Avionics News March 2013 - 89

pany’s Flightman software aims at maximizing the benefits
of connected-aircraft systems with ground and portable
equipment.

MATCHING TOOLS TO NEEDED FUNCTIONS
Continued from page 24

EFB Options

With Seattle Avionics’ FlyQ EFB for Android & iPad,
ForeFlight and Sporty’s Chart Viewer, the options are many.
The savings are significant – in costs, update labor and
flight-bag weight.
Picking the best option involves the pilot understanding
his or her use patterns.
Some, like Sporty’s Chart Viewer, provide a single DVD
disc loaded with all instrument approach procedures for the
conterminous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, the Pacific, Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It includes approaches, takeoff
minimums, arrival and departure procedures, and airport
diagrams. Provided in PDF format and updated every 28
days, these documents can be loaded onto a desktop, notebook or tablet.
Jeppesen arguably offers one of the widest array of digital
charting solutions for cockpits and portables, with and without paper, with and without the company’s impressive new
flight-planning software.
Global Nav Source offers multiple flavors of EFB software with the focus ranging from airline to military to general aviation/corporate/charter. The company’s GA package
includes geo-referenced plates. The NavTech corporate/
charter packages come in three regions: the Americas, Arctic to Antarctic; the Atlantic, Africa and Europe; and Eastern
Europe through Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, east of Midway.
Strong Pilot is another source for EFB software solutions
and custom applications for everything from air-carrier to
upper-end general aviation and corporate flying. The com-

A Challenge for Avionics Dealers:
Mining Business from a Box-store Product

With the marketplace for Android products dominated by
big-box and online retailers, avionics shops and fixed base operators face a daunting task of trying to compete for hardware
sales. Double that for Apple products – the iPad and iPhone
smartphone options. Apple tightly controls every aspect of their
products’ business.
But there may be opportunities for FBOs and avionics shops
in other areas – helping pilots fulfill their ambitions for their
products and accessories.
For example, selling add-on devices for weather, traffic and
ADS-B has great potential, even when a specific software brand
must be acquired to make the accessory function as promised.
Installing and integrating the software and the hardware can
be a service line of business for pilots too busy or too technically challenged to handle themselves.
Similarly, the installation of added ports to power accessories off the aircraft’s electrical system holds some promise – as
could upgrading the electrical backbone to assure the operator
of ample, reliable, uninterrupted power for their portable and
installed avionics.
Accessory – external – antennae can help some of these devices perform more reliably, offering another potential avenue
of business.
And accessory mounts and decks may offer avionics shops
a way into the portable-powerhouse user’s accounts payable,
particularly semi-permanent mounts that let the pilot install and
remove a tablet as needed. q

That’s One Small Step for Software
One small step for software should
not become one giant step toward disaster. But the potential exists, particularly
among pilots who attempt to learn, onthe-fly, how to use their new hardware
and software tools.
Beyond the unproductive nature of
that approach, you encounter the unsafe
nature of piloting an aircraft while only
partially engaged in its flying.
Certainly, benefits exist for sitting in the
cockpit while learning the fundamentals
of any EFB solution – and in particular for

EFB solutions capable of working with the
installed avionics. So sure, plug the plane
into ground power and the portable device into the lighter socket and practice
away – stationary, on the ground.
Many of these packages bring their
own well-structured tutorials; some offer
direct online help. Some of the best provide a simulation mode through which
the pilot can “fly” a flight plan entered
into a device.
It’s better to see the trip before turning the key and starting the engine.

This philosophy extends to any flightdeck use of tablets, notebooks or smartphones; beware the prospects of a fatal
distraction.
Encourage the single-pilot operators
to request a second pilot to accompany any first flights with new gear or
software to avoid things that go bump
in the air.
And continue to practice in the home
or office as you add utilities or functions,
or discover new functions heretofore unknown to you. q

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Avionics News March 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News March 2013