Skydemon and iPad

Following my recent flight to Duxford, with Niels, I’ve been researching the SkyDemon and iPad flight planning and navigation software combination. This would provide a back-up system to our Arrow’s ageing GPS, the Garmin 150XL navigator. Although our panel mounted Garmin is old, it has always performed very well and there have been no occasions when the unit has failed in flight over the last ten years. Upgrading would have considerable advantages over the older technology as equipment has advanced markedly since our 150XL was designed.

On the down side, the Garmin has a small screen and does not come anywhere close to offering the features provided by the iPad/SkyDemon combination. On a recent flight to Duxford, I was very impressed with how Niels’ unit provided flight planning, including actual and forecast weather, notams and flight logging. Sold on the idea, I bought myself an iPad with retina display, upgraded my SkyDemon subscription to include navigation, downloaded the app and set about learning how to use it.

It didn’t take long to grasp the basics, but what I needed was to test it in the air. To do this I wanted to be a passenger so I could concentrate on using the iPad without the additional responsibilities of flying, communicating and navigating. From my research, it appeared that the iPad internal GPS was sufficiently accurate to provide navigation guidance without adding a stand-alone GPS receiver. However, I wanted to test this belief for myself. I found that a Bluetooth enabled supplementary GPS was available for around £100 if needed, but I did not want to buy one unless it became clear I needed it.

My friends, Steve and Mike, regularly fly their helicopter from Barton, and Steve invited me along on a flight so I could test my new system in flight.

On a very cold Sunday morning in December, we met up at the Barton heliport and pulled the MD500 ‘copter from the hangar. Checks complete, we strapped in with me sat behind Steve and Mike, and prepared to fly down to Halfpenny Green aerodrome for breakfast. I created a route on SkyDemon that followed the Low Level Corridor down to Winsford and then headed directly to our destination. The weather and notams were available to me via tabs on the right of the screen, and after I pressed “Go Flying”, the aircraft symbol appeared showing our position on the map. My position symbol showed a fixed wing plane, but I could have changed it to a helicopter, had I wished. Looking good so far!

Mike lifted us into a hover and we departed towards Warrington. The ipad showed our ground speed and altitude, the forecast wind, as well as distances to run to my waypoints with estimates for time of arrival. When we were established in the cruise, Mike read off speed, position and altitude data from the cockpit instruments and they tallied very closely to the iPad. I had a feature enabled that allows review of the actual track followed and will show maximum speed achieved and altitude flown, plus the time airborne. This “breadcrumb” line trails the flight as it progresses and is a neat feature, especially when examining it later at home.

North Up Orientation

Track Up Orientation

Test ride: MD500

 

I wanted to be sure the iPad’s displayed GPS position was correct and saw we were approaching the town of Newport, with its lake making a good feature to confirm a positive fix. I looked forward past Mike’s shoulder and was pleased to see Newport on the nose as depicted on the iPad. During the flight there and back, the GPS had a positive lock and did not lose our position once.

The wealth of information available via Sky Demon is superb. Hold a finger on an airport, or notam or section of airspace and up pops more information about it. Brilliant! As the destination is approached, extended runway centerlines are available to give enhanced situational awareness. If you prefer North Up or track up on the screen, this is available along with many other ways to set airspace and aerodrome parameters.

We landed at Halfpenny Green after a flight of 37 minutes covering 62nm, the highest altitude flown was 1,395 ft, the highest speed 114 kts with an average speed of 100 kts. This system is very good indeed, and will enhance my flying in both the Arrow and Seneca. I would also have it switched on in the Twinstar and G1000 Cessna as a backup to the certified units. I would certainly use this as a means of providing a redundant navigation system, but not as primary navigation.

After a sausage bap and a cup of coffee we headed back to Barton and the iPad was again faultless on the journey. Two flights are good to get an initial impression, but further operational use and testing will follow over the next year. Sat in the back of the helicopter, I had the iPad on my knee, so I need to look at how I could mount it in the Arrow. This may or may not be practical, as a mount could obscure the aircraft’s own flight instruments. I may have to keep it on my knee and glance down to cross check against the conventional instrumentation in the panel.

One of the issues when you are in a group owning an aeroplane, is that it can be difficult to get agreement on upgrading avionics. G-HALC’s panel is unchanged over the ten years or so I have owned my share and it’s not for the want of trying to improve it. Individual members have bought their own portable devices and see no need to pay for upgrading to say a Garmin 430 or 530. I can see their point, but it is frustrating for those of us who wish to improve our equipment. When, like me, you’ve been flying Cirrus aircraft with Avidyne displays, or Twinstars and G1000 equipped Cessnas, you long for a higher specification on your own flight panel. SkyDemon and iPad does not alleviate that wanting, but it goes a considerable way towards doing so.

If you are thinking of using an iPad as I have done, you will need to purchase the 3G/Wifi model that includes GPS functions. You do not need to obtain a data contract for the system to work. For weather downloads you need to connect to Wifi or do what I do: tether your iphone to the iPad. My network allows this for no extra charge and my 1mb of data is way more than I ever use.

Good luck.

Training Session in Seneca

Due to a number of factors, I had not flown the Seneca for around four months. Since the Diamond DA42 at Blackpool was grounded, my multi engine flying has declined markedly and this would be only my seventh multi flight of 2012.

