| by |
Denny Arar |
The
folks who created the world's most popular personal digital assistant may have
been prescient when they called them Pilots (and later, PalmPilots). Several
versions later, the Pilot part of the name is gone, but these ubiquitous
palmtop computers lead a not-so-secret life as great tools for aviators.
Software for devices based on the Palm operating system can help you with
almost every aspect of flight planning and log maintenance, or even boning up
for an FAA exam. Add the right hardware accessory and your Palm can be a GPS
device or a weather information receiver. For pilots, who invariably tend to
be gadget freaks, the Palm is a natural companion.
Some Hardware Notes
If you don't already own a Palm, here's some basic information to introduce
the diminutive devices and their lineage.
Devices
based on the Palm operating system currently include several flavors each of
the Palm III and V; the Palm VII (with built-in wireless connectivity to the
Internet); the IBM WorkPad; and Handspring Visor. Prices range from about $180
or so for an entry-level model (including the HotSync cradle you'll need to
install software from your PC) to $499 for the Palm IIIc, the first Palm with
a color screen. Palm Inc.,
the company (now a 3Com subsidiary) that makes Palms, has done an admirable
job of maintaining backwards compatibility on the operating system so that
most older models (Palm O.S. 2.0 or later, which basically covers everything
after the Pilot 5000) can run most Palm software. But note that I used Palm
III series models to try out the products in this review. Also note that older
models have less memory in which to store applications; to make room for the
full-featured flight-planners, you might have to remove other apps.
Accessories...
If
you're thinking of chucking your trusty kneeboard in favor of your handheld
for in-flight use, make sure you're comfortable with the brightness of the
screen — a personal decision you can only make by actually trying out your
handheld in your own cockpit under "real-life" conditions. And to
keep your PDA handy, you'll also want to consider buying either a yoke mount (Revolv
Design offers one for $59.95, but only for Palm III models) or Force
Technology's Bond (for all Palm Computing devices) — basically a lanyard
that latches firmly to the bottom of the PDA, which you can then hang around
your neck.
...And Shopping Resources
Don't expect to buy Palm-based products for aviators off-the-shelf at your
local computer mega-store: You'll be shopping online and downloading software
from the Web. The good news is that you'll be able to try almost all the
software packages before you buy, either in demo form with certain features
crippled, or as trialware that expires after a set period. I found many of the
packages I looked at by browsing Zenith
Air's helpful PalmPilot for Aviators page; it's not an online shop, but
there are links to the Web sites for the products. Annoyingly, however, Zenith
Air puts the product Web sites in frames: You can't see their URLs to bookmark
them. Even worse, after a few seconds Zenith Air's homepage returns without
prompting. Still, it's a good resource.
A handful of e-tailers sell these products. They're easiest to find at PalmGear
HQ, which lists 44 in its Aviation category (curiously, a keyword search
under "Aviation" returned only 32 entries). The huge Handango
PDA software store, formerly known as PalmCentral, carries some of these
products as well.
Say Goodbye to Your E6B!
FlyTimer 2000...
The
most ambitious Palm software for pilots is FlyTimer's FlyTimer 2000, a
combination desktop-PDA package that costs $89.95 at FlyTimer's
Web site and promises soup-to-nuts flight planning functionality. The
concept is that you do heavy-duty data entry — i.e., flight plans and
checklists — on the desktop, then transfer your creations to the Palm during
a HotSync session. Then you can take the Palm with you on your flight, using
the checklists and flight plans the same way you'd use handwritten ones —
thereby eliminating some cockpit paper clutter.
FlyTimer is the only one of the products that you can't download. It comes
on a CD-ROM, along with a security key code required for installation, which
for me at least, was a time-consuming hassle. For starters, I had to upgrade
my Palm desktop and HotSync programs (neither of which were that old to begin
with) with later versions available on Palm
Inc.'s Web site. Then the desktop piece of FlyTimer 2000 wouldn't run
because I had to get a new version of a .dll file for my Windows installation.
While the people at FlyTimer were very helpful (and even lent me a color Palm
IIIc for this round-up), a user who had to seek as much tech support as I
needed through conventional means probably would have become very frustrated.
