Cell Phone for Traffic Awareness

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infrequentFlyer

Pre-Flight
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infrequentFlyer
Looking into my options to connect ADSB to a screen for displaying traffic.

The most popular option appears to be an ipad mini with foreflight, but I was wondering - does anyone just use their cell phone?

My biggest concern is the screen being too small so I'd like to hear from anyone who has tried or currently uses their phone.

Thanks
 
100% iphone (using garmin pilot). well, maybe 98%, I'll dial in the traffic page on the 650 several times as well.
 
When I fly, my buddy uses his iPhone to watch for traffic and it works fine for us. Because I’m flying, he has both hands free and is able to hold his phone and use his other hand to pan and zoom. When he flies, I use my iPad Mini to watch for traffic and I prefer that to my iPhone. In both cases our devices get traffic via a Sentry gps.
 
100% iPhone, currently a 15 Pro Max running WingX and fed via WiFi by a Raspberry Pi-based Stratus.

53403692691_d62b4cc988_z.jpg


Suction cup RAM mount and QuadLock case holding it pretty close - about 15” from my eyes. Works fine.

52683654838_179a2a1efe_z.jpg
 
FastEddieB said:
100% iPhone, currently a 15 Pro Max running WingX and fed via WiFi by a Raspberry Pi-based Stratus
Click to expand...

Nice! I'm planning to build an ADSB too so I would have a very similar setup.

Never heard of WingX - will check it out. I was debating Garmin Pilot or iFlyEFB since I'm on android.

Lon33 said:
When he flies, I use my iPad Mini to watch for traffic and I prefer that to my iPhone
Click to expand...

Seems like anyone who had both would probably prefer the iPad... maybe I should just not be cheap and shell out $$.
 
I use my iPhone with Foreflight, on a Ram mount. It works fine. Our RV-8 steam gauge panel doesn’t have room for an iPad, and having it on my leg is inconvenient and harder to read.
 
I fly all around the country with just a iPhone, SD to FL to Maine to CA. Use Flightplan Go (free) for navigation and it connects to the Flightbox which brings in weather and traffic. Plenty of screen space and it’s always charged from the 12vdc receptacle in the plane.
 
ateamer said:
I use my iPhone with Foreflight, on a Ram mount. It works fine. Our RV-8 steam gauge panel doesn’t have room for an iPad, and having it on my leg is inconvenient and harder to read.
Click to expand...
I’d rather have an iPhone at roughly eye level than a iPad on my lap.

And my usual caution: a loose iPad in the cockpit can be a hazard in turbulence. Somewhere in this forum I believe there’s a thread on a military plane where a loose tablet jammed the controls. If my lap was the only option, I’d find a way to strap it to my leg, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ready made solutions for that
 
FastEddieB said:
And my usual caution: a loose iPad in the cockpit can be a hazard in turbulence. Somewhere in this forum I believe there’s a thread on a military plane where a loose tablet jammed the controls. If my lap was the only option, I’d find a way to strap it to my leg, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ready made solutions for that
Click to expand...

Sketchy, I'll look that one up too.

I got a mount which "clamps" to the dash, like this one from Sporty's.
 
infrequentFlyer said:
Seems like anyone who had both would probably prefer the iPad... maybe I should just not be cheap and shell out $$.
Click to expand...

Doesn't have to be an iPad. An Android tablet can run most EFBs except ForeFlight.

Another app you might consider is FltPlanGO, https://flttrack.fltplan.com/FltPlanInfo/FltPlan_Go-Android-iPad_Info.html . It's a freebie and it has a good feature set. The UI is a bit clunkier than FF or iFly, but acceptable. I'm using iFly on a 740b and an iPad, but I have FltPlanGO installed on my Android phone as a backup.
 
FastEddieB said:
If my lap was the only option, I’d find a way to strap it to my leg, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ready made solutions for that
Click to expand...

Before getting my 740b and mounting it to the panel, I used one of these:
https://www.sportys.com/flight-gear...google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&creative={AdId}&device=c&matchtype=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA1fqrBhA1EiwAMU5m_9bB1SXntnGttcWH8H7U0xBb_MkMm1_Y9qoyuIbjgDzvRRCWoAbdTBoCyyMQAvD_BwE

It's okay, but I had to be careful about letting it get in the way of the yoke. Having a screen on the panel is much much better, though.
 