I intend to keep my multi rating current and a session in the Seneca is always welcome as it can be a challenging aircraft to fly. I don't have a lot of hours on this type, around 20, but I do feel at home with it as there are many similarities with our Piper Arrow.

I met my instructor, Stuart, and we devised a plan for the session. I would re familiarise myself with the operation and handling of the aircraft, carrying out all the checks etc, and then do some general handling over Morecambe bay. We would simulate an engine failure and actually shut down the engine in flight. A return to Blackpool and an ILS would complete the training.

Sat in the aircraft and running through the checklist, I soon felt at ease. I requested a back track of Blackpool's runway 28 and lined up, calling "ready for departure" to atc. I always take the full length of the runway in a multi engine aeroplane. Cleared for take off I advanced the throttles to the maximum setting of 40 inches in this turbo-charged plane. Getting the power set whilst holding against the brakes can be tricky: the throttle lever positions do not match exactly so for the same throttle position there can be different power on the engines. Clearly you need symmetrical power before you release the brakes and you have to take care not to overboost the engines. There are two yellow lights that illuminate if you over power so sometimes the throttle needs adjusting on the take off roll. There's a lot to think about.

Climbing away from the runway, I selected gear up and reduced power to 34 inches and 2400 rpm. I levelled eventually at 6000 feet and set 25 inches power which gave us around 140 kts indicated. This is fine for training, but normal cruise is 160 to 165 kts at 90 litres of fuel per hour. This aircraft is fast, and with the turbos will hold this speed at high altitude.

I played around with the plane, turning left and right, flying between clouds and having fun. This was enjoyable as well as serious stuff. Stuart gave me a simulated engine failure next. I didn't have any problems identifying the "failed" engine as the right hand one. Under Stuart's watchful eye, I feathered the propellor and moved the mixture to cut off. We were now a single engine plane. Professional aircrew have closed down the wrong engine on accident aircraft so you need to be very careful in your actions. Under stress this can be a difficult emergency to deal with.

I did some turns with the one engine I had before Stuart told me to put the aircraft into a descent as we attempted to restart the engine. It was reluctant to start initially but happily it was soon running again and I was back to a twin.

I called Blackpool ATC and asked for radar positioning for an ILS. We were still at 6000 feet and were given a heading to follow but no descent. I asked Stuart whether I should ask for descent but he said leave it to atc. We ended up descending at over 1000 feet per minute and were taken through the localiser inbound course. This does not make things any easier, but I got established and completed a rather scrappy approach. I was not too pleased with it, but was able to land nicely after I looked up at 500 feet and was just a little to the south of the required track.

Parking up, Stuart said I was fine for solo and I logged another 1hr 20mins in the Seneca. With the generally poorer weather over the winter, it remains to be seen if I can get any more flights in this year.

PA34-200T Piper Seneca

Duxford (Again)

At the end of October I found myself planning to fly with a fellow group member, Niels. The weather in Manchester, where we are based, was clear and sunny with only scattered clouds. The destination I chose was forecast for heavy rain showers and a nasty, gusty crosswind. That destination was Duxford.

I flew the leg down and Niels the return. My standard route to the Imperial War Museum is to depart Barton to the north of the low level corridor not above 1300 feet then fly to NANTI, LONLO, TIMPO and BIGLI before the approach into Duxford. The weather en route was very nice and presented no problems, but Niels and I were concerned at the strength of the crosswind awaiting at destination. To ensure we had an alternative, we examined other local airfields and found one with a runway into wind, should it be needed. My plan was to make an approach to Duxford and if the wind made a safe landing unsure, divert to the alternate, Bourne.

When we were in the Northampton area, I called Duxford on the radio to get a weather update. If anything , the wind was stronger than earlier and there were heavy showers in the vicinity. The main concern though was not the wind strength, but its crosswind element on the 24/06 runway. The reports were giving the wind as 340-360/20 kts which is a direct crosswind. Duxford information were using runway 24 but that changed to 06 as we approached the aerodrome. We were asked to join downwind right hand for 06, but I could see some weather that would affect that route and additionally there is some higher ground to the south of the runway. I asked for a join on final for 06 and this was approved.

Lining the Piper Arrow up on final was proving challenging as my drift corrections were proving inadequate. At about three miles to run I had us nicely configured with gear down and flap 25 but with a considerable offset heading to counter the wind. I said to Niels that if the approach became in doubt we would go around and divert to Bourne. I planned only one approach to Duxford: if we missed it there would not be a second.

The final wind check from Duxford ATC was 340/17 and, as we neared the ground, I straightened up and touched down nicely, raising the into wind aileron. I was very pleased with the approach and landing. We taxied to the end of the runway and parked just as a torrential downpour arrived and kept us trapped in the aircraft for the next fifteen minutes.

Not many visitors today!

Duxford is a wonderful place to visit with so much to see. However, we headed for the restaurant as we were ready for food and drink. Shall we say they were having a bad day in there as the til was not working properly, there was not enough cutlery and they were low on food!

Niels and I had a wander around the exhibits before heading back to HALC for the journey home. We retraced the inbound route, give or take, and the weather returned to very nice just a few miles north of Duxford. Niels was running Skydemon software on his iPad and I was very interested to see it in action. It was very impressive, working flawlessly on the way home and even helping us around some weather.

Skydemon and iPad: a formidable combination

Back home at Barton I resolved to get an iPad myself, as it looks to be a great backup to the onboard certified units. Watch out for a report on how I get on with that.

Downwind right hand runway 27 Left at Barton