So, as you all know, FAA Aeronav is going to switch to a pay as much as we want if you want our products model. Basically, this gives Chartbundle two options.
1. Shut down in April.
2. Find a source for scanned versions of the charts that we use for a reasonable price.
Obviously shutting down is the most likely scenario.
You'll notice there is no option 3. Pay Aeronav. as we have two problems with that.
1. Chartbundle has nowhere near the funding to support even the lowest Aeronav pricing tier(about $10,000 as I recall)
2. Aeronav wants DRM or other protections on the (public domain) data distributed. Although the PDF, EPUB and MOBI formats which we use all support DRM, it would significantly reduce the number of working devices and significantly increase our workload to support it with no increase in customer satisfaction.
Obviously, we'll update if things change.
The plan for my personal flying: Subscribe to a paper A/FD, use my Windows 7 tablet for my Jeppesen subscription and hope the Android Jeppesen application comes out soon.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
VFR and IFR Charts Updated
The VFR and IFR charts have been updated for the 15 December 2011 Cycle.
As always, check the status link to verify the current versions.
www.chartbundle.com/charts
As always, check the status link to verify the current versions.
www.chartbundle.com/charts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Approach Plates: 17 November 2011
The 17 November 2011 Approach Plate cycle is now live. This is a mid-cycle update and would usually have a change notice volume available, however as the Change Notice files were not on the DVD and are not available for download until the 16th, the TPPCN volume is not available, please just download the full volumes if you usually use the Change Notice.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Charts Updated
All IFR charts are now live for the 20 October 2011 cycle. As well all updated VFR charts are also live. Please check the status page for current versions.
www.chartbundle.com/charts/
www.chartbundle.com/charts/
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Motion CL900 in-cockpit review.
While this blog has mostly been about Chartbundle, we occasionally go flying as well. Today I took out my couple month old Motion CL900 tablet for a 'real' flight. I had previously used it briefly in flight but this was the first yoke mounted, real flight.
Advantages
Since it's Windows 7, it can runn full Jeppesen FliteDeck, Jepp charts, plates, everything in one unified program. It's got a large, high brightness screen which was easy to read. Battery life was fine for todays 3 hour flight. Onboard GPS and Cellular wireless, cellular can be activated with any carrier.(I used my T-Mobile SIM in previous testing.)
Disadvantages
It's large. To a point, a larger screen is better, but this thing is just on the border of useful in a cockpit. On a kneeboard/leg style mount, the way I fly, I kept hitting it with the yoke, so I went to a Yoke mount. No good mounts for it, my current mount is a hacked RAM Tab-Tite Large(RAM-HOL-TAB-LGU).
Mount
As part of the pre-flight, I mounted it and realized I didn't have exactly the right parts for this plane, RAM is a great mount system as you can mix and match, but I didn't have the exact lengths I needed. But it mounted ok and cleared my legs and body for full range of yoke travel. It did block the tachometer a bit. The actual mount I don't have photos of, but I removed some material so it accepted the thicker tablet and then shortened the spring so it would accept a longer tablet. Then I stuck a standard RAM ball mount on it.
Here's a video of the mount: CL900 Yoke Mount
Flight
After that, I started it up, loaded FliteDeck and loaded my first route. It followed along nicely during the first flight up until the third route where the on-board CL900 GPS just gave up. The GPS antenna is at the top of the tablet when the IO ports are in the bottom in portrait mode, but it's still not very good inside a plane. Also, it's Windows, which means changing settings by touch isn't always the easiest thing. The pen works great, but then your mount would need a clip for it, I chose to keep it stowed on this flight.
Software
On the plus side, it runs everthing Windows 7 can run, on the minus side, it runs everything Windows 7 can run. As I mentioned, I use FliteDeck, as well as a PDF copy of the AFD and Approach Plates(from Chartbundle, of course) I'd like to try some of the other apps with the more synthetic vision type stuff, but that will have to be a later flight.
Next Steps
Next time, I'm going to take my portable USB GPS(which is really a WAAS Garmin eTrex consumer GPS) and toss it up on the glare shield, sure, it's another cable but it should greatly improve GPS tracking. I have a wide input DC adapter I also need to try to see how that works for extending the battery(it should work in both 12 and 24 volt systems) And finally, I need another RAM component to give me a little better articulation on the mount(one of the shortest arms).
