Palm pilot

I am the first to admit that I was dragged reluctantly into the age of the smartphone and all the new technology that came with it. I was comfortable in a world where a telephone was a telephone and a camera was a camera and couldn’t readily see a need for merging functionality. However, prior to flying around Australia last year I was lured into the world of iPhones, apps and on-call information from the world wide web.

It was not long before I could see the value of such a multi-function tool as it offered instantaneous access to the latest weather, NOTAMS, upper winds, and even

the sweeping arm of radar stations plotting growing rain showers en route. This is vital information to any pilot and particularly valuable when navigating the land under the challenging realm of visual flight rules.

Each refuelling stop became an opportunity for an updated briefing regardless of access to a fax or computer. The information was all available through my iPhone.

A significant component of this briefing came from an iPhone app titled ‘NAIPS’.

Utilising Airservices Australia’s online pilot briefing information, the current weather and NOTAMS were now available in an instant through a very intuitive iPhone application. This great new tool was developed by RAAF Orion pilot

Rowan Willson, and sowed the seed for the OzRunways application.

In mid 2010, the catalyst for OzRunways emerged in the form of the iPad, which offered an ideal means of presenting even more aeronautical information on a large lightweight touch screen. As Rowan set about developing a means of presenting the Enroute Supplement (ERSA) and departure and approach charts (DAPS) on the iPad, recreational pilot and professional software developer Bas Scheffers was hard at work on the same concept. Through the internet the two discovered their common direction and the fact that they both resided in Adelaide, although Rowan was overseas on deployment at the time. On his return, the two met and decided that the scope of the project would be best served by a pooling of effort – the OzRunways team was born.

Accessible through the Apple App Store, by year’s end OzRunways 1. 0 was launched to great success, offering the AIP in addition to the ERSA and DAPS. Inspired by the positive response, the team set about achieving what had always been their ultimate goal – moving map GPS navigation.

At this time, electrical engineer Neil Weste joined the team and brought his work on moving map technology to the table, and the trio set about creating the recently released OzRunways 2. 0.

Moving Forward

It was the integration of GPS navigation and moving map that raised OzRunways from a practical means of document carriage to a full blown aviation tool. When combined with the large screen, significant storage capacity and 3G connectivity of an iPad, the functionality stepped up to an entirely new level. That is not to say that OzRunways can’t be used on an iPhone, in fact each subscription allows access for one iPhone and one iPad, it’s just a matter of screen size.

OzRunways’ latest offering still retains the ability to access the operational documents such as the ERSA, AIP and DAPs, but at the touch of a screen so much more is available. There is a radar tab to pull up the nearest Bureau of Meteorology weather radar display, complete with your present position highlighted in red. However, without doubt, it is when the map function is called up that the real fun begins.

From the outset, it is important to emphasise that the map function is not a generic geographical representation, but a genuine overlay of the current Airservices charts. The chart selection includes the full range including the VTC, VNC, TAC, high and low ERCs, WAC and PCA. You can even access the non-aviation based ‘Open Street Map’ database for those car

MULTIFUNCTION OzRunways’ functionality includes Airservices airport Departure and Approach Procedures (DAPs) and a scratch pad for note taking.

trips around unfamiliar back streets. All of the maps feature the ability to zoom in or out using the standard iPad technique of ‘pinching’ two fingers on the screen. With the iPad’s backlighting, this makes reading the immediate chart area an easy task in the poorest of light. The charts can be downloaded wherever there is 3G coverage and used independently of reception once the chart has been saved.

There is an accessible database of all VFR, IFR and GPS waypoints, aerodromes, helicopter landing sites and navaids, complete with the frequencies and Morse code identifiers. There is also the ability to create your own waypoints and edit the data on those that exist. In turn, this information can be accessed in terms of what is nearest to the aircraft’s current position, while it can be further tailored to display only the selected items. This both maintains the relevance of the detail displayed and avoids screen clutter. If you simply tap on one of these points of interest, it will pull a menu up that allows you to either access the ERSA information, centre the map using the selected feature, or amazingly, track directly to it, complete with track and distance. At the top of the screen ground speed, latitude/longitude, estimated time of arrival, and even a mini horizontal situation indicator (HSI) is displayed. But wait, there’s more! If you tap on the mini-HSI, a full 360 degree HSI presentation, complete with course bar, pops up on the screen.

All of these features appear on the backdrop of current Airservices charts, complete with CTA steps, restricted areas and so on.

Furthermore, OzRunways does not permit the app to be used with out-of-date charts, and while commercially this may prompt subscription renewals for the company, there is no escaping the fact that this enforces the safe practice of current documentation. The company offers both ‘Private’ and ‘Professional’ subscriptions, with the latter including the IFR DAPs. At a cost of around $100

per annum, access to the app and all the associated data and features is less than 10 per cent what you’d pay for the full range of their paper counterparts.

Effectively, OzRunways facilitates a comprehensive flight library and GPS moving map display in the form of an iPad. Bearing in mind the iPad GPS units can’t be used as a primary source of navigation should be of no surprise, as many current aviation GPS units used for VFR navigation fall into the same category unless they are TSO’d.

Consideration of adequate battery power, alternate power sources and a selected range of supporting hard copy charts may well be considered in the interests of sound airmanship, but undoubtedly the OzRunways app is set to revolutionise cockpits around Australia, with a healthy dose of enhanced situational awareness mixed in.

Mapping The Future

OzRunways is far from fully developed according to Bas Scheffers. In response to feedback from pilots and their own initiative, it is foreseen that the ability to obtain weather forecasts and submit multi-leg flightplans through NAIPS within the app will become available. Additionally, enhanced terrain and airspace awareness with an alerting facility, and a means to access operating handbooks, weight and balance, performance charts and checklists are on the drawing board. That’s an immense amount of information readily at hand.

I may have initially been a reluctant participant in the brave new world of iPhones, but I can now recognise the benefits they can provide. Similarly, the iPad has taken those benefits to a new level, and through the OzRunways app made them readily accessible to pilots across the country.

Emerging from Australia, this technology is a bold leap forward that sits comfortably in the palm of your hand.