Don Maxwell wrote:
I think FlightAware is quite reliable nowadays. Also, it gets its data from many sources. iFly (or any other in-flight display) gets data from many fewer sources. Right now, for example, I'm comparing FlightAware on my iPhone with what iFly is displaying on a Windows tablet/laptop sitting on my desk, receiving ADS-B with a Ping ADS-B receiver (that I bought from Adventure Pilot a few years ago) and GPS from a little GPS/GLONASS dongle. iFly shows NO traffic whatsoever just now; FlightAware, on the other hand, shows 22 aircraft, one of them about 5 miles from me at 15,000 feet. All of the distances in iFly are set to Unlimited. Granted, it's indoors, but a few hours ago, when conditions were better, the iFly was displaying 5 aircraft--so it really does work. Just not nearly as well as FlightAware.
All right, all right. I'll amend what I said there. Yesterday I flew 3.5 hours in a rough orbit around Richmond, VA--north from KFCI to the downtown area, then westward about 40 miles, then north to Lake Anna, northeast to the Potomac River and along it to the Chesapeake Bay, then south over the Bay for a while, and turning southwest to the James River about 30 miles east of Hopewell, and finally back to KFCI, with several water landings along the way. Here's FlightAware's woeful take on it:
For about 3/4 of the flight I was in company of another SeaRey, and for about half of that time I was "seeing" it on the iFly 740--so FlightAware's lapses don't coincide with the ADS-B coverage.
Granted, we were flying rather low over the water--and ON it now and then. But we were at about 1000 feet AGL most of the time between waterways. Whatever the reason(s), this isn't acceptable for flight safety. It's merely amusement. (And it doesn't make me comfortable with the thought of ADS-B warnings of drone flights up to 400 ft AGL, either, although that's probably a different topic.)