Yesterday, I had the first opportunity to fly with weather in the vicinity, and a couple of questions occurred to me during the flight:
1) Does the iFly have a way to alert the user that stale radar data is being presented? (It probably should.)
I was flying practice approaches yesterday, so stayed in the same geographic area for about 30-45 minutes. I began to suspect the radar image was not updating because I kept seeing a distinctively-shaped echo on my iFly that wasn't moving, and it did not appear to correspond to my view out the windows. It's possible that I got high enough during my initial climbout to get a "sniff" of weather data, but then was kept low enough during my approach vectoring that I didn't get any updates. A similar situation could occur as I return to my home field from the west, as I am typically stepped down from my cruise altitude to ~1500' for the Class B transition across Houston. The last 50 miles or so might be at that low altitude. If I've been getting good radar data, but then get low and stop receiving them, I want to know about it.
2) Can the radar imagery be animated?
There are probably practical reasons why this is not possible, but it would be very high on my wish list if it is. Understanding what direction a cell is moving, and whether it's building or dying, could be very useful in the cockpit. I realize that if I include the radar in my scan, I should be able to gather that information over time, but if I suddenly don't like what I see happening in front of me, where I've been focusing my attention, and now suddenly need to consider alternates that might have been off the screen or otherwise out of my awareness, having a picture of the last 15-30 minutes of echoes could be incredibly helpful.
Thanks for your consideration! Even if these ideas are ultimately rejected, I really appreciate how receptive you guys are to listening to your customers. Makes me feel like I'm part of the team! (Don't worry, I'm not expecting a trophy for "participation" or anyhting... :) )
Jim