We recently found that we were included in the TOP 10: BEST APPS FOR PILOTS  list, in an article on the Baltic Aviation Academy’s web site. We were pleasantly surprised, especially given that our app is only available in North America’s app store.

From their web site we learn that

 

Here is something that many of you have asked for: being able to view flights on the iPad in 3D using Google Earth. It is now available, as a B (Beta) feature.

A disclaimer: viewing flights in 3D on the iPad, while cool, does not yet have the functionality available when debriefing your flights on the web, using Windows or Mac (more…). Still, we hope you will find it useful. Your feedback is very much appreciated!

If you are not yet familiar with the CloudAhoy 3D debrief on the web, we recommend giving it a try by logging in to your account on a Windows or Mac machine. You may want to check 3D debriefing on the video in this page, e.g., starting 2:50 minutes into the video.

 

Getting started
To use this feature you need
– CloudAhoy app, 3.1, released January  2014. Upgrade if you have not done so already.
– Latest version Google Earth on your iPad.
Note that the Google Earth app works best on iPad 3 and above.

To view flights on the iPad select the “Debrief and More” tab.

 

Your flight track, in 3D
From the Flights tab, select a flight and tap the Google Earth button. Note the small B, indicating that this is a beta version.

CloudAhoy will popup Google Earth and zoom on a 3D display of the flight track, including the color coding of the flight’s segments.
You can easily zoom, pan, rotate or tilt the view, to see specific aspects of the flight – check this link for more information.
Note: the CloudAhoy display on Google Earth display is cumulative: every tap on the Google Earth button adds the given flight to the display. Should you want to clear the display before displaying the next flight, force the Google Earth app to close (this explains how).

 

Cockpit view animation
While debriefing a specific flight in the Debrief tab, you can tap Cockpit. Note the small B here too – it’s a beta feature.

Tapping will display a cockpit view animation of the flight, starting from the current time (the time shown in the Timeline panel). For performance reasons, we limit the display to 10 minutes from the current time.
Note: when you bring up a flight debrief, CloudAhoy automatically sets the current time to the beginning of the first takeoff segment. Tapping Cockpit will therefore display your takeoff. If, for example, you want to see an animation of your landing,  move the slider to a minute before landing, and tap Cockpit.

New in CloudAhoy App version 3.1:

Better GPS data acquisition under iOS 7
CloudAhoy have had occasional interruptions in the GPS data acquisition under iOS 7. App version 3.1 fixes this issues and ensures that even if you are running a heavy-lifter app in the foreground (such as an EFB), CloudAhoy will not miss any GPS sample.

A warning about Background App setting
As we wrote before, to log a flight CloudAhoy must be allowed to run in the background. App version 3.1 issues a warning if Background App Refresh is off, to remind you to turn it on.

Streamlined UI
App version 3.1 now better conforms to Apple’s guidelines for iOS 7.

We have created a short video to provide an introduction to CloudAhoy. As an existing CloudAhoy user, you are probably familiar with most of what’s in it, but still it might be interesting for you.

The video is based on a talk I gave two months ago at the AOPA Summit, to a crowd of about 150 CFIs and flight school managers.

As always, your feedback is very welcomed: dev@CloudAhoy.com, or leave a comment in the blog or on Facebook.

Enjoy,
Chuck

 

Many pilots have asked us to provide a small “picture in picture” window, to show the entire flight track with the current aircraft’s position. This feature is now available both in the iPad’s Debrief tab, and on the web login.

To display the window, check the PIP option, as seen in the picture on the right. Uncheck the PIP option to hide the window.

When displayed initially, the context window shows the entire flight path. Like the main window, you can zoom and pan the PIP window. To restore the display of the entire flight, click the Entire Flight segment.

In the picture above, the main window displays cockpit-view animation of an instrument approach, and the PIP shows it in 2D, with the plane icon moving in sync with the main window.

As always, let us know (dev@CloudAhoy.com) how useful is this feature for you.

VFR sectional charts are now available in the iPad’s Debrief tab.

Sectionals have always been available on the web’s CloudAhoy. This functionality is now working identically on the iPad.

The sectionals are server-based, and therefore are slower to load compared to EFB tools.

Recommended: iPad 3 and above.

Enjoy!