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viation-related phone and tabletapplications are proliferating into allsectors of our industry - with a sig-nificant growth in those used bypilots being the focus of this review.

It would take a complete manual withregular updates to provide a fair summaryand assessment of applications available forpilots. Some Apps are available withoutbeing tied to a specific aircraft model orequipment type. Others are locked-in, mean-ing the application supplements - or is tiedto - a certain aircraft model or equipage.

A locked-in example would beBombardier’s Flight Deck that offers pilotspaperless documentation storing and accessto serial number-specific Bombardier aircraftdata. An unlocked example would beAirNav FBO covering the United States andTerritories FBO locations with pertinentdetails and fuel costs.

Apps mostly come from three primaryoperating sources: Apple iTunes – IOS;Google Play – Android; and Microsoft Store -Microsoft. Not all Apps are for both tabletsand phones, and there may be different ver-sions for each. Apps come either free or at asmall charge, however free Apps ofteninclude in-App purchases that include Proversions. Free Apps as locked-in, ofteninvolve fees related to the specific aircraft orequipment service that may already be a

subscription an operator has. Pilot-relatedApps may be categorized into groupsdepicted in Diagram 1 (below), and coveredin the following pages.

BREAKING OUT THE VARIOUS GROUPS1. AIRCRAFTThe Aircraft group for business jets includesspecific locked-in applications that arereleased by the various aircraft OEMs and

80 WORLD AIRCRAFT SALES MAGAZINE – June 2014 Aircraft Index see Page 4www.AvBuyer.com

Plane Sen

se on

Paperless C

ockp

its

Enhancing the

Flying Profession.

by Ken Elliott

There’sA PilotApp For That...

A

DOCUMENTS

CRM

TRAINING

FLIGHT

PLANNING/ NAVIGATION

MROs

FBOs PLT

SERVICES

AIRCRAFT

EQUIPMENT

TOOLS

PILOT

DIAGRAM 1: APP CATEGORIES

PS 2 June14_FinanceNov 21/05/2014 14:22 Page 1


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pertain to distinct aircraft models, even insome cases by aircraft serial number. Thereare also a few unlocked applications thatgenerally promote OEM aircraft modelsavailable ‘For Sale’ (locked-in applicationsbeing for actual operators and unlocked forpotential buyers).

Within the Aircraft group would also bethose unlocked applications that various bro-

kers provide for their own inventory of newand aftermarket business jets. Table 1 (as anexample) maps out Gulfstream OEM businessjet Apps useful to pilots. Throughout, someApps listed are not strictly pilot Apps, but allinvolve aircraft operations. Table 2, mean-while, lists some of the other applicationsavailable from major business jet OEMs.

JetBook, meanwhile, is a detailed aircraft

guide not outlined in the tables, and cover-ing all models as an alternative to the paperaircraft comparison guidebook. An excellentaircraft trading company application isoffered by Jetcraft Corporation and includesa wide selection of new-to-market businessjets, worldwide contact information for itsregional offices, link to website, avionics,news and events. The phone and tablet ver-sions are well adapted to user needs andinclude a very useful range map tool.

2. EQUIPMENTEquipment Applications for pilots tend torefer to system operating guides or usermanuals provided by the various majorboard equipment manufacturers. Some arelocked-in and others unlocked for generaluse.

Taking the major equipment OEMs andfocusing on cockpit as opposed to cabin,Table 3 outlines several application examplesand is by no means the full menu available.One cautionary note is that some of themajor equipment OEMs have their systemguides embedded in aircraft OEM guidancematerial.

Not to be missed (but not depicted in thetable) is the Satcom Direct suite of applica-tions, many of which are for passengers inbusiness jets. However Satcom’s Yonder,Flight Tracker, Flight Deck 360 and SDR areall relevant for cockpits.

3. TOOLSThis category comprises what typically aregeneric applications used as aids for pilotswith a goal of reducing or streamliningworkload. One could conceivably argue thatapplications on tablets used in cockpits areall tools, given that tablets and EFBs in gen-eral are extremely useful tools for pilots.However more specifically flight calculatorapplications - and there are a number -would be a true example of pilot tools. Apartfrom flight planning, there are range maps,weight and balance, and aircraft performancecalculation applications that are widelyavailable.

AOPA has a high quality EFB App – FlyQEFB free within App purchases, while EFB –Charts and Weather for Aviation is a sub-scription-based App. The popular Flyingwith ForeFlight, meanwhile, has a separate70-minute Sporty Pilot Shop familiarizationvideo, and EFB Pro is an aircraft performanceapplication for the EFB.

