IFR Plate backup

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Code90

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Feb 7, 2014
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142
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Mt Pleasant, SC
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Code90
What doese everyone use for approach plate backup? After reading all the complaints with iOS 8 , I didn't "upgrade" my iPad. Using Foreflight and love it. But started thinking about what if it locked up. Do I have a backup? Not exactly.
What does everyone else do? I don't have a second iPad or an iPhone (don't laugh at my old school slide out phone). Guess I could find an old copy of paper plates.
 
Second ipad, then iPhone, then paper
 
I have FF on my iPhone and an IFR certified GPS. Worst case (your iPad craps out in IMC and its LIFR) you can explain the situation to the controller and they can guide you through the approach.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I have FF on my iPhone and an IFR certified GPS. Worst case (your iPad craps out in IMC and its LIFR) you can explain the situation to the controller and they can guide you through the approach.
Click to expand...
I'm with you there, (except and iPad) and I feel that we're the minority...

My company has paper backups of the L-charts and plates, per OpsSpec, but when I fly outside of company then I don't have any physical backup. As Fearless Tower said, if it locks so bad that it's useless I still have ATC and the GPS. I suppose worst case would be FF fails as well as a full electrical failure in IMC to the surface, but what are the odds? So small that I'm comfortable with it...
 
I phone,approaches on my Garmin,explain to controller you need altitudes.
 
I remember reading one time about an "old" guy that had his plate page sucked out of the window right before entering the approach... His point was that paper isn't fool-proof.

Me, I use ForeFlight, plus a backup iPad, plus iPhone. If all of that fails, I have bigger problems.

-Andrew
 
ahkahn said:
I remember reading one time about an "old" guy that had his plate page sucked out of the window right before entering the approach... His point was that paper isn't fool-proof.

Me, I use ForeFlight, plus a backup iPad, plus iPhone. If all of that fails, I have bigger problems.

-Andrew
Click to expand...
I was a genius once and left them in my bag in the back of the plane. Safe and secure storage to not lose them...
 
Paper is my primary. No need for backup.
 
I use paper gov plates and back it up with my ipad.
 
Primary is an iPad Mini on the yoke. I use Garmin Pilot but have fltpln loaded. I also have the Aspen MFD charts as well. In the flight bag are the iPad Air (with Garmin Pilot & fltpln) and iPhone 5 running fltpln.

This is way more than redundancy than when I was flying with Jepp books.
 
2nd iPad as backup. iPhone as backup to the backup. GNS430W in the plane. Talk to controllers as backup to the backup to the backup. Don't feel a need to also carry paper at this point.
 
I have both an iPad and iPhone, and would consider the iPhone backup for the iPad in terms of AFD information etc, but I'd hate to try to read an approach plate off the iPhone if things were going wrong. (Though to be honest, an iPad dying isn't really "things going wrong" in a heavy-workload way.)

I carry expired gov't charts (updated every year or two), and if the iPad completely went down would quickly compare against iPhone for differences and then use those. (Or, if the iPhone is dead too, ask ATC to verify.)
 
The iPad is my backup. Primary plates are in the MX20 via chartview.

Third step is my iPhone.
 
Foreflight on the iPad and iPhone. It's legal and it passes the common sense test for my flying.

I added a (high amperage) USB charging port to my panel so that the iPad or iPhone can be charged if needed.

I use an iPad without cellular and with an external GPS unit powered by another USB port. This minimizes drains on the iPad charge without muss or fuss.

(This is my 2nd iPad without cellular - rarely miss it. My wife's is setup with cellular - couldn't live without it. )

I installed a center console and RAM mount for the iPad (experimental). This puts my iPad under my right hand and totally usable with one hand.

I've been completely paperless for 3 years - even use Scratch Pad for clearances and sometimes freqs.
 
Paper then mini iPad then Garmin 696 the IPhone.
 
ahkahn said:
I remember reading one time about an "old" guy that had his plate page sucked out of the window right before entering the approach... His point was that paper isn't fool-proof.

Me, I use ForeFlight, plus a backup iPad, plus iPhone. If all of that fails, I have bigger problems.

-Andrew
Click to expand...

If iOS fails on the iPad, it's likely to fail on the iPhone at the same time for the same reason.

If you must use another electronic device as backup, make it thoroughly different. Different OS, different app, different hardware, different upgrade schedule, different charging schedule (your phone won't do you any good if its battery is dead, too). It's a lot less work to keep the NACO book as backup instead.

It takes more than two things in your pocket to make redundancy.
 
iphone, an old approach book in the back seat, PAR approach, tell the controller the situation and have him give me the highlights. Never made it past the second backup though.
 
I use my iPad with FF, my 750 has approach charts as a back up. I don't like them as a primary, they are a little harder to read than the iPad. ;)
 
MAKG1 said:
If iOS fails on the iPad, it's likely to fail on the iPhone at the same time for the same reason.

If you must use another electronic device as backup, make it thoroughly different. Different OS, different app, different hardware, different upgrade schedule, different charging schedule (your phone won't do you any good if its battery is dead, too). It's a lot less work to keep the NACO book as backup instead.

It takes more than two things in your pocket to make redundancy.
Click to expand...
This is a seductively elegant argument that just doesn't match experience or common sense.

In the case of iOS, I just can't recall any failures on my iPad. I guess there may have been one in the two I've owned but I can't remember them. My iPhone has required a soft reset or five. It never occurred to me that I should expect sympathetic failures... but I do believe in quantum entanglement so there you go.

Using "thoroughly different" devices discounts the need to be thoroughly proficient in their operation and the difficulty in maintaining such proficiency.

One of the joys of Foreflight is never over flying your chart and plate coverage. If I need to keep backup paper charts, I won't be buying and using Foreflight's service. And if there was ever a question about using back level NACO books, the number of changes we've seen over the past 5 years makes that a highly questionable practice. No thanks
 
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