1. jclark1021's Avatar
    I am an Aviator. Anything I can fly is my passion. My questions pertain to moving maps, tracking progress over the ground, being able to download the flight track and data. Altitudes, speed, and so forth. Anyone know if there are apps or if my 32G PlayBook and Bold 9930 has capibilities to do this stuff?
    02-24-12 06:08 AM
  2. dagerlach's Avatar
    Nothing as far as I have found. Sure would be nice if Jepp supported the PB.
    02-24-12 07:09 AM
  3. EchoTango's Avatar
    One would think with the smaller size and one-handed usability would make the Playbook a natural for the cockpit.

    However the current EFB implementations all run on iPad. Some of the major airlines have deployed these devices and I can certainly understand the appeal, it's just the the playbook could do it so much better. Although I'm sure you would still need to the carry the suitcase as a back-up.

    Now if I could only use my 9900 to remotely control my G350...........
    Last edited by EchoTango; 02-24-12 at 08:27 AM.
    02-24-12 08:24 AM
  4. Economist101's Avatar
    However the current EFB implementations all run on iPad. Some of the major airlines have deployed these devices and I can certainly understand the appeal, it's just the the playbook could do it so much better. Although I'm sure you would still need to the carry the suitcase as a back-up.
    Part of the argument for the EFB program is a reduction in what the crew has to carry in paper. If crews are carrying paper backups for the EFB then that negates much of the advantage (weight savings, printing costs, etc).
    02-24-12 08:31 AM
  5. CrackedBarry's Avatar
    What the gentleman above me said.. There are a lot of great tools, apps and maps but it's all on iPad.

    The US Airforce is also moving from paper maps and manuals to iPads, most airlines will probably have done this over the next year or two.

    Btw: As the owner of a 7 inch tab as well as an iPad, the iPad is really just as mobile as a 7 inch tablet. It's at least as easy to hold in one hand because of the low weight, so in that department it's a tie. I guess what makes the iPad the tablet of choice for pilot apps is the head start it had. And ease of development tools.

    That might hopefully change as RIM gets all of their development tools out, but as for now you'd need to get an iPad.

    Btw: don't know much about aviation manuals and maps, but how much do they typically cost? The paper version that is...
    02-24-12 08:37 AM
  6. jclark1021's Avatar
    The EFB issues stem more from battery life and backup or redundant systems. Getting the feds (FAA) to be progressive about this is slow. I had my eyes fixed with a radio beam (no cutting procedure) to remove my need for reading glasses and was up and running one hour after the procedure reading the small print on the NOS (JEPPs) without glasses, but the FEDs did not want me to fly for hire for 6 months after that even though they approved of the procedure. "We are here to help". LOL. I have shot an instrument approach down to min. after the electrical went out in my Lake Bucaneer talking on my blackberry to the controllers and can tell you that the bridge between the PB and BB has any application you can come with on the Ipad beat.
    02-24-12 08:44 AM
  7. Economist101's Avatar
    I have shot an instrument approach down to min. after the electrical went out in my Lake Bucaneer talking on my blackberry to the controllers and can tell you that the bridge between the PB and BB has any application you can come with on the Ipad beat.
    Unless an airline is going to issue BlackBerry phones to pilots, Bridge is a non-issue for them. And as has already been written, allege arguments in the world won't change the fact that one device has had the software for months, while the other lacks it.
    02-24-12 09:07 AM
  8. dagerlach's Avatar
    I worked for the first company to employe EFBs using the Fujitsu tablet. We had all our company docs as well as JeppView. It sure beat updating the Jepp manuals. We just wished it was a little larger and lighter. The iPad does it all perfectly now and is capable of constantly being updated with the latest data. It is definitely a great tool to have. While I love my Playbook, I'd rather have the larger iPad than the Playbook (in the cockpit).
    02-24-12 02:25 PM
  9. canuckcam's Avatar
    Well... for those of us in smaller planes, the Playbook form factor is perfect. Heck, even fits in a tri-fold kneeboard. I found the iPad just a bit too big. Perhaps when the iPad 3 comes out in 7" ... but then, what would I do with my Playbook? *digital photo frame cough*
    02-25-12 12:15 AM
  10. rotorwrench's Avatar
    Well... for those of us in smaller planes, the Playbook form factor is perfect. Heck, even fits in a tri-fold kneeboard. I found the iPad just a bit too big. Perhaps when the iPad 3 comes out in 7" ... but then, what would I do with my Playbook? *digital photo frame cough*
    We use the PB in our 135 A/C as well as our helicopters. We use them for checklists, appr plates, maps (topos and low level), w&b forms, etc......We find the 10" tablets much too large in these aircraft. On a yoke mount they obscure instruments, whereas the PB is perfect. Also, last I read, Alaska Airlines and AA had gotten approval for tablets, but had not implemented them yet. Delta is looking at PBs and Galaxy Tabs. Our FSDO told us the prior approvals aren't limited to the iPad, but the data on them. One of the reasons the Garmin 696 is the favored portable aviation handheld, it's size.

    And it's true, the only reason the iPad had a leg up is because they have the Jepp apps. Any tab with access to Jepp apps can be approved for inflight air carrier use. And no device requires approval for pre and post flight use.
    02-25-12 02:12 AM
  11. hauger's Avatar
    The lack of support from Jep drives me nuts. I use jetplan and jep plates all the time, but trying to do so through the browser is frustrating at best. On a couple occasions I've written jep to ask about a blackberry app (I mean, come on, the phones have well over 50 million subscribers, I'd think it would get some love on the phone side if not the PB side), but I'm always basically told to go pound salt. Given the number of commercial carriers and military adopters of the iPad, I think the PB has really missed the boat on this one with no hope of ever catching up in the cockpit. Sad, but I think it might be the reality.

    One way around the lack of Jep is using PDF's. I have loaded pdf's of approach plates that display very, very nicely on the PB. The problem is the lack of a word-searchable pdf reader on the playbook. With the plates being 500-ish pages big, it would be a lot faster/easier to just search for the ICAO vs. scrolling through the pages to find the same plates. Same with the necessary pubs we travel with. One is nearly 1200 pages long, and word search means finding what I want throughout the publication vs. having to go page by page.

    Last, from a gee-whiz, isn't that nifty, eye candy point of view, I would love to see an iHud (iHUD a mobile glass cockpit visualizer for the iPhone and iPad) style app on the PB. I'd happily pay for it, if just to fool around with it. So, any App developers out there, how about coding something like this and earning some appworld money.
    02-25-12 11:50 AM
  12. canuckcam's Avatar
    What software do you use especially for a moving map? Of course I'm in Canada so it's a pretty moot point until maps are released in digital form. I haven't found an (affordable, one-off) company that can scan a paper map in, not including all the work to actually make it semi-accurate to overlay a track on. (cue lecture on how we're not supposed to depend on GPS. )

    There's a severe lack of apps on the PB, even e6b's... the Flight Computer app is at best clunky, and the UI is ugly.

    GoodReader NEEDS to be on the PB. I have it on my iPhone and it's an incredible PDF reader.
    02-26-12 02:39 PM
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