If you are in aviation and have some form of mobile computing device you have heard of Apps. These “APPlications” seem a natural for aviation being task specific, simple to download, and easily updated on the web. So what are YOU using to make your aviation life easier? Here is a picture of my phone and several I use. FltPlan is free and a robust fully capable program that works fairly well on phones or tablets. Plan and file your flight, get weather, all for FREE! We have ForeFlight on the club iPads and it is easy to use and provides all of the above plus the current nav charts VFR/IFR, terminal procedures and other current data. The downside here is $120 a year! The key strength of Apps is the easy to download and install feature that keeps all this information up to date. One simple, free App I use daily is Aeroweather. On one page are the five closest weather stations…METAR and TAF always up-to-date. What is your favorite?

There was an AirCam flying there this year and it was obvious they were giving some clandestine instruction so I got in the queue for a lesson. Dual in this beast is definitely all fun…I wish we owned one. Plans for 2012, I hope to visit the Bahamas again this winter, perhaps with some glider training again

Our focus here is aviation and certainly you know the pace of change has been accelerating rapidly in our field with all the new toys we can buy and install. I would argue some careful thought is required to be safe here; it is critically important to thoughtfully evaluate and choose your tools, learn them well, and deploy them intelligently or you will not be the master, you might be their slave. Increasingly pilots cannot (or do not) perform the basic flying functions of handling the aircraft accurately either because of the distraction from their technology or due to lack of recent focus and practice! Yes that new touch screen GPS will navigate you around the storms and find Nashville but it will not negotiate the speed and pattern on descent and land your plane! If it goes “Tango Uniform” you need to fall back to a reliable (perhaps manual) standby system. My training at Cirrus as a CSIP emphatically de-emphasized the shiny panel and focused us on teaching basic skills! Here are a few interesting articles and videos: Recent NTSB study on automation