Best iPad App(s)?

[godfreypilot]

Hey there,

I finally stopped procrastinating and bought myself a shiny new iPad 3. I'm pretty impressed with it, but I wanted to get some feedback from others on which apps would be the most useful in the cockpit, especially if I'm going to pay for it!

I'm a private pilot with an instrument rating, so I'd like a complete set of electronic charts and approach plates for sure, as well as the abilities of an aviation GPS (such as flying a flight plan, using a direct-to feature, getting groundpeed and cross-track, etc).

From my research, it looks like Foreflight HD and Garmin Pilot both seem to have what I'm looking for. I'd love to hear any input from people who fly with these apps. The Garmin app costs $25 more per year, so if anyone can give me a reason why it's better than Foreflight I would love to hear it. Also, if anyone out there has an app other than these two that you enjoy, I'd really love to hear about it!

Thanks for all the input,

Ryan

 

[Jim Logajan]

When flying VFR, iPad makes for a nice replacement of dealing with folded paper sectionals and thumbing through an AF/D when handling inflight diversions. For that simple usage, then SkyChartsPro is probably the least expensive of all the choices, trumping ForeFlight and WingX. But the latter two have many other capabilities that are potentially very useful that SkyChartsPro can't handle.

At $20, SkyChartsPro is lunch money and may be worth a trial alongside the other options.