HDX & Foreflight

[PaulSS]

Hi All,

I am in discussion with one of our customers about his avionics fit and the question of whether he goes for Garmin G3 or the Dynon HDX. As he is planning on doing some extended flying throughout Europe and the USA he is minded to equip his iPad with Foreflight instead of the more 'local' variants of nav software (SkyDemon etc). Foreflight is not used a great deal in UK GA machines but, of course, it is used widely in the USA and I'm sure some of the Forum members use this set up.

I would really appreciate it if anyone is able to give me genuine feedback on how the two work together. I have read the Foreflight information but would prefer some real-world experience, instead of sales bumpf. Primarily looking at the integration for displaying traffic and weather from the Dynon ADSB and route transfers.

The aircraft is a VFR EuroFOX, so we don't need IFR-type information. It will be autopilot equipped but not used for coupled approaches etc.

Thank you for your opinions.

 

[Albee]

I used Foreflight with a bare-bones VFR panel before installing my dual HDX setup. I'm still flying purely VFR although I've done some hood time with Skyview (feels like cheating compared to round dials).

I won't claim to be a power user of either, but I routinely plan flights with Foreflight and transfer that plan after startup for the trip--very easy to do. I also often have my copilot (usually my wife) use Foreflight with Skyview WiFi and that works well most of the time. Nav data (position, attitude, speed), ADSB weather and traffic are what we see and they seem to work well--except:
Like others on this forum, I have had intermittent issues with Skyview Wifi disconnecting in flight, which I can normally resolve by killing Foreflight, reconnecting WiFi in iPad Settings, then restarting Foreflight. Annoying, and I've had it happen twice in a half hour. Same with iPhone. The disconnects are the ONLY issue I have using the two together, but it can be very annoying. On recent trips, we've done the flight plan upload, but then connected Foreflight to the Stratus 2 I used before Dynon, since this gives me a totally independent setup and no disconnects.

I use Foreflight for VFR charts. In theory this could become an issue in a hot cockpit (too hot for iPad) but so far I've not encountered that. I keep putting off loading charts into Skyview. If I did then Foreflight would probably only be used as my backup and to load flight plans.

 

[PaulSS]

That’s great info, thank you. Have you got the latest update and WI-FI dongle in your HDX? I’m not trying to be a salesman but just interested if you’re getting the drop outs with an older or newer set up.

I’m no expert at all on Dynon WI-FI, as I use it for route transfer from SkyDemon (UK app) and then use a different source for GPS and traffic data to my iPad/SkyDemon. In other words I don’t actually use the HDX WI-FI in flight, hence my interest in the opinions of those who do.

 

[362PC]

I have been using ForeFlight since before the HDX and IFD540 install. My panel was designed around ForeFlight integration. ForeFlight on my iPad connects to my IFD540 via a Sentry 3 WiFi network. The Sentry 3 allows for Open ADSB in the settings which the IFD sees as a "capstone" format. This allows both the iPad and the IFD to get traffic and weather as a redundancy to the Dynon ADSB. It also allows the ForeFlight to view traffic at greater distances than the HDX. The IFD540 is connected to the SkyView network over ARINC. This allows me to do all my planning in ForeFlight prior to starting the plane. Once started and the system is completely booted I can send flight plans to the IFD with the "send to panel" function in ForeFlight. I select the flight plan in the FMS and activate it, this will then transfer to the HDX.

I have a short video here that was done prior to updating from the Sentry to the Stratus for Open ADSB.

 

[362PC]

That’s great info, thank you. Have you got the latest update and WI-FI dongle in your HDX? I’m not trying to be a salesman but just interested if you’re getting the drop outs with an older or newer set up.

I’m no expert at all on Dynon WI-FI, as I use it for route transfer from SkyDemon (UK app) and then use a different source for GPS and traffic data to my iPad/SkyDemon. In other words I don’t actually use the HDX WI-FI in flight, hence my interest in the opinions of those who do.

I also have the Dynon WiFi, with new dongles (one for each display), setup but have not been able to get this working with my avionics choices. ForeFlight doesn't allow you to select which panel things will be sent to if more than one option is available, in my case both the SkyView and the IFD are options. There is a way to have my IFD connected to the SkyView WiFi network but that doesn't allow the IFD to use ADSB traffic and weather since capstone format is not available from SkyView. The Sentry is a low cost backup if I lose the panel, ForeFlight will display ADSB as well as ADAHRS provided from the Sentry. It may be overkill but I would rather have it than wish I had it.

 

[PaulSS]

Thank you for your comments, 362PC. I think if we go down the Dynon route then we'll keep it more simple and have just the one HDX display. Doubtful we'll have anything like the ARINC kit, as it'll never be used for IMC approaches etc. It is good to know that Foreflight can be used with Dynon, as we originally just thought it would be Garmin.

 

[Albee]

That’s great info, thank you. Have you got the latest update and WI-FI dongle in your HDX? I’m not trying to be a salesman but just interested if you’re getting the drop outs with an older or newer set up.

I’m no expert at all on Dynon WI-FI, as I use it for route transfer from SkyDemon (UK app) and then use a different source for GPS and traffic data to my iPad/SkyDemon. In other words I don’t actually use the HDX WI-FI in flight, hence my interest in the opinions of those who do.

I'm running 16.3.2 and my wifi dongles are from mid-2020 like all my Dynon hardware. I know I'm missing at least one "WiFi stability enhancement" but IIRC the notes suggested it wasn't relevant to my hardware. And none of the other changes seemed relevant to my flying. I live in the "ain't broke, don't fix it" camp, although I might upgrade this year to keep my SW from getting more than 2 years old.