FlightRadar24 adds support for iOS live activities iPad Pilot News FlightRadar24 is one of the best apps for tracking GA and airline flights. In addition to providing essential flight progress and ETA data, it offers a variety of cutting-edge features, like an app for Apple Watch, 3D airplane models from Infinite Flight, tracking via augmented reality and a 3D pilot’s view. The latest update enables one of our favorite iOS features, Live Activities. Introduced several years ago, this feature allows you to view continuously updated information in a small widget on the iPhone and iPad lock scre ..read more

A step-by-step approach to thunderstorm avoidance with an EFB app iPad Pilot News One of the major weather hazards pilots have to deal with this time of year is convective weather and resulting thunderstorms. No airplane is equipped to fly through a thunderstorm, and for obvious reasons planning to fly around them should be the primary goal. The weather patterns across the entire U.S. become quite active as the days get longer and warmer, providing the necessary ingredients for storms to form. Compared to the winter, this often means more VFR flying days without concern for aircraft icing, bu ..read more

ForeFlight introduces crowdsourced turbulence reports iPad Pilot News Sentry and Sentry Plus models include an AHRS that can be used to record turbulence. Electronic flight bag apps like ForeFlight, when paired with portable weather receivers like Sentry, make it much easier for pilots to avoid in-flight weather hazards. That includes the big three threats (thunderstorms, in-flight icing, and low IFR conditions), but right after those critical concerns comes passenger comfort—and that usually means turbulence. Even if it’s not dangerous, constant bumps can ruin an otherwise pleasant flight ..read more

How to send text messages in flight with the Garmin inReach iPad Pilot News Flying a general aviation airplane usually means being disconnected (other than perhaps from ATC). For some pilots that is one of the joys of a pilot certificate, as you get to escape earthly annoyances; for others it is a major drawback, since the airplane is the last place where you can’t be reached. Numerous companies are working to close this gap, whether with ground-based cellular antennas or satellites, but there simply aren’t any practical solutions for airplanes smaller than turboprops. Unless you’re willing t ..read more

Quiz: Flying with ADS-B weather and your iPad iPad Pilot News The free datalink weather component of the ADS-B network has been a big hit with iPad pilots flying with portable ADS-B receivers. Test your knowledge of the system components and limitations in our latest quiz. How often is the regional ADS-B radar imagery updated? 15 minutes 2 minutes 5 minutes Correct! Wrong! ADS-B weather is broadcast over which frequency band? 978 MHz 1090 MHz Both 978 & 1090 MHz Correct! Wrong! Which of the following is not available over the ADS-B weather datalink? Satellite imagery Cloud Tops T ..read more

Annual maintenance checklist for your iPad iPad Pilot News No, there isn’t a blue screen of death on the iPad, but it can quit. Before the iPad’s introduction in 2010, pilots were skeptical to use off-the-shelf computers or tablets for electronic flight bags due to a lack of reliability with the Windows operating system. A pilot’s worst fear was to look down at an EFB and see the infamous “blue screen of death” on an IFR flight while setting up for an approach. The scenario gets worse as you go to restart the device and see the message “Configuring Windows update 1 of 15…” as you near ..read more

How to customize the built-in Control Center on your iPad or iPhone iPad Pilot News The hidden Control Center screen remains one of the most useful features on iPhone and iPad. It allows you to quickly access commonly used settings and apps. It’s especially useful during iPad preflight when you can quickly optimize wireless and network settings before takeoff without leaving your EFB app. You can quickly switch to airplane mode, launch the calculator for a fuel computation, enable dark mode or lock the screen from changing orientation when rotated. It’s also the fastest way to ..read more

ForeFlight improves the Aeronautical Map in latest update iPad Pilot News Many pilots choose ForeFlight’s Aeronautical Map as the default map since it offers a detailed and scalable navigation resource that is in many ways superior to the traditional VFR Sectional or IFR en route chart. It can be customized to show exactly what matters to you and is easily readable from the widest to the narrowest zoom level. In the latest update to the app, ForeFlight improved the method of customizing the map with a new feature called the Aeronautical Map Drawer. The update also adds new Airspace settings ..read more

Video: Sentry ADS-B Receivers for ForeFlight – comparing all three models iPad Pilot News Sentry is a family of compact, affordable ADS-B receivers specifically made for ForeFlight. In addition to popular features like subscription-free weather and traffic, some Sentry models also include a carbon monoxide detector to warn of dangerous conditions in the cockpit and an automatic flight data recorder. In this side-by-side comparison, Sporty’s  President, John Zimmerman, walks through the three different models of Sentry and explains what each can do and how to choose the right one. All Sen ..read more

Weather widgets for your iPad iPad Pilot News Over the years, we’ve covered dozens of ways to stay up to date with the latest METARs, TAFs and weather radar. The options range from favorite airports in your aviation EFB app to dedicated weather apps and even right on your wrist with aviation weather apps for Apple Watch. One of our favorite ways to do this is with iOS home screen widgets, which allow you to display key data from compatible apps on your iPad or iPhone’s home screen. Here are three aviation apps that offer this capability. Windy Windy is one of our favorite dedicated weath ..read more