TABLET TRICKS Are you getting the best out of your tablet or app to avoid heading for a bit of bother? I
t might seem odd when there’s some form of GPS in cars, phones and even watches that a few pilots still don’t even consider it when flying, even though recent studies show “
...correct use of a moving map could have helped avoid 85% of (General Aviation) airspace infringements”. Ask why and they’ll usually say they know where they are with a chart and watch and are aware of any infringement risks – “Look, I know where I am, and I understand the airspace, but thanks for asking…”
What some might not realise is that GPS, particularly with the latest apps, need not simply be a matter of ‘two- dimensional position', 'track to next point' and groundspeed, similar to car systems. It only takes a demo, often by a fellow pilot, of ideas such as pop-up warnings of airspace close by, ground proximity, even nearby traffic, or the vertical visualisation of their aircraft against terrain and airspace, to convert the pilot to include GPS in their flights as a safety net.
8 CLUED UP SUMMER 2019
Take this case of a vintage pilot attending AeroExpo, a recent user of a popular GPS-App: “It (a very popular brand name) returned my flying to what it was 25 years ago,” he said.
It turned out that in previous decades he’d been happy and relaxed in his flying, but recently had been considering another hobby because he’d become so stressed by all the extra airspace, restrictions, infringement publicity, warnings, etc. He then bought a subscription to the GPS-App which returned him to his old self of a quarter of a century ago – happy in flight and recognisably relaxed afterwards (much to the relief of his family). Digging deeper into his re-energised enjoyment in flying reveals some home- truths that are worth stressing, he was quite clear that it wasn't merely a case of just booting up a tablet and clicking on the GPS-App that solved all his issues, it was intelligent usage that made the partnership work so well.
The app he was using was capable of
far more than he knew — he 'knew what he knew' about the product so he limited its use to that extent. If he heard via the grapevine of other features that appealed, he tried them out on the ground, otherwise he flew with what he knew. In common with others, his app had a demo mode so he could try out functions in an armchair, rather than as a distraction in the air. Limiting himself to known functions and reducing distractions when airborne were two of the key factors in his new relaxed, trouble-free flying. Importantly, he was running it on his own tablet and he didn’t loan it out to others who would, probably while denying altering anything, change some setting from what it was previously.
Changed settings can, of course, be an issue if you’re using a shared GPS (in a rental or syndicate aircraft, for example) and it’s unlikely that you’ll have anywhere near the time or willingness to check ‘your’ settings since you last used it; but one thing’s for sure, one day, something
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