Properly
installed on both desktop and Palm, FlyTimer 2000 has lots to offer after you
spend some time on setup. The only screen that must be filled out on the Palm
itself is the one with your basic aircraft information, including identifier,
UTC adjustment, usable fuel capacity and burn rate (presumably at cruise,
although it's not specified). Flight plans and checklists are best dealt with
via the desktop software. It comes with an impressive collection of checklists
that you can easily customize (although I wish they were organized in
chronological sequence — as they are once you transfer them to the Palm —
rather than alphabetically, so that the Descent checklist is near the top
while Starting Engine is towards the bottom). Equally impressive is the
inclusion of the entire current (at shipping time) FAA Aeronautical Services
Informational ATA-120 database of waypoints — airports (organized by
identifier codes), VORs, and NDBs — plus space to enter fixes and
user-defined waypoints. It's easy to pick the waypoints you want and add them
to your flight plan.
When you're through customizing checklists and putting together your flight
plan (you can create as many as you like), you simply install the FlyTimer
2000 .prc file using the Palm desktop software, then HotSync to transfer
everything to your PDA. You now can navigate through your various checklists
and activate your flight plan; the software brings up each leg and times it
until you tap on "End." You can also add your own alarms to remind
you when to switch fuel tanks, for example. The waypoints in the database have
latitude and longitude pre-entered, so the Palm automatically performs fuel
calculations.
I did run into another glitch. When I activated my test flight plan, the
legs of the flight came up backwards. The company told me they'll fix this in
future releases, and also gave me a workaround — but it certainly was
irritating. FlyTimer 2000 also has a Utilities section which includes E6B
calculators (as well as forms for PIREPs and useful reference info such as the
meaning of various tower lights). Some of the E6B calculations such as wind
corrections can be entered into the automatic flight planning routines, but
again, the procedure isn't at all obvious or intuitive.
The folks at FlyTimer have tried very hard to make their software
user-friendly. If you don't want to learn Graffiti — the handwritten
text-entry system used by the Palm OS in which each letter can be created by a
single stylus stroke — you can use a built-in software keypad which basically
works like a phone keypad. But that's awkward and time-consuming at best, as
you'll know if you've ever tried to spell somebody's name on a phone keypad in
order to get to their voicemail box. And I was left feeling that I was doing a
lot of extraneous tapping to navigate through the program. You have to tap
once to highlight a menu item and then tap a "Select" button to go
to it — why not just let people go to the menu item when they tap on it?
Overall, I suspect most people might find this ambitious program a little too
much of a hassle for regular use.
...AirCalc Pro...
InfoEquipt's
AirCalc Pro 2.0, another flight-planning package, costs more ($99.95,
including a companion time calculator) but is less automated than FlyTimer
2000 — mainly because it lacks the built-in waypoint databases. This means
you either have to enter latitude and longitude coordinates for every waypoint
manually (ugh), or you dispense with specific waypoints and just use the
package to perform E6B calculations in logical sequence, carrying over the
appropriate data between screens. This program does factor in wind and
temperature correction. However I found it difficult to navigate between the
multiple data entry screens.
The weight and balance section is first-rate, depicting the results in
graphical form after you enter the envelope coordinates for your aircraft. You
don't, however, get any checklists. I found AirCalc Pro too complex for my
tastes (like FlyTimer 2000, it takes up nearly 400K of the Palm's limited
memory), but it's certainly worth checking out if you're the thorough type and
revel in calculating every minute detail of a flight.
InfoEquipt also has a midrange product, the $19.95 AirCalc Lite. It lacks
leg planning but does offer most basic calculators (although I was dismayed to
find that wind correction angle was among the missing features). InfoEquipt
offers bundles that include its software products and either Revolv Design's
yoke mount kit or a baggage scale, costing less than they would if bought
separately.
...AV8R...
If
you are comfortable with your paper flight plans but simply want some help
with the math, AV8R
is a great little product, or actually two bundled products that come in one
download. The first, called simply AV8R, is basically a collection of E6B
calculators — time/distance, time/fuel, wind correction, conversions, and so
forth. As with the other flight planners, results are carried over between
calculators as appropriate: For example, if you figure out how long a flight
leg will take and then select the fuel calculator, you'll find the time
already entered.
AV8R-WB, the second app, handles the weight and balance chores. Once you've
entered all the data, including the points defining the envelope of your
aircraft's tolerances, the program generates a graph showing whether you're
within limits. All this for only $10 — and the developer donates some
of the proceeds to Young Eagles. What a deal! By way of comparison, you'd pay
$8 to get a weight-and-balance-only program from Benc Software Productions.