What I really want
What I really want is a tablet like this which can run full Jeppesen and other software but in smaller hardware, either a 8.9"/9" screen or this screen but with a significantly smaller bezel and thinner package, and an on-board, high sensitivity WAAS GPS wouldn't hurt either.
Why Not an iPad
The iPad is still a bit large, and there's no standard USB port, so either proprietary cabled devices or Bluetooth or WiFi. Since I do fly actual IFR, I'm a little concerned about having random transmitters inside the plane, yes, I even turn off my phone.
Advantages
Since it's Windows 7, it can runn full Jeppesen FliteDeck, Jepp charts, plates, everything in one unified program. It's got a large, high brightness screen which was easy to read. Battery life was fine for todays 3 hour flight. Onboard GPS and Cellular wireless, cellular can be activated with any carrier.(I used my T-Mobile SIM in previous testing.)
Disadvantages
It's large. To a point, a larger screen is better, but this thing is just on the border of useful in a cockpit. On a kneeboard/leg style mount, the way I fly, I kept hitting it with the yoke, so I went to a Yoke mount. No good mounts for it, my current mount is a hacked RAM Tab-Tite Large(RAM-HOL-TAB-LGU).
Mount
As part of the pre-flight, I mounted it and realized I didn't have exactly the right parts for this plane, RAM is a great mount system as you can mix and match, but I didn't have the exact lengths I needed. But it mounted ok and cleared my legs and body for full range of yoke travel. It did block the tachometer a bit. The actual mount I don't have photos of, but I removed some material so it accepted the thicker tablet and then shortened the spring so it would accept a longer tablet. Then I stuck a standard RAM ball mount on it.
Here's a video of the mount: CL900 Yoke Mount
Flight
After that, I started it up, loaded FliteDeck and loaded my first route. It followed along nicely during the first flight up until the third route where the on-board CL900 GPS just gave up. The GPS antenna is at the top of the tablet when the IO ports are in the bottom in portrait mode, but it's still not very good inside a plane. Also, it's Windows, which means changing settings by touch isn't always the easiest thing. The pen works great, but then your mount would need a clip for it, I chose to keep it stowed on this flight.
Software
On the plus side, it runs everthing Windows 7 can run, on the minus side, it runs everything Windows 7 can run. As I mentioned, I use FliteDeck, as well as a PDF copy of the AFD and Approach Plates(from Chartbundle, of course) I'd like to try some of the other apps with the more synthetic vision type stuff, but that will have to be a later flight.
Next Steps
Next time, I'm going to take my portable USB GPS(which is really a WAAS Garmin eTrex consumer GPS) and toss it up on the glare shield, sure, it's another cable but it should greatly improve GPS tracking. I have a wide input DC adapter I also need to try to see how that works for extending the battery(it should work in both 12 and 24 volt systems) And finally, I need another RAM component to give me a little better articulation on the mount(one of the shortest arms).
What I really want
What I really want is a tablet like this which can run full Jeppesen and other software but in smaller hardware, either a 8.9"/9" screen or this screen but with a significantly smaller bezel and thinner package, and an on-board, high sensitivity WAAS GPS wouldn't hurt either.
Why Not an iPad
The iPad is still a bit large, and there's no standard USB port, so either proprietary cabled devices or Bluetooth or WiFi. Since I do fly actual IFR, I'm a little concerned about having random transmitters inside the plane, yes, I even turn off my phone.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
20OCT2011 Updates
The TPP(Approach Plates) and Airport Facility Directory for 20 October 2011 have been updated.
IFR Charts will be updated the weekend of October 15th. With the new FAA Download changes and the fact that we have been unable to purchase the VFR DVDs, VFR charts will hopefully be updated the weekend of October 22nd.
www.chartbundle.com
IFR Charts will be updated the weekend of October 15th. With the new FAA Download changes and the fact that we have been unable to purchase the VFR DVDs, VFR charts will hopefully be updated the weekend of October 22nd.
www.chartbundle.com
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