can find some type of anti-glare screen protector to make it more readable in bright daylight conditions.

In general I’d give the iPad Mini a big thumbs up for use in the cockpit if I can reduce the screen glare some.  For the cost you can’t go wrong because of all the other things you can do with an iPad when you’re not using it in the cockpit.