...It's in the Wind...
Speaking of Benc Software
Productions, how about a quick and easy way to figure out a crosswind
component and head- or tailwind? You input the runway and wind info and the
company's $10 Pilot's Wind Computer doesn't just do the math to help you make
sure you don't exceed your aircraft's limits: it generates a graphic to show
you runway and wind on a compass. Stand
Alone Inc.'s Crosswind Calculator does much the same, for the same price,
so check out both sites to see which one's appearance you prefer.
...And More
Another deal: Bit
Heaven Software's Pilot's Friend, a $7 shareware app for tracking elapsed
time for VFR flights and using it to calculate fuel consumption and distance
based on your input. Pilot's Friend also automatically exports trip data to
Bit Heaven's $5 shareware logging program, Pilog Pro. Nothing fancy here, but
it's a cheap alternative to jotting down the same stuff on a paper planner.
A
product from French developer GPS
Pilot lets you use map data — either supplied or from an attached GPS
device — to produce the type of information you get from a dedicated GPS unit
costing hundreds of dollars more than a Palm. With the $80 Flying Pilot 4.1,
you input your waypoints, aircraft and wind info to get maps, distances and
estimated time en route. The software supports GPS input, too. Flying Pilot is
one of several mapping and GPS products for Palms from this French software
developer, so check out their Web site
Logs & Checklists
If
you're carrying a Palm anyway, you might be able to forgo a logbook or
checklist. On the low end, Stormgate
Communications' AvLogbook ($12) is a capable logbook with enough filtering
and sorting options to ease the task of tracking down an ancient sortie.
Stormgate offers free utilities to convert data from your Palm logbook into a
.CSV format text file and vice versa. This lets you import these all-important
logbook records to a spreadsheet on your PC — or send properly formatted
desktop logs to the Palm.
Stormgate also has a checklist program. Very reasonably priced at $5,
AvCheck requires generating the list on your desktop and then converting it to
a Palm data file with another free utility. You can, of course, use it for
anything that requires a checklist.
If you just want a little app to help you store flight information so you
can transfer it later on by hand, Bit Heaven's Pilog Lite is a free download.
But for $5, the Pro version stores multiple trips and imports data from Bit
Heaven's Pilot's Friend trip-tracking software (see above).
If you make your living as a pilot, you might be willing to spring for a
more powerful desktop/Palm duo. NimbleFeet
Technologies' Captain's Keeper offers a detailed database that syncs
directly to a Windows desktop application. It lets you generate all sorts of
reports and printouts. But for most GA pilots, this $99.95 bundle will be
overkill.
Test Yourself
Is
there a written FAA exam in your future? You're probably spending every spare
second with your nose in a Gleim test prep book, but it's a bit unwieldy to
lug with you all day long. Palmtop Publishing has an alternative: its Private
Pilot Pocket Review — a companion product to Gleim's printed product — lets
you drill yourself anyplace you can sit down with your Palm. It's not cheap —
$49.95 for the Private Pilot review — but you can take it with you almost
anywhere and it's got tons of multiple-choice questions to help you bone up
for the big day. [Customers
will receive a coupon worth $20 or more towards the purchase of the Palmtop
Aviator's Bundle with any order for a Gleim "red book". — Ed.]
The Instrument Pilot Pocket Review goes for $69.95, and Palmtop
Publishing has recently launched modules for commercial pilot, ATP, CFI
and flight engineering tests. The company also sells a very useful Airman's
Pocket Reference, which offers information on everything from light gun
signals to common aviation terminology — plus some basic calculators as well.
It's $49.95 by itself, but you can save a couple of bucks by getting it as a
bundle with the Private Pilot Pocket Review for $89.90.
More?
Regardless of how you use a computer now and what your automation needs are
for your flying, odds are that more and more aviation-specific applications
will be forthcoming for the Palm. And, while this product roundup was confined
to devices capable of running the Palm OS — which has the largest market
share, by far, for this segment of the industry — similar applications are
available for PDAs using Microsoft's Windows CE operating system. AVweb
intends periodically to update this roundup with additional details on these
applications, new ones that come on the market and those available for Windows
CE devices. Until then ... .
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