Lost Trust in Foreflight

[LauraE51]

Today, for the second time Foreflight would not connect to my GPS unit and i was forced to cancel my flight. i'd like to think this was pilot error and i would appreciate advice. Here's the data.

iPad Mini Retina, 32GB (with lots of extra space)
DUAL X150 GPS
Foreflight

Normally, i turn on the Dual first and confirm that bluetooth is working. At that point, i open up my iPad and turn on bluetooth, confirming that it's paired with the Dual. I then check my Dual to confirm the green light is on, showing i have a GPS connection. Finally, i open up Dual's Status Tool on the iPad, which shows how many satellites are connected as well as my current coordinates.

The first time this happened, i was in the air before i noticed and i spent a little too much time playing with my iPad and Foreflight before i gave up. Fortunately, that was a local flight, so no harm was done. When i returned, i got on the foreflight forums which told me the best solution would be to restart both my iPad and the Dual unit.

Which is what i did today, twice. Both times, the Dual was paired with the iPad and the Status tool told me i was connected to satellites and that i had coordinates. However, ForeFlight was telling me that it had NO FIX.

After 30 minutes of playing with FF and the Dual, i gave up, parked the plane, and came home.

At home, i'm finding the same problem. i can't see myself trusting FF again if it won't always connect to GPS. Anyone else have this problem and if so, how did you fix it?

 

[Jim Logajan]

I find this thread hard to believe. Those of us who learned to fly in what you refer to as the stone age managed to navigate to strange airports, sometimes at night , enter the pattern and land. Ever use a Superhomer or a comm radio with four crystals?

This industry is going to the dogs if everyone thinks like you do.

Bob Gardner

A classic case of history being written by the survivors.

Until you or someone else works out the statistics on how many people back in the "good old days" got lost and had to land at the first place of opportunity or ask for help before they ran out of gas versus the pilots of today using perfectly legitimate GPS tools, no one can reasonably claim that pilots using older navigation tools were in any way superior in their training.

 

[Jim Logajan]

You do know that being a pilot is more than flying a plane, almost anyone can fly a plane. A good pilot knows how to handle things when things don't go right, such as losing FF on an I pad.

In fact in the very first post the OP wrote "The first time this happened, i was in the air before i noticed and i spent a little too much time playing with my iPad and Foreflight before i gave up."

For the flight in question his preferred navigation tool was inop before he even left the ground. He later posted that he did have a backup. Note that it was a pleasure flight to a new destination, where GPS is really handy once you get near the intended destination (GPS seems to me to be marginally useful over dead reckoning while en route. I've found it really really handy when trying to spot a back country air strip for the first time. Saves time searching, which can really get you lost if you aren't careful.)

I just didn't see that Bob's assertion was entirely useful or relevant, among other things. I imagine if Bob's preferred or primary navigation had been inop before an optional flight he'd have scrubbed too. The difference to me seems to be that currently an iPad with external GPS is frowned upon and cannon fodder for anyone admitting to rely on it for a pleasure flight to a new-to-them airport.

 

[Jim Logajan]

I wonder how Lindbergh found Paris, I don't think he was able to recharge his ipad in flight.

He wasn't called "Lucky Lindy" for nothing. Worth reading "Even Lindbergh Got Lost":

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/even-lindbergh-got-lost-3381643/?no-ist

"The magnitude of Lindbergh’s accomplishment led many to believe that transoceanic air navigation was simply a matter of determination. At least 15 people died in ocean-crossing attempts through the rest of 1927, leading to calls for federal regulation."

Relying on dead reckoning has no doubt killed more pilots than relying on GPS moving map on an iPad stop working.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Is that true?

Don't they have different GPS receivers ?

The OP's iPad was attempting to connect with an external DUAL X150 GPS via Bluetooth. The OP's iPhone GPS is built-in. So the drivers and hardware would indeed be different. The CPU and GPU may or may not also be different, depending on what models he was using. Ditto for the OS. The underlying core OS source code can trace its lineage back several decades, so it should be more vetted than, say, some embedded OSes of younger vintage.

 

[Jim Logajan]

I think personality issues aside, most folks on here want to make sure a fellow aviator and enthusiast makes it home alive to fly another day.

Or it's a situation similar to how piety (for one's own good of course) was enforced back in the day :