IPAD vs paper charts?

IPad versus paper charts. Which should you be using? I'm going to give you my take on that. I am Kenny Keller, creator of Helicopter Online Ground School. Got a free maneuver guide for you down below. The video put together by our operations manager, Brian Rutledge. Free PDF Again, that link is down below. So the iPad versus paper charts. This, of course, kind of keeps changing over time in the world we're living at. Living in foreflight, iPads are very, very, very common in the cockpit. And there are a lot of good reasons why an iPad is nice. Foreflight is nice. There's so many things it can do for you. There's a huge benefit to using them. However, on the training side, when you're brand new to this, a paper chart is really handy and really nice to sit down and put it on a table and use it to do cross country planning. Do the old test of close your eyes and put the pen down and then just look and go, okay. What's that? There's a lot of benefits to having the paper chart. Now. Paper charts, they're hard to use in the aircraft. They're hard to find now. I mean, in the old days when I first started, you could walk in any airport anywhere and just buy a chart. Boom. Whichever you needed, they were stocked full. These days, it's very hard to even find a paper chart. And the last few checkrides we've done, we had students who were trying to get a paper chart before going the checkride and they had them on order. So they legitimately had them on order and they just weren't going to arrive in time. And I actually called the examiner and said, hey, my student legitimately has a current chart on order. It hasn't arrived yet and it's not going to make it by checkride day. And the examiner authorized to go ahead and do the checkride with the iPad. However, that same examiner did a series of videos with us two winters ago. In that video, he talked about this subject about how iPads are nice, foreflight's nice, the electronic version is great, and boy, it sure is handy. However, go for it.

Randy, Danny, Chris, welcome aboard the H131 of five helicopters here in the fleet with sweet helicopters. So we are down to the next pet peeve. And this one is stated by another examiner out of the east coast. And he says this, iPads can be a pilot's worst enemy. And I do, I agree with that assessment. He had a private pilot that was on a student ride and go figure, his little mini iPad froze up on him during the cross country, cross country portion of the flight. And the examiner being patient as he was, he said, well, just use the vor because the examiner had asked him, give me your position, the iPad's frozen. And when the examiner said it's okay to use the vor, the applicant had no idea what the VOR frequency was because that was his only source of navigation. So yes, we are allowed to use iPads or any personal electronic device that you want to bring with you for the check ride. My recommendation might be have a backup plan. It could be paper, it could be a sectional, but probably have a backup plan. And as we talk about sectionals, Kenny, which is a nice segue, it's all part of this particular pet peeve is know the sectional on the iPad as well. One thing that I like to ask the applicants when we're flying is, hey, if you want to make a in flight advisory with the flight service stat, tell me how you're going to call them. And so many times they have not been taught that. But what I'm looking for is for them to go to the sectional, look on the nearest VOR to know what that flight service station frequency is so they can call and give a pirep. Make sure the applicants know what a pirep is as well. So again, it's okay to use the electronic devices, maybe have a backup plan and when you're there, know the information on the sectional.

You can't always rely on that. They can go dead. They can lock up. And a paper chart is a very nice backup to have because it's always going to be there for you. It's not going to go dead, it's not going to go blank. So I get it. IPads are great. Foreflight is incredible. But I think in the training environment and for checkrides, that paper chart is still pretty darn nice to have. And I would suggest getting one early in your training to use for your studies. And pretty darn nice to just keep one for the air you're flying in or going to be flying in and have one in your bag with you just in case. That paper chart could come in handy and save your butt. That's my take on the iPad versus paper charts again. I realize as time keeps changing, they're harder and harder to find. Examiners still have, you know, different views on what they want to see. But the iPad is becoming more and more and more accepted in checkride. So you should probably check for your individual, individual situation for your checkride, which the examiner is going to like to see and I think most examiners anymore would still probably like to see you have both. That's just my guess. So Helicopter Maneuver Guide down below. It's free. Again, Brian Rogers, our operations manager, 30 year aviator. You get a free 30 minute consultation with Brian when you sign up for a HOGS membership and you can do that down below with 33% discount. You can go down below, use the code SUMMER33 for 33% off and there's a phone number down there for Heather, our member concierge, 574-767-1797. You can text or call Heather seven days a week and she will get back to you as soon as possible and help you answer any questions you might have about signing up and becoming a member of Helicopter online ground school. So again our website link link for the maneuver guide and the phone number for Heather is down below. So we will see you in the next video. Peace out. Sam.