[tomshep]

Nexus 7 tablets (others are available etc.) are pretty good if like me you need to be a skinflint in order to afford to operate an aeroplane. Last weekend, I carried a kneeboard with the two plogs, the scrap of paper with the destination circuit and times etcetera and a Skydemon light printout. Worked fine until I lost my black Cross ballpoint at Sandown and had to memorise my times. The passenger had my Nexus and AirspaceAvoid.
Trimming the workload by using the Nexus looked like a good idea so I started looking at what you need.
Four Apps:
UK AirspaceAvoid. Updated every 28 days. That will be sufficient for a chart and save me from needing the AWARE that has been a good servant.
Start it and leave it open
Camera: use SkyDemon Light on the laptop at home and photograph the route and plog for there and back. Three photos.
Close it. you no longer need it.
Photos: Always clear the folder after the flying is done so that there are only the three that you need in the Nexus.
Leave it open.

Keep: A note taking program that lets one write on the screen with a finger. I use the felt pen option in green and quite wide. This gives a very legible message. Triangle icon on the bottom left to get back to the previous app
That allows me to jot down the airfield information and brakes off time.
Leave it open.

The square icon at the bottom right of the screen shows all the open apps which lets me select which app I need.
A piece of 3" wide velcro attaches the Nexus flip case to My MB-6 kneeboard and an anti glare screen protector improves readability a great deal.

The whole thing works a treat and makes flying easier so if you were wondering how to go about it, that is all you need.

[lobstaboy]

Worked fine until I lost my black Cross ballpoint at Sandown and had to memorise my times. .

String.

Tie pen to kneeboard. Simples!

Actually I do use a Nexus with Airspace Avoid - it does work well

[riverrock]

OK - I'll say it first...
If you had Sky Demon as your one app, it has a built in plog that auto-updates with times, ETA etc. It has the maps / airspace. It has a note taking scribble area (although i find my finger is too fat for it to work well, so I use paper - I guess I could use a stylus).

I have 2 A5 knee boards. One contains a paper plog (either my own blank template or a SkyDemon printed one) which allows me to scribble and acts as a backup in case of electronic failure. I have a pencil and pen attached to it with string.
The other containts Nexus 7 / Skydemon.

I'm sure EasyVFR could replace Skydemon (for balance).

[tomshep]

1.This is how to do it on the cheap and with the greatest simplicity.
2. Skydemon is a great program but Skydemon light contains ALL I need. I simply do not want to spend my precious flying time manipulating a vast program 90% of which is of no use to me. Skydemon full fat is (for me,)a labour making device which increases my workload.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Chacun son gout.

If your setup saves you money and you get on with it then that is of course great.

However the notion that SkyDemon would increase your workload is something that I don't recognise and I suspect means that you have never used it in earnest.

[Shoestring Flyer]

Blimey ! Just reading through it seems an unnecessarily time consuming and complex way of navigating to me
You sure you have got the time whilst doing all this to fly the plane and look out of the window?

[tomshep]

It is a fundamental principle of computer science that at least one of the operating systems you use will change this month and you will need to know about thirty of them from your telephone to your smart toaster. It is a similar principle (A corollary of Sheppard's Law,*) that in order to have a life it is necessary to know no more than you need to.

I remember the absolute fury of a friend of mine who told me that the number I wanted was in the memory of a telephone I had never seen before. Rather than find out how to access the memory, I dialled the number.
When he had finished ranting, I explained to him that in eighteen months' time, he would either buy a new telephone or be obliged to learn the upgraded firmware of the one he had and I would still be able to pick it up and dial a number.

Computers are good servants but bad masters.


*what is not there cannot go wrong.

[riverrock]

If I were you, I'd still print the plog out. Tablets aren't infallible.
Yes - keep airspace avoid running on the tablet, but keep your paper plog up to date during your flight as backup. I also keep a paper map hidden away. For me - Sky Demon / Airspace Avoid don't have detailed enough maps to allow visual identification of ground features, so if the GPS cuts out, I want to go back to paper. Also easier to glance at paper rather than opening a different app on the tablet.

[Lefty]

Chacun son gout.

If your setup saves you money and you get on with it then that is of course great.

However the notion that SkyDemon would increase your workload is something that I don't recognise and I suspect means that you have never used it in earnest.

Agree 1000 % !

Skydemon reduces pilot workload by an enormous amount compared to any other method or system that I know of. As FD says, you clearly are not using it properly.
For example last Saturday I flew to Cherbourg.
10 seconds to create a plog for the entire trip on SD
10 seconds to check NOTAM's and weather for the entire trip - on SD
20 seconds to Select Flightplan - enter number of people on board - file flight plan
Reverse the route (on SD) and enter my return takeoff time (to give me the PLOG details needed for the GAR)
20 seconds to Select Flightplan - enter number of people and estimated fuel on board on board (for the return - file flight plan
30 seconds to Select GAR - add 2 new people to my GAR list - and file my GAR.

