Wireless flight plan mods

EFBs also give a new lease on life to once-cutting-edge-but-now-dated navigators like the Garmin GNS 430/530 series. With the addition of Flight Stream, wireless connections mean never having to crank their dual concentric knobs or enter all the individual waypoints that define long airways ever again.

Wirelessly transferring flight plans also eliminates data entry errors and the airborne confusion that can follow them.

It’s taken me a long time to warm up to the idea of entering and modifying flight plans wirelessly. I’ve long been accustomed to entering procedures and waypoints manually, and I weirdly enjoy the tactile feedback of doing things the old way. It’s a familiar and comforting part of the preflight ritual.

But a flight up and down the East Coast in a vintage turboprop guided by an aging Garmin GNS 430/530 showed me how much better the new way can be. A youthful co-pilot with an iPad, ForeFlight, and a Flight Stream 510 subscription uploaded a complex flight plan to the Garmin units in less than one minute. The process was quick, easy, free of errors, and would have taken me at least 10 times as long on a hot, sweltering ramp with a pair of thirsty engines running.

Once we were on our way, air traffic controllers provided several new clearances—a regular and predictable occurrence in this region—and wireless connections once again proved their worth. The co-pilot copied each new clearance, entered the updated information on his iPad, and transferred it to the GNS430/530. We reviewed it together and then approved it at the touch of a single button.

Dynon and other avionics firms provide their own wireless connections that link electronic flight bags to panel-mount avionics. And communication goes both ways: Flight plans modified on avionics units can be shifted to electronic flight bags, too.

On the ground, wireless links enable pilots and technicians to perform database updates via their digital devices, a capability that avoids the cumbersome process of removing data cards from panel-mount avionics, plugging them into laptop computers, downloading data, and then reinstalling them.

Wireless data transfers are built into newer avionics, too.

The same co-pilot and I have recreated our flight plan entry and modification race in another airplane equipped with touchscreen Garmin GTN 750s, and the results are equally one-sided. Flight Stream wins every time, and I’ve never seen it introduce an error.

This new way of building and modifying flight plans makes flying even more EFB-centric—and it requires pilots to ensure these essential devices are properly mounted, protected, and charged during flight.

But their advantages are undeniable.

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