How will the PPL be taught when paper charts disappear?

and airmillions covers Greece too from now – but I don’t know the quality compared to the charts of the heli-pilots (that one is very very good)

There are also maps produced by various militaries with more or less worldwide coverage, which can sometimes be ordered “on demand”. They go under the acronyms of TPC (Tactical Pilotage Chart) and ONC (Operational Navigation Chart).

Here is a source for TPCs:
http://cms.mapmart.com/Products/TopographicalMaps/World500kTPC.aspx

Or here:
http://www.afeonline.com/shop/tpc-chart.html

But they don’t even specify which military it is they are getting these charts from. I also have no idea how up to date these are and if they are useful. I would think that anywhere where there is Skydemon coverage, this would be vastly superior in data quality and it would be best to print maps from Skydemon yourself if you want them on paper.

Peter wrote:

the schools will have to embrace some commercial product and basically get everybody to buy an Ipad and buy that product.

Agreed, or the Flight School presents iPad for hire.

Peter wrote:

the Ipad … is not reliable enough for serious usage. You never know when it will shut down due to heat, or just crash.

We use iPads for GA Charter flying now. Paperless. We have two in the cockpit. One main one and one as backup. And this is in hot weather all year around.

Price for yearly charts subscription is probably about the same as the iPad app subscription, so no real cost impact other than the initial purchase.

We’ve had issues, but not for the reasons you mentioned. Mainly with ergonomics, app usability issues, device software management app issues…

alioth wrote:

I’ve used my iPad in the heat of Texas in a Grumman Tiger and it’s not shut down or crashed.

I’ve had iPads shut down on me due to overheating repeatedly. On the ground and in the air. Which can arguably be attributed to a “full” canopy (no ceiling to provide shade) and if you add the heat of Namibia… Such conditions can destroy consumer electronics, not just force them to shut down. I have had issues with cold as well. When it’s -20 °C, iPads are not happy. Which is kind of important when your machine doesn’t have a heater. Or it fails. And i generally prefer devices that can resist spillage, dust, etc. (have the appropriate rating). Not that I’m not careful, I just think it’s silly to have a phone or a tablet that officially doesn’t have any water resistance. That makes it a couch potato in my eyes instead of something made to be used on the go. That doesn’t mean it can’t take it (IIRC, DC Rainmaker tested iWatch and it passed water resistance test while Apple made no claims it could).

I’ve used my iPad in the heat of Texas in a Grumman Tiger and it’s not shut down or crashed. I’ve never had Skydemon crash.

That’s not to say it can’t possibly happen, but to be honest an iPad or Android device running something like Skydemon is vastly superior to any of the aviation handhelds ever made.

how many of the forum members have seen an iPad actually crashing?

I’ve had iDevices freeze completely on a few occasions, but I admit it is rare.

italianjon wrote:

Although I don’t directly dislike GPS or iPads etc as a primary navigation device for VFR, I do worry about what I have seen. I know of a few pilots who have started to fly effectively IFR while VFR and rely on the traffic calls of ATC. They only glance out of the window as part of the instrument scan, of horizon, altimeter, magenta line. One of those uses the magenta line even in the circuit and only looks up on final… I won’t fly with him again.

This is part of the reason why the proper use of whatever navigation you would really use should be included in the PPL training. Not because an instructor is necessary to learn SkyDemon or ForeFlight (on contrary, I hardly met a single instructor who actually used one of these seriously, except for my PPL examiner), but because their input would be helpful to indoctrinate that your eyes do not wander too much inside the cockpit while you tweak your gadgets.
Of course the circuit should not be navigated by an iPad and a few traditinal navexes are good to have.

Peter wrote:

I don’t buy the Ipad explanation as a major factor because that device is not reliable enough for serious usage. You never know when it will shut down due to heat, or just crash.

I believe, like others, that the No 1 reason while the VFR MFD market is nonexsitent is the high prevalence of tablets and phablets. There is no way one would pay thousands of Euros for a certified (i.e. not up to date by a decade at least) piece of equipment which would also mean a vendor lock-in situation with the database updates over a tablet or smartphone app.

I am not aware of a mechanism which would cause a plane to crash because an Ipad carried on it has crashed. Can you describe such a mechanism?

This is the very reason why iPads or similar devices can very safely be used for VFR flight. Even if they do overheat or crash, it is rarely an emergency situation, and just by taking very easy precautions (like installing your favourite app on your phone as well as your tablet to have a backup) you can very well manage the sitution. Because of this for most VFR pilots it is a very easy decision to cut costs here and actually gain functionality.