"Have PalmPilot, Will Travel" by Don Maxell
  Plane & Pilot, August 1999

The people who write programming for the ubiquitous little computer are now creating interesting packages for pilots.

The newest aviation GPS receivers with multifunction displays, huge moving maps and extensive databases are simply terrific. There probably isn't a more useful navigation tool available anywhere. If you are not quite ready to outfit your panel with the latest and greatest avionics, however, you might enjoy what happens when you connect your airplane's simple GPS to the 3Com PalmPilot.

Flying Pilot

Flying Pilot combines GPS moving map navigation with flight planning, which almost eliminates the need for a separate flight computer. The result is both simple and intuitive - it does just enough. Also, there's no thick manual to study, and it works with any GPS having NMEA output.

Navigation Log

The log mode provides an easy way to plan cross-country flights with any number of airports, navaids (VOR, NDB), cities, and your own personal checkpoints. You select airports and other points from a database of states or countries simply by tapping with the stylus. The data on each airport contains a runway diagram, and provides information on the airport's elevation, latitude and longitude. The databases of airports, navaids, and cities for the U.S. and most other countries are free to download from the GPS Pilot Web site. You also can add your own notes by simply writing them in yourself. You can even sketch diagrams.
The log mode also accepts cruising speed and the wind direction and velocity. It automatically computes the corrected heading, distance, and ETE for each leg and for the entire trip as a whole (Computing fuel consumption and several other new features are promised in a future update.) It remembers trips and airplanes, and you can set the units for nm, sm, or km; and for gallons or liters. You can also reverse a course with one tap on a menu.

Moving Map

In the map mode, Flying Pilot displays your course as a line connecting the various airports and checkpoints that you entered in the log. You can have it display any combination of other airports, navaids, cities, and any landmarks you have entered.
Using the up and down buttons, you can zoom smoothly out beyond 9500 nm and in to less than 0.001 nm. With a fingertip, you can easily drag the map in any direction. (Try that with a GPS.)
With a GPS connected, however, your position stays in the center and the map moves as you travel. An arrow in the center indicates your actual direction. With a glance, you can tell your position and track with respect to your intended course. This is much more intuitive than a CDI.
Your track, true speed, and altitude are displayed in figures above the map. The distance and ETE from the center to the shaded edge of the map are shown at the bottom. Because the map is round, by using the zoom, it's easy to tell how far away any point is, no matter what the direction.

Tap an airport, navaid, city, or landmark on the map and Flying Pilot displays its specific information and tells you how far it is from your position, what heading to fly, and how long it will take to get there. Tapping the center of the map (your current position) creates a new landmark at that location.

Because Flying Pilot resides on the PalmPilot, you can carry it around in your shirt pocket and still have the address book, schedules, e-mails, etc. For more information about Flying Pilot and other GPS/Palm Pilot software, visit the GPS Pilot Web site at www.GpsPilot.com.
 

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