Finally, three stellar applications fortablets are ARINC Direct, Universal Weather,and Accu-Kwik, all of which are multipur-pose tablet applications that are very usefulto pilots. Flight List Plus, meanwhile, is aGoogle Play checklist application worthy ofnote.

GGulfstream DDescription

PlaneBook User-name/Password-protected, Paperless Cockpit solution of pilot manuals

G650G550G450G280G150

Product information, image gallery, range maps and product support, all in individual applications for each Gulfstream aircraft model

Cabin Control Passenger cabin remote control for Gulfstream Cabin Management System

Nonstop (News) Publication for aircraft owners with focus on Gulfstream products 24-Hour Support Support connection for operators worldwide FlightJournal Uploads flight logs to Gulfstream’s CMP.net My Gulfstream Customer portal for remote access to important Gulfstream documents PlaneBalance Interactive weight and balance

Table 1: Gulfstream-Specific Apps

Table 2: Other OEM Apps

BBombardier DDassault EEmbraer TTextron

Flight Deck Falcon 7X HD eTechPubs Citation Jets

Aircraft Training Info Pack Falcon 2000S HD

Customer Support & Service Executive Jets

CLCalc (CESNAV) Told Perf (Performance)

Proximity Falcon 2000LXS HD Embraer CTS (wCAE)

CLCalc (CESNAV) WT & Bal (Loading)

SmartPubs Falcon 900LX HD ePerf EOM Enroute

SmartFix Plus Falconer (magazine) CLCalc (CESNAV) Cesview

Aircraft Training eLearning

P1 Falcon Flight Test CLCalc (CESNAV)

Service

iPilot DA2000 Study G. Attache (magazine)

Table 3: Equipment OEM Apps

TABLE 1: GULFSTREAM-SPECIFIC APPS

TABLE 2: OTHER OEM APPS

Table 2: Other OEM Apps

TTable 3: Equipment OEM Apps

RRockwell Collins HHoneywell GGarmin UUniversal AvionicsAscend Flight Manager

Direct Access Pilot (DCI) UniNet Mobile

HGS Flight MyGDC GTN Trainer CDU Emulator

Service First Aerospace Business Aviation

G1000 Checkout

MyFlightPath

G1000 Mobile Training (Garmin & Jeppesen)

MyCMC WAAS Approaches

MyJetex

TABLE 3: EQUIPMENT OEM APPS


4. TRAININGApart from the many ‘learning to fly’ train-ing applications there are some very usefuladvanced and recurrent training applica-tions, both locked-in and unlocked. Onemain player providing flight training Apps isFlightSafety (in addition to CAE, Kings, RodMachado and others). Training applicationsalso come as part of aircraft and equipmentOEM Apps designed for individual modelsof aircraft and their systems.

Business Jet Upset Training by AviationPerformance Solutions is an invaluable appli-cation for safety conscious pilots, andRockwell Collins has a very nice HGS Head-Up display application that is a good intro tothose complex devices.

5. FLIGHT PLANNING AND NAVIGATION

Jeppesen is a master in the area of FlightPlanning and Navigation with several high-end Apps for business jet users. A compari-son of different popular Flight NavigationApps are depicted in Table 4, indicating thevarious features available for each.

6. DOCUMENTSAmong the Applications that are more cen-tered on flight planning are aviation docu-ment Apps that focus on the ability to access,review and utilize cockpit documents. Theseoften may be accessed in flight, usually via adedicated Cloud site, and can be updated andre-sent for a number of different purposes.

The App produced by On Board DataSystems is a good example of a document-only application that is designed for aviationuse.

7. CRM (COCKPIT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT)

The ‘Cockpit Resource Management’ catego-ry spans a large area of guidance applica-tions for pilots that are helpful to an overallefficient area of operations and crewmanagement. For example, the 360 AviationFlight Risk Assessment app reviews comply-ing with IS-BAO as an SMS tool. PremierJets, Corporate Eagle, NEXTGEN Systemsand others also have a flight risk assessmenttool (FRATs), while Pilot Workshops has apilot proficiency application that covers 20areas of flight proficiency for the busy pilot.

8. FBOs, MROs & PILOT SERVICESMore and more aircraft support facilities areproviding useful applications offering excel-lent support services to pilots. A stand-out forMRO applications is Duncan Aviation’s threecustomer Apps plus newsletter: Debrief andAOG Service is from iTunes and myDuncanplus Aircraft Parts are Google Playapplications.

