I just received an email this AM from Navigraph outlining their new “Scratchpads” feature for Charts. I was just checking it out on my iPad using my Apple Pencil.
What a seriously nice addition to the Charts app. I usually fly with a kneeboard strapped to my thigh (hmm… why don’t we call them a thighboard?) with a pad of IFR forms for filling out my pertinent flight info/data. What Navigraph has added with this new feature would allow me to bypass that kneeboard and utilize the iPad I have attached to my sim-rig instead; keeping all that data within the Charts app I have open during my flights.
I’ve been extremely impressed with Navigraph. My subscription has given me so much more than AIRAC data, and I’ve watched their feature-set continue to expand and improve over these years that I’ve had it.
Their customer service has also been really good, too.
Anyhow, I so rarely see conversations about Navigraph’s suite of tools, but I’ve been consistently impressed with them.
But I agree, you could easily fly IRL with the Navigraph Charts app. I would take it over paper charts any day. Which just goes to show how well they’ve done implementing stuff that simmers & real pilots alike find useful.
Having access to continuous FAA sectionals for VFR, IFR Low and IFR High has been a massive boon. I had this in GaiaGPS, but it wasn’t linked to my simulator to provide realtime telemetry and positioning, which is really nice.
If you enjoy vintage aircraft (you do) having airspace, your proximity to it, as well as all the other useful VFR data on an FAA sectional is super helpful if you’re trying to fly by the rules rather than doing whatever you want out of the bounds of legality (which is fine and fun, but less challenging as a pilot). This is especially nice if you don’t want to have the in-sim EFB open and intruding on your display (assuming you have a single one, like me). I have an iPad mounted via a RAM Mount (highly recommend this company) on my keyboard stand to my left. I keep Charts open and running when I fly.
They have also recently added VFR charts for Europe, which I have yet to tap, but that will be extremely useful, too, when I get my rump over there.
However there still is one strong shortcoming: the simple ability to draw lines with bearing and distances on the map. Like from a VOR or a waypoint. Or measure a distance between points. THis would be routine on a paper map with a ruler, and cannot be done in Navigraph.
I’m currently in a phase where I’m using a Navigraph navdata-only subscription to supply Fenix and PMDG aircraft with updated navdata, and using the default Planner tools (including planner.flightsimulator.com) for the rest.
While the default tools are stronger than they’ve ever been, I do think this experiment may end with a return to a Navigraph Unlimited subscription by the end of the year. I desperately want the default offering to be as good as a premium payware product, but of course that’s likely not what they’re even setting out to do, just as the best default aircraft will always (rightfully) fall short of the quality and features of a $75+ version of the same or similar type.
I’ll certainly be checking out Scratchpad and watching the Navigraph ecosystem closely to see continued improvements as I weigh my options.
We sure have come a long way. I still have alll of the Jeppesen charts that I bought when I was using FS 95. All the old timers will know what I am talking about. I used those charts religiously. Now we have so much more at our disposal. But I just can’t get myself to throw those charts away.
I have a ton of old charts. I like to use them to look back at the evolution of approaches, charting, airports, etc. Lots of nostalgia looking at things that are no longer there.
Actually, I’d really like to see a historic charts layer on Navigraph. Not sure of the practical use, but for funsies.
Oh, I thought of a use: to be able to use old, official data to edit airports to the past-state of airports present in the aerials used in the sim. Some things in the sim make a lot more sense when you realize it’s out of date.
Along these lines, historical charts and historical Navdata, primarily for VOR - VOR navigation. As VORs continued to get decommissioned around the globe, eventually it will be impossible to fly like they used to.
Sure. I wish we could keep some it around and flip back. NDBs are really disappearing fast in the US. Something like 40% of what still remained has disappeared in the last 18 months since I last did an audit.
The hardest part, though is that a lot of airports, runways, specifically, won’t match the old plates unless there’s historical scenery for those, too.
