On Feb. 5, I did a column on the apps that AOPA’s staff pilots use, based on a member’s question. Below are another five recommendations from our staff. These are not endorsements of any app.
SocialFlight (free on iTunes and Google Play): Adam Smith, AOPA’s senior vice president of the Center to Advance the Pilot Community, swears by this app: “It’s my number one tool for finding local fly-ins, pancake breakfasts, and just a general reason to fly."
Aviation Weather from NOAA/NWS (free in iTunes and Google Play): Yasmina Platt, AOPA’s regional manager for the Central Southwest Region, said she often find herself looking at this weather app to check weather for her route of flight and even sometimes just to check what the weather is going to be doing around town and plan accordingly.
AOPA FlyQ Pocket (free in iTunes and Google Play): Eric Rush is AOPA’s manager of enterprise architecture, and he’s a big fan. “It’s the quickest way to look up airport information and weather from one app on-the-fly. It has an easy-to-use interface,” he said. “It also includes the AOPA Airports data in addition to FAA-provided data.”
ForeFlight Checklist Pro for iPhone ($19.99 in iTunes): David Ulane, AOPA’s Northwest Mountain regional manager, swears by this app on his iPad. “As a renter of several different aircraft, the app allows me to use a standardized checklist format for each of the aircraft I fly, and customize the lists with my own items as needed,” he said. “It’s also nice to have emergency checklists immediately at hand without digging for paper during an emergency.”
Xavion ($99.99 in iTunes): Dave Hirschman, senior editor at AOPA Pilot magazine, is a big fan of this app. “It gives you highway-in-the-sky guidance to the nearest runway in case of an engine failure,” he said.
I thank all of you who have sent in Android apps. Please continue to send them, along with your iTunes recommendations, here. It’s the last call for aviation apps developers, since I’m planning a column with your apps next week. The complete list of apps I’ve reviewed is in AOPA’s online archive.
