Best iPad app for flying in France?

Skydemon.

Hi,
Am using SDVFR for flights intra France. It is only for VFR. Works well and free.

T28
Skydemon

Endorse that.
Whatever else you buy SkyDemon is the ”best bang for the buck”.
Although it describes itself as a VFR package, even when flying IFR, I always use it and have it on my iPad.

Indeed. Free (in France) georeferenced VACs make flying into unknown airports much easier.

The search box can also save you from frantically trying to find a specific restricted area – on a paper map the stacked restricted areas are not easy to figure out of you aren’t familiar with them, and not all stacks of an area are necessarily activated at the same time, depending on the exercise that is flown.

First let me get my own conflict of interest out of the way ;)
I’m a (volunteer) beta tester for EasyVFR and I’ve contributed some effort to the development team at times.

Essentially there are 4 ‘big apps’ in Europe at present.

EasyVFR
SkyDemon
Jeppsen Foreflight
Garmin Pilot

EasyVFR and SkyDemon principally cater to the VFR market, and they dominate it. They do have some IFR features, they are principally aimed at the VFR pilot.

Foreflight and Garmin Pilot are more commonly used by pilots who fly IFR or a mix of IFR & VFR. From my experience, they don’t really feature very much with VFR only pilots. (Though Garmin does get used a bit where the pilot files with a Garmin panel, so they can swap data & flight plans between their tablet and panel).

There are some other smaller systems which tend to be popular in some locations but not widespread. For example Fly Map in Germany or Airbox in the UK. They was a system called something like Navigator 2000 which was being pushed in France a few years ago (I don’t have the name correct…sorry) but I’m not sure if it ever made much progress.

But essentially the above 4 are the most common and most widespread. EasyVFR & SkyDemon run on Android, iOS and Windows (EasyVFR also runs on Mac). Foreflight I believe runs on iOS only, and I believe (but not 100% sure) Garmin pilot runs on iOS and a much reduced feature set on Android.

Speaking about EasyVFR, it is now on major version 4. This is a big update on previous versions and features a totally new graphics engine and user interface. The interface does not use iOS, Android or Windows default controls. Instead it uses it own custom controls specifically designed to make them easier to use in the air, so you’re not trying to fiddle with tiny switches while flying. This means that the interface takes a bit more learning but once learnt, it’s much easier to use in the air. It also means that the interface is standard across all different operating systems. So once you know how to use it on iOS, you also know how to use it on Windows, Android or Mac. Flight plans automatically transfer across all devices. So you can plan on your PC and your flight plan will be there waiting or you on your iPad or phone.

Visual Approach charts and tax charts are all georeferenced, and unlimited flight plan filings are included without any extra cost.

Metars, TAFs, GAFOR and 48 hour weather forecast (viewable hour by hour) are all included, as are graphical NOTAMs.
Weather and NOTAMS have their own separate maps, optimised to make viewing that information easier.

Routes are built as alternatives to the current routes. Once your happy with your new route you can accept it, or discard it if you don’t want to keep it. Your original route is never removed until you decide to accept the new one. This means that you can easily plan changes in the air, without fear of messing up your current route. You can even have a provisional alternative route ready to change to should you (no)t get the clearance that you want.

All of the apps have a 30 day trial period, so you can try before you buy. If you are only visiting for a short holiday, you could even just use the trial period. EasyVFR 4 is fully functional during the trial with no restrictions (other than you can’t update your Dynon SkyView airspace database with EasyVFR data during the trial).

I hope that helps to give you a flavour for what’s available.

dp

I am VFR only and my view is :
if you want to cross borders, Skydemon is the best. We compared 3 apps (SD, EVFR and Jeppesen) during a flight from France to Germany and SD won all votes.

If you stay in France, there are several free apps that collect the basic stuff needed (VAC, areas, freqs…) like SDVFR. These are the most common in clubs.

For example, this year I am extrememy unlikely to cross any border as PIC in a plane so I don’t think I will renew my SD subscription. Next year I hope.

If you just want it for France I would give SDVFR a try. As said earlier it is free so there’s nothing to lose.
I use Skydemon because I sometimes fly to other countries. Many French pilots do not.
For IFR I use Autorouter and feed the route into the G1000 and use the Skydemon on my smartphone.
It might also be worth downloading the SIA/AIP app which is very useful to quickly look up a VAC or IAP. Again free so nothing to lose.