This is an interesting topic for me. I've been using the evaluation version of SD and love it so far, but one thing holding me back from subscribing is that it is clearly and unambiguously marketed as a VFR product. As a recent IMCR I still harbour some concerns that it may in the future be inadequate in some way. With the double subscription in the first year I would not want to be jumping ship after a year or two
However I find myself asking the same question as Tim in post #2. Exactly what IFR features would I want that SD does not have? Don't most IMC rated pilots continue to use the CAA charts (would be nice to have access to IFR charts too I suppose)? Airways reporting points are in there already. Approach plates can be downloaded from the AIS website (although access to them 'on the fly' would be nice). I don't see myself doing a full IR (until such times as it becomes much more accessible anyway) so flying in airways and IFR outside the UK are not currently a consideration for me ;-)
Trying to convince myself that SD has what I require, for now & the future. My feeling is that it should be perfectly adequate for any IFR flights on an IMCR?

US-based navigation products ported over to Europe are never quite as appropriate for our conditions as native-designed ones. Try setting alarms for class A airspace (the one that REALLY matters) on a Garmin 430, for example. Far better to support the most promising of our own software companies, like SD, to encourage the development of Synthetic Vision, ANHR hookup and the rest.

Alas, I agree. I did have a similar responses from other companies in the US in the past. Perhaps we should be greateful that some do bother.

Very Newbytheway

DurhamTeaseAirport

Runways,

You probably won't see a UK version from Hilton or Foreflight for any time soon, if ever.

I have spoken to both companies in the past the last time was about a year ago. They both stated that a UK version was under consideration and Foreflight even gave a timescale of "about 3 months".

However, I doubt they will ever bother. With a pilot population of over 800,000 in the US and Canada, they really don't need the hassle of trying to provide the product in Europe. We have fewer pilots and because our bureaucrats make flying ever more difficult and costly in all respects, that limits their market potential.

There is a lot of business in the US and these companies, along with several others, are fighting each other to build market share. Europe would be a distraction for them right now.

... and I just had a reply from hiltonsoftware.com. No UK version yet.

Very Newbytheway

DurhamTeaseAirport

Hello PinkLeader. Please refer to: hiltonsoftware.com for more details & dare I say more déjà vu. Illustrations on youtube. Just search for WingX Pro7.

Can I also bring your attention to what you could end up with, if you connect up to a 5Oz battery operated AHRS-G mini unit (on the same website), probably with a bit of fiddle. I could probably just about chuck all the rest of my heavy cockpit avionics out of the window!

I am not sure if a European version is available.


Very Newbytheway

DurhamTeaseAirport

Not quite.

In applications like Foreflight and WingX (mentioned above) you have the option of a number of different chart views.

In the case of Foreflight for example, you can view FAA Sectional (VFR) charts or FAA Low/High Airways charts. They are completely different charts and the IFR ones only provide information pertinent to IFR flight such as Airways, Navaid, Intersections, MEA, MRA, crossing altitudes and lots more without any terrain or ground features depicted. There is so much information on IFR charts, especially in Europe, it would probably be difficult to read with a VFR background unless you zoomed in until only a small area of airspace was displayed which is not ideal when ATC gives you a revised clearance over a large distance.

As mentioned earlier, some of this information may be in SD but I have not yet had chance to use it. However, if the information is not part of the chart data, then SD would be limited for use during IFR flight.

I guess I should download the trial and see what is there

I am not an IFR expert but if you raise the cruise height to say 10,000 then airways and airways reporting point become visible on the map. Similarly some Danger areas not visible with a 4,000 limit also start to be shown.

Is this the kind of in flight mix you mean?

D

Perhaps you are refering to a charting ability akin to that of WingX Pro7 with amongst other things has IFR/VFR swapping/combining ability. You can look-up its youtube previews. Food for thought.

Very Newbytheway

DurhamTeaseAirport

Hi Tim,

First let me state that I do not currently use SD but I plan to give it a try when I get back to the UK in a couple of weeks, so forgive me if I am ignorant of some features already in SD.

My ideal scenario would be to have a choice of VFR or IFR charts for the "movng map" display. I apppreciate that VFR flights can benefit from having certain IFR information on a VFR chart but that would not be adequate for an IFR flight and if all the details from an IFR chart was superimposed on a VFR chart, it would become too cluttered.

Approach plates would be ideal but if necessary, I can print these from national AIS sites. Similarly, flight planning can be done with a variety of products. It's basically the enroute capability that is of most interest