I'm not sure this is the right place to post this, but here it is. I recently sent ForeFlight an email asking if they would be coming out with SV any time soon. Here is their response, and I thought I would put it out there for everybody to mull over.
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Hi Marty,

Thank you for your support of ForeFlight Mobile!

Thank you for your request for synthetic vision.  Tell us a little about how you would use SVT.  Have you spoken to any pilots who have flown with synthetic vision on the iPad?  If so, what have you heard about it's performance and usefulness?

ForeFlight does not pre-announce new features, however, we have a strong track record of continuous updates and improvements to the app's functionality; and as pilots, we value the input from fellow aviators like you.



Thanks!

Stanley Hinson
ForeFlight Pilot Support
ForeFlight LLC

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What do all of you all think? I'm trying to decide how I think I would use it but I'm not sure if my interest is just in the cool factor.

Clear Skies,

180jocky

Played with it in wing-x, but honestly think its a gimmick for vfr flying. And IMC well, I want the 30k garmin stack with all the redundancy. BTW, I live right next to serious terrain up to 14k.

I'd prefer foreflight get in bed with aspen avionics or jeppeson for chart data and deliver track up features first before SV. They'd have to do a significant architecture change and implement a split screen view. I don't see it happening but maybe.

If you want SV your probably a wing-x guy. IMO.

Have FF and the main reason I have WingX also is the SV.
Love it!
Yes and a Garmin 696 also.
If they all say your in the same place, life is good! If not, that is good also because you know something is srewed up!!
GT

I've got it on my Garmin 796, amusing, but I don't think I would pay extra for it. My Aspen Pro offers it as an add on box, about $2k. So I would put it value at a lot less than $2,000, which buys a lot of gas. I don't mind having it as a backup, but unless the refresh rate and detail was a bit higher, I would regulate it to novelty category at the moment. It could eventually evolve into something very useful, but it still is in the early stages.

I would love to mess around with it in someone else's airplane. I wouldn't want it in mine. I could never bring myself to trust it.

Played with it in wing-x, but honestly think its a gimmick for vfr flying. And IMC well, I want the 30k garmin stack with all the redundancy. BTW, I live right next to serious terrain up to 14k.

These are the kind of situations I've wondered about. I've done some mountain flying in AK, but I've never felt I would be able to trust it in high terrain in inadvertent IMC. I've never really had the chance to talk with anyone that was an avid user of SV.

Clear Skies

180jocky

We use ForeFlight at work and I've had the pleasure
of working with Stanley. He has a Cessna 120 and flys
a Caravan as his night job. It's really nice to
run into a knowledgable IT person.
Dave

The certified Chelton units that are part of the Capstone project are the cat's nasty. It will take you to the numbers. Very useful with the proper training and mindset.

I have never seen the portable versions in person but I have no doubt they are pretty cool to. If I ever flew in crappy weather I'd get one.

I fly with FF and a 796. Synthetic vision is nice when low in mtns/canyons. Would be a nice backup in IMC.

FF has become my charts/flight planning/backup and the 796 is the navigation. I would use synthetic vision on FF as a backup in an IFR cert plane.

I like Foreflight just the way it is. I use it mainly for the charts and connect to WiFi on the ground for weather. The only thing I am looking at adding is a way to get in-flight weather on it. An ADS-B receiver or something along those lines.

It really turns into the backup navigation to whatever GPS is in the plane once I'm in the air but it is nice to be able to look up airport info on it etc. I am always surprised how much I refer to it over the GPS.

I rode along as safety pilot while a guy few some instrument approaches. He set up his ipad (don't know what app he was using) to see how accurate it was. I'm not an instrument pilot but after seeing how the ipad didn't return to wings level after a turn and a couple other things I would never consider using it for synthetic vision in IMC.

Never had a problem with the view out the window!
BCP Pretty much says VFR.
Synthetic Vision will only drag you farther into trouble.
They put windows in planes for a reason.
Tech has its place, but you are still responsible, quit looking for an excuse.
Fly responsibly, like somebodys life depends on it.
Kommi, or whatever name I use on this site....

gbflyer wrote:I have never seen the portable versions in person but I have no doubt they are pretty cool to. If I ever flew in crappy weather I'd get one.

When do u not have crappy wx ?

Yes.......

No I would not want it.

I have made my share of zero ceiling 3OO foot RVR approaches and autolands. It was fun but those days are behind me. Me and the Maule have 200 ft. and 1/2 mile vis. ability. Good enough for me and will be used only if I get caught with my pants down. My aviation life beyond the volunteer humanitarian flying I do(also 200 and 1/2 limits) consist of VFR fun flying....in the clouds only on rare occassions.

I like the picture of Idaho backcounty in living natural color....looking through the windscreen.

Have fun with the toys!

Bob

Remember this guy?

http://youtu.be/r2MVDY8o7Bs

WOW, that video was totally insane.

I currently fly behind synthetic vision using a G500. I find it to be very useful and would not want to give it up. The flight path marker is incredibly useful, even for VFR flying.

I realize this is a whole different ballgame compared to synthetic vision on an iPad but.....
About 4 years ago i got the chance to fly a G450 simulator with the newly certified synthetic vision. Of course being a totally different cockpit compared to the G2 it took 5 minutes to find the airspeed indicator. (not really but it seemed like it). The instructor had us set up on the ground at Aspen and the route already in the FMS to Rifle. I selected SV on for my side while the other pilot who had zero glass cockpit time opted out of the synthetic mode. One thing I found funny was the outside display must have used the same database as the "synthetic vision". It was exactly the same. Quite accurate by the way, right down to the roads and buildings.
Obviously the whole plane view cockpit was about as f^(king cool as you can get, the synthetic was good and I can see some help for situational awareness situations but for whatever Gulfstream charges for it I'm not sure about the cost benefit. (well into 6 figures). For that money I think I would rather opt for enhanced vision or Cat II certification and get lower minimums or some other feature that had some tangible benefit. Like a real flight attendant instead of a flight mechanic.....

Sounds like a trick question, we're not talking certified IFR instrument replacement, but what you'd like as an add-on to your VFR panel -which in my book is just an airspeed and altimeter. Most of us add-on at least a handheld or panel GPS - anybody out there still flying VOR/NDB? Scudding in at 200' and a mile viz, or at night on that last turn to final while pointing out a a black ocean I don't mind a little help on my VFR panel, especially if it is dirt cheap and reliable.

Do you think even the luddites would rather look at this legal minimum:


than this?:


I fly with SV on either my iPhone or my iPad all the time. Backs everything up. The iPhone/iPads SV systems even build in the terrain awareness by shading red what's above, yellow what's close, and grey below. Do you trust your 60 year old vacuum system needle ball or the solid state gyros built into the iPhone and iPad? And if you don't like the iPhone gyros then you can always scab on a solid state AHRS for a few hundred bucks. Maybe test a few SV programs and compare. Or better yet, put your below-average pilot (face it, most of us bush guys don't do enough IFR with our mickey-duck panels to be any good at it) in a partial panel IFR situation with and without an iPhone/iPad and let me know how it works out for you.

I'll try film the screen during a roll in the Citabria and see how the gyros keep up. Somebody can do the same with your vacuum AH and TC.

I'll try film the screen during a roll in the Citabria and see how the gyros keep up. Somebody can do the same with your vacuum AH and TC.

I'm very interested to see what you can come up with. To this point I've never flown with SV, and where I'm living (the plains of South Dakota) I'm not sure it would look like much.

Clear Skies,

180jocky