OSHKOSH, Wisconsin - The iPad has been a huge hit with pilots who use it for everything from flight planning to navigation. Now synthetic vision can be added to the list of capabilities available to pilots using the device in the cockpit.
Synthetic vision has been around for a few years, using glass panel cockpit displays costing tens of thousands of dollars. The technology renders a three-dimensional digital representation of what a pilot sees out the window. It looks similar to a flight simulator. Everything from mountains to buildings can be shown, providing pilots with a picture of their surroundings at night or when flying in the clouds.
Now the technology is available in a 99-cent app (with additional subscription fees).
WingX Pro7 from Hilton Software has been a best selling navigation app on the iPad, providing aeronautical charts, weather and terrain capabilities. Today the company announced it has added synthetic vision.
The top image shows the map view of an airplane flying over the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The lower image shows the synthetic vision showing the coastline, runways and mountains off to the right. An video of the synthetic vision appears below.
WingX Pro7 developer Hilton Goldstein admits his app is not to be used as a primary navigation tool. The FAA requires much more testing of primary navigation hardware and software used in airplanes, and that adds to the cost of more expensive systems. But used as a backup tool for pilots who may or may not already have synthetic vision capabilities, the iPad app provides a tremendous amount of information for a small investment.
A subscription for the maps and terrain database costs $99 annually, and the synthetic vision subscription is an additional $99 per year.
Hilton Software also is partnering with Levil Technologies to offer an attitude and heading reference system that, when connected to WingX Pro7, turns the iPad into an artificial horizon-type device that displays pitch and bank. The tiny AHRS unit is the size of a business card and about one inch thick. It transmits wirelessly to the iPad and provides more backup capability in the event of an instrument failure.
Image/Video: Hilton Software/BA3