I’m walking now, but…

“A loose iPad that jammed a flight control pedal appears to have triggered the fatal crash of a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter on a firefighting mission last summer, according to information recently published in an NTSB accident investigation docket. Officially, the NTSB has yet to issue a formal probable-cause finding.”
 
FastEddieB said:
I’m walking now, but…

“A loose iPad that jammed a flight control pedal appears to have triggered the fatal crash of a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter on a firefighting mission last summer, according to information recently published in an NTSB accident investigation docket. Officially, the NTSB has yet to issue a formal probable-cause finding.”
Click to expand...

Maybe the family will sue Apple. (I hope.)
 
Thanks for the responses! Looks like phone is a viable option for many - so I'm going to give it that a try :) The photos of your setups are great - keep 'em coming if anyone has more.
 
I really like having a dedicated traffic display with no background map and set to appropriate ranges for the altitude / speeds involved. My new-to-me Comanche 250 is well equiped with Garmin avionics but the GTN 650 display is pretty small. I'm using Garmin Pilot on an iPad mini for larger map and EFB functionality but even then, I like having traffic in a heads up, clean display in my main scan.

Below is my current configuration which is working well. I run Garmin Pilot on iPhone in addition to the iPad (the Garmin transponder supports 2 bluetooth connections) and mostly keep it in traffic mode. I tried a few different suction mounts until I found one that would tuck my phone into the left panel but not block anything critcal. In busy environments (which are common in NW Florida / South Alabama) I keep it in 'normal' mode most of the time with 2nm and 6nm range rings to filter out traffic that's not likely a concern. VFR in my local area I don't need the chart very often and running heads up on my phone also helps keep my scan outside.

The photo is on final to KJKA runway 18 with departing traffic ahead and left and traffic holding short on the taxiway (the yellow alert). You can see the GTN has also switch to alert mode. Perhaps some day Garmin will do a G5 HSI update with traffic dislpay option which would be ideal.

traffic_2.3.1.jpg
 
infrequentFlyer said:
My biggest concern is the screen being too small so I'd like to hear from anyone who has tried or currently uses their phone.
Click to expand...

The Garmin 430 can display traffic on both the map page and a dedicated traffic page. The 430's screen is smaller than most modern cell phones. So yes, I'd say the phone screen will be big enough.
 
I wonder if the people saying iPhone is big enough are under, say, 45 years old

I’ve used it as a backup to the panel and 10” iPad, but it wasn’t a great experience
 
With Garmin Pilot you get audible alerts as well as on the screen alerts. An iPhone works fine as long as you bluetooth phone audio to your headsets. The screen alerts tell you where the target is as well as altitude and heading. The info is very easy to digest.
 
I forget to bring my ipad sometimes. I have been using a folding android phone for the last couple years. I usually plan flights on my phone which opens up into a tablet sized screen. Makes planning easier, and it can be a compact phone efb or tablet when needed.
 
Phones work great in a tight cockpit. I leave my old pixel 5 mounted in my plane as a nav device and carry my new pixel 7 as a backup. High resolution makes up for the smaller screens. With cell service turned off they last a very long time.
 
I’m with the folks who like a dedicated display for traffic, but I don’t have a panel mount. I have used my IPhone with a ram mount to get the dedicated traffic using FlyQ. It enables one to use an essentially homogeneous background when using the digital option alone on charts. Also, rings are available with altitude limits for conflicting higher and lower traffic.

Some caveats may apply: Suction ram mounts sometimes lose adhesion in in-opportune times. ( You could use Velcro on your panel instead of a ram mount, if you have the space for the phone or even for an IPad for that matter)
Depending on the age of your phone batteries, you may lose power sooner than you like. I usually also have traffic on my lap IPad often on a split screen of FlyQ so I can zero in on details without touching the phone screen.
Because of now having to deal with the charge status of both devices (and a Stratux), I often don’t bother with the IPhone, as the IPad gets me the moving map EFB and IAPs besides the traffic. And especially on longer cross country trips with multiple stops, conserving battery power is even more important.

My backup EFB is FLYGO. Be aware that the FLYGO interferes with simultaneous ADSB info portraying on more than one device if it is using FlyQ. Don’t know if it similarly causes a problem with other APPS.
 
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