Approach Plates on PDA (PIREP)

"Peter" wrote in message
...


Is the screen size and resolution on a PDA enough to view an approach
plate?

The problem is that one needs to be able to see the whole plate, I
think, not just one bit of it.


Peter, that was part of the earlier discussions.

For normal use, you need a tablet PC or something like that so that you can
have a full-chart presentation that is very readable. This discussion was
about use as a backup only so that you can have current charts for an
unplanned destination without carrying around and updating a large set of
charts. For that usage, you can tolerate some inconvenience as long as
safety is not compromised.

I determined for myself, by experiment, that the PDA display is adequate for
the intended usage. I am able to brief the approach by panning and
scrolling, make some notes of frequencies, minima and such on my kneeboard,
and then position the view so that the plan view and profile view are on the
screen. The readability is good enough for that, and the info outside that
view I extract during the approach briefing. It is not like looking through
a soda straw as you might expect, and as I thought it might be. My
experiment was at my desk, and I intend to repeat it in the air before fully
commiting to this approach.

Regards,
Stan

Stan Prevost wrote:

Peter wrote:

Is the screen size and resolution on a PDA enough to view an approach
plate?

The problem is that one needs to be able to see the whole plate, I
think, not just one bit of it.


Peter, that was part of the earlier discussions.

For normal use, you need a tablet PC or something like that so that you
can
have a full-chart presentation that is very readable. This discussion was
about use as a backup only so that you can have current charts for an
unplanned destination without carrying around and updating a large set of
charts. For that usage, you can tolerate some inconvenience as long as
safety is not compromised.

How can safety not be compromised when you have to pan and scroll on the
approach? I develop aviation software for the Pocket PC (W&B, FARs, route
planning etc), and a significant amount of development time goes into
usability. I considered adding approach charts and decided that flying an
approach in the clouds using a PDA increased the risk level to a point to
which I was not comfortable. Did I miss out on some revenue? Sure.
However, I am a firm believer in safety, and I cannot believe that flying an
approach using a PDA does not compromise safety.

That's just my opinion.


I determined for myself, by experiment, that the PDA display is adequate
for
the intended usage. I am able to brief the approach by panning and
scrolling, make some notes of frequencies, minima and such on my
kneeboard,
and then position the view so that the plan view and profile view are on
the
screen. The readability is good enough for that, and the info outside
that
view I extract during the approach briefing. It is not like looking
through
a soda straw as you might expect, and as I thought it might be. My
experiment was at my desk, and I intend to repeat it in the air before
fully
commiting to this approach.

Hilton

Hilton wrote:

How can safety not be compromised when you have to pan and scroll on the
approach? I develop aviation software for the Pocket PC (W&B, FARs, route
planning etc), and a significant amount of development time goes into
usability. I considered adding approach charts and decided that flying an
approach in the clouds using a PDA increased the risk level to a point to
which I was not comfortable. Did I miss out on some revenue? Sure.
However, I am a firm believer in safety, and I cannot believe that flying an
approach using a PDA does not compromise safety.

That's just my opinion.

No doubt that you are right. Safety is compromised by going to electronic
charts without being able to view the entire approach chart. That's why the
high-end stuff has robust portrait-oriented displays. Then again, the high-end
stuff has two engines, single-engine safety from lift-off, real deicing
capability, etc.

"Hilton" wrote in message
news

How can safety not be compromised when you have to pan and scroll on the
approach? I develop aviation software for the Pocket PC (W&B, FARs, route
planning etc), and a significant amount of development time goes into
usability. I considered adding approach charts and decided that flying an
approach in the clouds using a PDA increased the risk level to a point to
which I was not comfortable. Did I miss out on some revenue? Sure.
However, I am a firm believer in safety, and I cannot believe that flying
an
approach using a PDA does not compromise safety.


The key point that makes it acceptable to me are that I can view a readable
screen with the full plan view and profile view of the procedure, which also
contains the missed approach procedure. No manipulation is required during
the approach. I have to pan and scroll only during the approach briefing to
extract information (frequencies, minima, TDZE, etc.) from the portions of
the chart that are outside that window.

That is no more a distraction and compromise of safety than digging around
in the flight bag for the approach plates that were not planned for use,
finding the right one, etc. Plus I will always have current charts. Again,
the context of this discussion has been having current, readily accessible,
TPP information available for use when diverting to unplanned airports,
without having to own, maintain, and carry a bunch of printed charts. I
plan to download and print current charts for the primary and alternate
airports for each trip.

It is an individual judgement. I made my initial judgement by actually
holding the pda in my hands, accessing the software, experimenting with it
to determine the readablility under the required zoom factor, and how it
worked procedurally for an approach briefing. With the software I used for
the experiment, I found it acceptable. My evaluation was made against my
background of in-flight use of the PDA, having used the AnyWhereMap product
for two or three years. The PDA is yoke mounted, so the viewing distance is
not large, and it is well-positioned in my scan.

As I said in earlier posts, the final evaluation will be made with the final
software, in flight. I plan to go through the whole process: accessing the
desired procedure, briefing the approach, and flying the approach. It
remains to be seen how the pan/scroll/zoom features of the SmartPlates for
PocketPC product work out, relative to those of the Adobe Reader for
PocketPC that I used for the preliminary evaluation.

Stan