Diagram 2: Typical Tablet EFB App groups

Tablet as

an Electronic Flight Bag

Charts and Mapswith GPSposition

d

Weather

Flight Planning

Documents

Diagnostics

fromaircraft

systems

Aeronautical Calculations

AADS-B Traffic

AADS-B Weather

DDocument Viewer

SScratchpad

CCompatibil ity iPhone/ iPad

iPhone/ iPad/

Android iPhone/iPad iPad iPhone/iPad/

Android iPhone/iPad/

Android iPad

Source: iPadpilotnews.com

MMobile

GGarmin PPilot

HHilton WWingX Pro

AAOPA FFlyQ

JJeppesen MMobile FD

VVFR Sectionals

IIFR En Route CCharts

IInstrument AApproach Charts

GGeo-Ref IInstrument AApproach Charts

FFAA A/FD

FFBO Directory

CCanadian Charts limited

MMexico Charts limited

CCaribbean Charts limited

FFlight Plan Fil ing

NNWS WX Imagery

QQICP Weather AApproved

FFuel Prices

TTerrain/Obstacle AAlerts

SSynthetic Vision

SSplit Screen Chart OOption

TTrack Up Option

BBackup Flight IInstruments

AADS-B Receiver SSupport Stratus Garmin

GDL39

Dual XGPS170, Sagetech Clarity, iLevil

SW/AW

No Sagetech Clarity No

ForeFlight

Dual XGPS170, Sagetech Clarity,

SkyRadar, iLevil SW/AW,

NavWorx 600-B

AirNavigationPro

Fltplan.com Go

DIAGRAM 2: TYPICAL TABLET EFB APP GROUPS

TABLE 4: FLIGHT PLANNING & NAVIGATION APPS COMPARISON



Other excellent MRO-related Apps arefound with GE Beacon, which focuses on itscore business and your aircraft by serialnumber and West Star Aviation, which pro-vides a potpourri of services as part of itsone-stop-shop MRO capability. With its‘experience on call’, all the sales and servicecontacts are available at the pilot’s fingertips.Standard Aero, meanwhile, has an MROapplication that focuses on its AOG andComplete Care services.

Another very interesting maintenance-related App for pilots - and worth a specialmention here - is iCamp, part of a suite ofofferings from CAMP Systems Int’l. Theapplication includes airworthiness docs,RAMP check view, squawks on the fly andWork Cards and fleet view.

On the FBO side of things, AirNav FBOshares information on a number of FBOs, air-ports and fuel prices, while Signature’sworldwide iFBO App is a very nice applica-tion with detailed FBO information and aprice calculator. Other great FBO Appsinclude those from Jet Aviation, Million Air,Landmark and Paragon.

SUMMARYThere are many useful pilot Apps that cannotbe covered in the limited scope of this article,and there are a few that may fall outside ofthe groups categorized here. Airport Info, isone such useful pilot application providinguseful airport information at over 4,250airports.

Selecting applications is not easy as insome cases there are almost too many choicesavailable. Finding the one you want can beextremely difficult! The more professionalApps tend to look professional, have all thebells and whistles, and are intuitive to use.

Application ratings are usually found onthe application review itself, but for many ofthe more ‘exotic’ aviation applications manywill not have been rated previously. If thename behind the application is well knownin the Business Aviation community, then itis likely to be trustworthy and without bugs.

Surprisingly, some major aviation compa-nies either do not yet offer Apps or only acouple, while others have a full set represen-tative of their product lines.

A final thought is to research the App

before you buy; make sure the App is avail-able for the device you need it on - that theApp software is compatible with yourdevice; and that the application delivers allof the features you need.

� Ken Elliott is anavionics veteran of 40years and more recentlyfocused on NextGen. Hiswork within theNextGen AdvisoryCouncil sub-committeebrings him close tocurrent and intendeddevelopment effort.Equally, his specializa-tion in low-vision operations provides a deeper insightinto one of the pillars of NextGen. Ken has served theaviation industry on three continents from light GA tolarge corporate aircraft. His current employer, Jetcraft,is a leading aircraft brokerage company with world-wide presence.

� More from www.jetcraft.com, email: [email protected] ■

www.AvBuyer.com WORLD AIRCRAFT SALES MAGAZINE – June 2014 85Advertising Enquiries see Page 8

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