Pittsburgh Flying Club, Inc.
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (LBE)
Your Friends in High Places - Since 1957

A group of our pilots have purchased an ADS‑B receiver compatible with the Apple iPad and they offer to share this hardware for a modest buy‑in.

We've mounted the receiver on the shelf in the cargo bay of the Archer, the ADS‑B antenna to the rear window on the passenger side, and the GPS antenna to the dashboard under the windscreen. All that you need to do is set your iPad to airplane mode and connect to the SkyRadar0001 WiFi network. Due to the long battery life on the iPad and the fact that the receiver transmits a wireless signal, your iPad will be unencumbered by cables and you can position it wherever convenient.

After purchasing a copy of WingX Pro software you can display weather, moving‑map sectionals, approach plates, airport diagrams, and more.

Here are some sample WingX Pro screen captures that we've taken during flight in the vicinity of our home airport.

WingX Pro Software on the iPad

On this screen capture we're using WingX Pro from Hilton Software to aid in our situational awareness during taxi at the Latrobe airport. The right panel shows that we're on taxiway Alpha between Charlie and Bravo on our way to runway 23. Displayed on the left panel are the frequencies for this airport and on the center is our position on the sectional chart.

Position on Taxiway A


This is the Detroit sectional chart displayed full-screen overlain with our route, current position, and weather on our flight from a point north of Latrobe to the Rostraver airport.

Weather and Route


Here's an example of splitting the screen showing our current location and weather on the left panel and the Latrobe instrument approach plate on the right panel.

Weather and instrument approach plates


Like most general aviation aircraft that have been retrofitted with ADS-B capability our unit is receive only and thus cannot ping and wake up nearby ground stations. That design decision by the FAA means that you will only rarely see traffic displayed on the iPad, but in the event that you're flying in the area of another aircraft with ADS-B out on 978 MHz then you will pick up traffic reports directed to them. Here was such an occasion where we saw an airplane over Mid-State at 3,925 feet and another southeast of University Park at 4,325 feet.

Traffic


IFR Chart, Runway Extenstions, Obstacles, and Terrain.

IFR Chart with runway extensions


VFR Chart, Runway Extenstions, Terrain, and Airspace.

VFR Chart with runway extensions


Here's an image taken in September, 2012 showing a feature recently added to WingXPro: a graphical representation of terrain below the aircraft.

Terrain slices
Copyright (c) 2010-2013, Pittsburgh Flying Club, Inc., All Rights Reserved