I do not agree.
First, almost everywhere I am there’s some WIFI connection … on al airports, in every cafe on every greek island, in almost every hotel, household …
And if there’s no WIFI i use my mobile data. I pay 5 Euros for 50 MB, valid for one week. Of course, since I use my iPhone non-stop I pay 5 euros daily … so what.
I also carry a mobile hotspot into which i can pay a Croatian 3G SIM card. Costs around 15 € if I remember correctly and lasts a long time. Forgot the data limit now, but it’s pretty cheap
Since I started using Dropbox I have all important datan everywhere. I can even lose the iPhone – and get it all from any PC in the wolrd that has internet.
It is VERY RARE really that i have no data connection. I just spent a week in Sciliy and it did not work in the hotel’s breakfast room (bet my wife let them switch it off there :-)) Everywhere else it worked – even in 2600 m on Mount Etna
Does German law require the information on paper? If not, you could show him the Ipad or whatever.
And I also collect them in a folder of my Dropbox account.
If you were doing that with pre-EU Croatia 3G roaming rates, that would explain why you fly only an SR22 
I could not rely on that. I’ve have had too many cases of mysterious zero data connectivity, and I am with Vodafone on a business contract so supposedly UK’s premium quality corporate network… Justine has an Iphone 4 on T-Mobile and occasionally gets a full signal but no data in Brighton, UK! (apparently that one is well known)
And I can be sure it will bite me at the worst possible time.
I put the RR briefings into a “briefings” folder of the Good Reader PDF app on the iPad. And I also collect them in a folder of my Dropbox account. This way I have access to them from ANY PC, iPhone, iPad that’s connected to the internet.
Would your browser’s log (the ‘history’ file) be acceptable in this case?
No, exactly not, because the german law says you need to show evidence upon request by an inspector, which usually happens right at the airfield of arrival or departure, so you need to give that evidence on the spot.
Sure, when something bad happens, than it is better than nothing to have proof of your preflight action at home or on some server, but in order to avoid troubles with inspectors “in the field” it is wise to have it all with you. Again, that is only the german side of things, other countries may have different wordings and practices.
The RR briefing pack is really good for that purpose. Does Skydemon produce something like that, i.e. a single pdf file with all the preflight material?
QuoteNo, not as far as I can see
SkyDemon sends this collection via one email: Weight and Balance; Notam briefing; PLOG; TAF and Metar Briefing and a .gpx file with a route.
provide proof of that upon the request of an inspector. Accordingly, it is not sufficient to say…“yeah, I looked at all that stuff at home”. The pilot must prove that he did his preflight preparation, not the other way ’round. Many people seem to be unaware of that nowadays.
Would your browser’s log (the ‘history’ file) be acceptable in this case?
In the US, this of course is one of the reasons to get a phone briefing.
The RR briefing pack is really good for that purpose. Does Skydemon produce something like that, i.e. a single pdf file with all the preflight material?
No, not as far as I can see.
The Print Centre in Skydemon (PC) collects all the items needed for such a briefing pack, but there is no “Print All” button. You need to print the individual items (PLOG, WB, weather brief, NOTAM, charts). Though in all fairness, even that is done in a couple of clicks/seconds and if your default printer is a PDF writer and you save to Dropbox or similar, you’re done in no time.
Still, I think I’ll add a suggestion to the SkyDemon forum…
I pretty much stopped printing anything.
For VFR and IFR procedure charts, I use an ipad. For backup, I use another ipad.
Now, as far as things like navlog (“PLOG”), W&B, weather and NOTAMs are concerned, I use the briefing pack function of Rocketroute and have the pdf saved on my ipad.
The thing is that while it is not required to have anything on paper, you still need to have evidence of your preflight preparation with you.
I don’t know the exact wordings of the various air laws in other european countries, but in Germany, you need to…
…brief yourself with all information pertinent to the flight (the standard catch)…
AND
provide proof of that upon the request of an inspector. Accordingly, it is not sufficient to say…“yeah, I looked at all that stuff at home”. The pilot must prove that he did his preflight preparation, not the other way ’round. Many people seem to be unaware of that nowadays.
The RR briefing pack is really good for that purpose. Does Skydemon produce something like that, i.e. a single pdf file with all the preflight material?
Just a habit I guess, feels comfortable :)
And (for private flights I assume) print out the PLOG? On your G430 or whatever GPS device you can see the essential info right there.
