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Comment by sokoloff | Hacker News Reader

> equipped with real time satellite weather

Many people have died from believing that their satellite weather was real-time. It’s 3-15 minutes delayed typically.

Go up on a VFR day with widely scattered wet clouds and maybe scattered showers or virga. Fly near some of the wetness and notice they are physically quite displaced from where they are on your weather display. In some cases, your weather display will show weather on the left and clear right, while your windshield will show the weather is actually on your right, having moved during that delay.

Imagine then trying to navigate that in more serious weather and you’ll hopefully get religion that the display is definitely not real-time and must not be relied upon as if it were. It’s a strategic tool, not a tactical one.

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More than a few have died in the last few years treating their iPad with GPS as a replacement for a glass cockpit and instrument rating too...

There are at least five YouTube videos of ATC communications with pilots in trouble because of an IPad failure.

Doesn't surprise me. I got on a flight that had to go back to gate due to an "iPad failure" about 6 years ago. The captain was apologising as we disembarked. I asked him what happened. He said software issue across both their flight plan iPads. Hardware was fine. Not sure if it grounded other flights but we were back on a different plane about 2 hours later.

To be clear, we're actually talking about two separate things, they both just use an iPad.

You're talking about what's known as an electronic flight bag, which is using a tablet as a replacement for paper maps and charts. This is legal and has been for some time.

What I and Animats are talking about is running an app on a ipad as a "replacement" for equipment or training that is required for safe, legal, operation. NOT legal.

Oh hell why would you use an iPad for that. As a convenience yes but not a substitute for proper instruments and procedure.

Maybe because the iPad has a more user-friendly interface than most avionics.

Here's the cockpit of the Gripen, Saab's current fighter aircraft.[1] One big screen across the whole panel. No sign of a classic altimeter or compass. There's a HUD as well, so there's a second device for the basic flight instruments.

[1] https://bestfighter4canada.blogspot.com/p/the-saab-gripen-do...

The interface is another story. I’m considering the engineering, software quality snd reliability.

Yes. Two examples: [1][2] More can be found with Google.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1E7rGCdZMI

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMxsdEeEzFM

Does this result in a “you get to live but you’re never allowed to fly a plane again” situation?

The worst typical outcome for pilots who get these violations is taking training, getting signed off to that effect, and a “709 ride” to get their certificate back. They might also face a short suspension.

Very few pilots manage to earn a lifetime ban.

There's actually a self-report line (run by NASA, no less) where pilots can report stuff like this.

It's really quite brilliant.

The way that you get pilots to do it is that if you drop the dime on yourself it actually gives you virtual immunity from consequences, as long as no injuries or serious damage actually occurred. The idea is to actually find systemic process/procedure issues.

I ride with my dad in a Cessna a lot and he emphasizes you should always be prepared for GPS and radio failure, and you must be able to safely get on the ground with nothing but a map, compass, and your eyeballs.

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