iFly GPS Forum

So, my thoughts here for the future was to maybe establish a living "Feature Blog" for new features, descriptions and instructions, etc. That could possibly sync into the App when updated or on WiFi.

Also, to have more "Feature Focus" Video Tutorials and more updated manual that could be accessed directly from the App, when on the internet. You'd need the internet connection to stream videos well and conserve space... The manual could be downloaded into the app as an option.

Just a few possibilities. We'd like to catch up the Manual to maybe v9.7 or v9.8, so then we would start with the blog concept for v10, etc.

The Blog would add some website marketing, Google Indexing, etc... and the videos add some sales benefit, all of which translate over to the App or device to help reduce the support load as well.

It just takes time and manpower now. We could even allow some of our power users, beta users or advance users to submit articles for that blog as well. Just some thoughts to help accelerate this some.

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Shane Woodson
Vice President | Adventure Pilot LLC.

While I expect that users would be happy to contribute or make tutorials, I think, based on emails that Shane has sent me in the past (about how to do something in iFly), that the staff will have to be the primary provider of content to demonstrate all the neat things that iFly can do.

For example, I, an old guy, look at iFly as a substitute for my old paper charts and my old ways. While I can multitask in time, I don't multitask in content. (E.g., Even tho Walter has explained that we can load our Home Airport into a Flight Plan from the Map page, I don't think like that. I go to the Flight Plan page to plan flights. So I wouldn't be a good candidate to explain the many ways to create a flight plan.)

I'm always kind of shocked (too strong a word but can't think of anything better now) when Shane tells me that I could have do this or done that with iFly by using a buried feature. (E.g. I never think of using the Text Search from the menu button in flight. If a controller gives me an unfamiliar intersection, I still scan the IFR map looking for it. (Even tho the controller will often spell it out nowadays so that pilots can enter it into their GPS.)) Shane looks at iFly more like a computer app that can do neat things as opposed to my single threaded "this is simply a substitute for paper charts" perspective.. Since he knows the whiz-bang features better than I do - and why they designed them in - I think that staff should probably explain to pilots (new and old) all the neat things that can be done. (But don't explain them in a vacuum. Explain them in a real world "how to solve this in-flight problem" context.)

What you described is a lot like the old IFR Jepp chart system. I think paper is obsolete. If AP wants to do a manual, it should be electronic and we could download it to our device or computer if we want it. They could replace the pages and/or sections and we could download the entire manual in a matter of seconds.

EDIT: On my iPad Mini 4, I have an app called iBooks. In that app, I have about 10 complete manuals including the airplanes I fly and the avionics in each and the complete Airman's Information Manual. I can easily access any of these in flight within a few seconds.