Less than 2 minutes to prepare a PLOG for 2.5 hour + international flight - file Flightplans and GAR - and get email and txt confirmation that they have been filed.

In the air
Press Go Flying at any time between engine start and getting airborne. SD automatically logs take off and landing times (e.g. when you break the 30kt threshold - and records it (forever). After the flight - I copy these times straight into the a/c journey log as the Flight Time. You can decide how much to add before and after flight for your personal log book. Some people get airborne 3 minutes after start - some can take 20 - 30 minutes. Depends on whether it is your's or a club aircraft. Owners tend to take a little longer to make sure the engine is fully warmed up.

Once airborne the SD trajectory line tells me whether I am on track or not. I glance at this every 5-10 minutes or so - or when I want to check whether or not there is airspace to consider before changing level.
If I happen to get distracted looking out of the window (which I do far more than I did before SD came along) - SD beeps to let me know when I am approaching a hazard - or an airspace limit etc.
Before calling an ATSU, I flick to the Plog page to be ready to read off my ETA's at key waypoints, if requested by the ATCO.
If ATC give me a new squawk or QNH - I simply insert them straight into the transponder / Altimeter - and use (my) read back to confirm I have them right. Once I've finished talking to ATC, I note the new squawk and settings on my pad.

The only thing I don't do on SD is fuel management. This is a very personal preference and my aircraft has 4 tanks whose contents need to be monitored and kept in balance. I'm a cautious person - and it is surprisingly easy to loose track of exactly how much fuel is left in any particular tank. I have created a small form to help me do this - (and I don't think it is something that SD could easily do).

I find that quite a number of people buy something (might be a computer, avionics or an app) and never spend the time to learn how to use it fully. I used to run classes at Waltham in how to use GNS 430 / 530, SkyDemon and AirNav Pro. These were always oversubscribed. Perhaps I will do some more in preparation for the summer touring season.

[kanga]

..
A piece of 3" wide velcro attaches the Nexus flip case to My .. kneeboard ...

if that flip case protects the corners of the Nexus, fine. If not, get one which does .. lesson expensively learned after dropping 'family' one on the hangar floor

[I then got a "child's" rubber surround from Tesco to go with the, er, next (now my, flying) 7" Nexus. I still use that on a suction pad on the side part of the window, but also a newer 8" Lenovo in a standard flipcase, which attaches with elastic and safety pins to the kneeboard]

[tomshep]

Thanks Kanga. The clumsiness of inanimate objects being a subject in which I am admirably qualified, I have a flipcase that holds the tablet very securely.

[riverrock]

I have sympathy for Tom. Not everyone is used to learning new things constantly.

10 seconds to create a plog for the entire trip on SD

- Just as easily done on Sky Demon Light

10 seconds to check NOTAM's and weather for the entire trip - on SD

- NOTAMS just as easily done on SD Light with same info available on Airspace Avoid. I don't think SD gives a broad enough picture of weather - so would always check other sources. METARS and TAFs are available free from many websites

20 seconds to Select Flightplan - enter number of people on board - file flight plan
Reverse the route (on SD) and enter my return takeoff time (to give me the PLOG details needed for the GAR)
20 seconds to Select Flightplan - enter number of people and estimated fuel on board on board (for the return - file flight plan
30 seconds to Select GAR - add 2 new people to my GAR list - and file my GAR.

- Not normal actions for UK only flights - so functionality that isn't needed by him, that he would be paying for.

Like most modern software, SkyDemon is being constantly updated. I'm quite happy with that, but I know people who will learn a precise way to do something, and when the interface subtly changes, perhaps with little or no warning, they wont be able to cope. That is (I'm guessing) what Tom means by increased workload. Having to understand and learn a system which is constantly changing rather than keeping it simple.

[gfry]

1.This is how to do it on the cheap and with the greatest simplicity.
2. Skydemon is a great program but Skydemon light contains ALL I need. I simply do not want to spend my precious flying time manipulating a vast program 90% of which is of no use to me. Skydemon full fat is (for me,)a labour making device which increases my workload.

£89 a year for Skydemon!!! you are either flat broke or have a completely different view on cheap.

[Paul_Sengupta]

If one flies 12 hours a year, out to the local patch and back, or maybe to an aerodrome 20 mins away for coffee, it's maybe overkill for what you need.

For those who go further afield, it's better value for money as the more and further you fly, the more useful a tool it is.

[tomshep]

That is actually about six hours flying at the twelve litres an hour I burn. With a twenty litre tank, it isn't easy to justify a Skydemon subscription. The Nexus cost less than that and was still carefully considered before purchase.