October 24th, 2011
We covered this when iOS 5 first came out, but now the press is starting to pick up the story. Flying magazine has published an iPad Pilot Safety Alert article here. From the article:
“The release by Apple of a new operating system for the iPad, iOS 5, has raised concerns among aviation app providers that pilots’ iPads might lose charts or even entire applications without the user’s knowledge.
The issue has to do with Apple’s decision to let the new operating system delete files at its discretion if it were to run low on space. In a worst-case scenario, a pilot might add a video or download a new app only to have the new operating system delete charts from the application database. When the pilot tried to pull up the chart to fly an approach, it would simply not be there.”
Hopefully Apple will address the issue soon.
October 19th, 2011
In the interest of safety we would like to raise awareness of an issue in iOS 5 which could affect pilots using the iPad as a navigation aid.
Our synthetic vision system which is integrated into WingX Pro 7 fully supports iOS 5. However, iOS 5 introduces a new ‘clean-up’ feature which can delete the terrain and obstacle data if your device starts running low on memory.
According to Dr. Hilton Goldstein:
“…you could get to the airport and find that WingX Pro7 and/or its databases (e.g. sectionals) have just disappeared,” As a result, Dr. Goldstein is recommending that WingX Pro7 users delay upgrading to iOS 5 “until Apple stops deleting your apps and data.” You can read more about this particular issue with iOS 5 on AeroNew here. You can also read about it on Hilton’s web site here.
This problem is not specific to WingX Pro 7 but other applications that download and cache data locally on the iPad and iPhone, including ForeFlight. The ForeFlight blog has a post about the issue here and it advises you to pre-flight your iPad and iPhone before flying. That is sound advice.
October 19th, 2011
Dr. Hilton Goldstein’s press conference in which he announces WingX Pro7 integrates BA3 Synthetic Vision technology:
October 3rd, 2011
AVWeb recently posted a video comparing WingX Pro 7 (which includes our synthetic vision technology) to certified panel-mounted equipment . The post also compares us to Garmin: “Garmin’s new 796 has a touchscreen and 3D vision — but so can an iPad. It’s not as robust as any certified system (or even the AV8OR Horizon, nee VistaNav) but it would certainly help keep the sunny side up in the clouds ifyou ever needed it. It looks pretty cool, too.”
August 5th, 2011
Levil Technology sells a small AHRS that provides attitude information for our iPad synthetic vision systems. The uncertified version sells for $795. In this blog post, writer Matt Thurber explores questions about the FAA certification process.