Given that iPads are rapidly becoming a key feature of GA cockpits, with an increasing reliance placed on their ability to provide essential navigation and other in-flight information, what’s the current wisdom on a backup plan? Two iPads…?
Twice in the last year I’ve seen people who have made a diversionary landing because of iPad battery problems / failure which does make me wonder about basic airmanship and how some people are managing their flights… but seriously I just have same software I use on my iPhone. I have a work iPhone 6S with the big screen that is quite usable.
First – prevention. IOW, keep the thing ventilated and out of direct sunlight.
Second – backup. External power pack and running same software (ForeFlight in my case) on an iPhone. On longer trips second iPad. Also, the airplane(s) I fly all have Garmin 430s.
Yes, the iPhone seems like a sensible solution – assuming one remembers to log in to all the relevant apps etc on the ground whilst there’s data? Not much use in IMC without a data connection, I imagine…?
Yes, two devices. Primary and backup. Load the plan on both, use the backup if primary fails.
Providing power to the devices is of course essential.
An interesting angle on this is the VFR v. IFR one and the use of the autopilot.
A lot of VFR pilots don’t use (or don’t have) panel mounted avionics with usable VFR nav functions, and they use a tablet for all of it.
But in IFR you normally fly with an autopilot, but a tablet cannot drive an autopilot (probably can be done in the homebuilt arena? – even the ancient Oziexplorer has an autopilot output, RS232). Actually most VFR pilots who fly significant distances use the autopilot too.
We have had many threads on the overheating issue, and lots of passionate debates on “mine never overheats” and “mine always overheats and shuts down when it has sunshine on it”, and variations 
Every tablet I have ever used in the plane (various including an Ipad2 and a Lenovo T2) will shut down, except the Samsung T705 on which I have not been able to induce it.
We have also had passionate debates on syncing, with one former poster strongly advocating dropbox, which will work only on the ground and if all devices have 3G/4G/WIFI connectivity.
The problem for me is that whatever I have done, it has failed at some point, usually at the worst possible time…
For me, I load the route into the panel mounted GPS (KLN94) and have a paper printout of it, along with a paper printout of airport plates, and have a tablet, a phone and a yoke mounted GPS all of which can provide some degree of navigation.
jgmusic wrote:
Yes, the iPhone seems like a sensible solution – assuming one remembers to log in to all the relevant apps etc on the ground whilst there’s data?
I can only speak about ForeFlight, but if you keep all your tablets and phone(s) up to date, there is no need to ‘log in on the ground’. The iPhones all have GPS built in anyway, as have the iPads with a SIM card (the GPS lives on the same module as the SIM). I use an external GPS (Dual 160) that can also be powered from the external power pack. Longest flight with this combo so far was a 6-hour run, no problems.
Panel mounted avionics and a single iPad. With FF on the iPhone as a backup for when I forget to charge the iPad and it goes flat before start like this morning!
I don’t know any moving map software where you need a constant data connection. All download what they need on the ground if you use them right.
Ps slight thread drift sorry – but I know two people in the last week that have had very bad house fires due to batteries, one in a laptop and one in a rechargeable ‘power pack’ which does make me wonder about the cockpit fire aspect of non installed devices
Not a big problem as long as they fit through the window, I’d say.
