Electronic flight bags or EFBs, it seems everyone's using them these days.
But which one should you use?
I've been testing two of the most popular EFBs here in Australia and we're about to
find out in a special version of Ask The Pilot.
It's OzRunways versus AvPlan EFB.
FIGHT!
So for the last few weeks I've been testing both AvPlan EFB and OzRunways and I've been
looking at seven key aspects ranging from the installation and the setup all the way
through to things like the moving map and sharing data.
So whilst you can use both of these tools for VFR and IFR and you can use them as a
flight planning tool and as a moving map in the aircraft, I'm just going to focus on VFR
flying and using both AvPlan EFB and OzRunways as a flight planning tool only.
Now let's start off with installation.
Now I'm using an iPad Mini and both apps are available in the App Store they're quite easy
to find and download.
Installation of OzRunways only took a couple of minutes and I was up and running really
quickly.
My only issue with AvPlan is I had to go through a bit of troubleshooting after installing
it the first time I installed it I don't think some of the databases sync'd correctly so
none of my waypoints were lining up.
I closed the app opened it up again, logged out, logged in, tried quite a few things but
eventually I had to completely uninstall the app.
So it was a little bit frustrating and it took a little bit longer than I would have
hope to install the application but eventually once I was up and running everything was pretty
reliable from then.
So in terms of installation, just because it was easier to get up and running in one
go, OzRunways wins that one.
Now in terms of pricing there's a fair difference between the two.
You can basically buy the standard VFR package and then add on IFR, you can add on a Pro
package for AvPlan but if you want the base VR package it's $99 per year for OzRunways
and it's $99 per year as well for AvPlan EFB.
So both the same for the standard VFR package, but if you want everything, if you want the
full pack, then OzRunways the premium version will be $169 per year and the full version
so the VFR IFR and Pro package for AvPlan is $219 a year so there's 50 bucks difference
between the two.
So because you can get the full package for 50 dollars cheaper even though the features
list is slightly different, OzRunways has to win this one.
Now the layout and the user interface between the two are actually quite similar.
Both have got a tab bar across the bottom, the moving maps are quite similar, so I'm
not going to go into any tiny differences.
But there's one main difference between the two applications.
So in OzRunways to go between the flight plan and the maps it's pretty simple you just click
on the flight plan icon at the top, you can click on exit and you can go back to your
map.
Now AvPlan have put in this split screen function so you can actually use this bar to pull down
to see your flight plan or pull it up to see your map.
Now to be honest in AvPlan I wasn't really using that feature very much.
If I wanted to get the map up I'd actually just tap that icon to make the map go full
screen because I think in map mode you want to take up as much of the screen as you can.
And then when I did want to go back to the flight plan I'd just tap that... you can see
it's a little bit fiddly and just drag that down that way.
And so because the operation of the two is so similar and the layout is so similar and
I'm not sure about that split screen function, this one's a tie.
Now when planning a flight both apps operate in a very similar way, they both allow you
to type in a series of waypoints, that will create a flight plan automatically for you
which will appear on the moving map.
So as a quick example of a flight plan if we want to go from Moorabbin say to Avalon,
you just type in your waypoints, hit return, hit done, then your flight path appears here
on the map.
And then it's really easy just to drag the flight path so if you want to go around the
bay for example you can go via Martha Point or you can come via Portsea, and then to view
your flight plan in OzRunways you just tap the button at the top here and your flight
plan appears.
AvPlan is pretty much the same click on new plan, type in your waypoints in the box so
we go Moorabbin, Avalon, hit return, it gives us the flight path and then in here again
we can just drag to certain waypoints, and Portsea.
Now in OzRunways to edit your flight plan you just click on edit, if you want to add
a waypoint you click on the green plus to add a waypoint.
If you want to delete a waypoint it's a little bit fiddlier, click on the delete, click on
delete that goes and once you click on exit then you can see that waypoint's been deleted
for you.
In AvPlan with the split screen you can just pull the split screen down, you can click
on the waypoint you want to delete, hold it down, click on delete and there you can see
if we go back to the map that waypoint's gone.
Now in terms of flight planning yeah it's a difficult one they're very similar so again
I think this one has to be a draw.
Now one really important thing you want to be able to do with these apps is to share
or print information from within the app.
And there's actually quite a big difference between the way the two work.
Now the printing and sharing function in AvPlan EFB is really powerful you just pull up whichever
flight plan you want to work on, you go to this print send function, and then it will
give you all the options for the documents that you can print or send to your email.
So you've got the flight plan itself, we've got the weather for Area 30, any charts that
you might want we've got Moorabbin charts you can turn off the ones that you don't want.
And once you've decided on all the documents you want to share you just click on the share
button, go to email, and AvPlan will actually put them all together into one PDF for you
which you can then send to the printer and print off in one go.
Brilliant function, I really love this, very powerful.
Now OzRunways is a little bit different and you can't share as much in one go so if you
want to share your flight plan you can go up to the flight plan page, hit the print
button, and you can just expand up which produces this PDF that you can then send to print or
send to your email.
But you don't get all your charts in one place, you don't get the weather in one place.
So whilst you can still print and share the same information it's far far easier to do
in AvPlan EFB.
And because of all that because AvPlan EFB is just so good at sharing and printing and
having all the charts and everything in one place.
It wins this round hands down, lots of ticks.
Now both apps as well allow you to access your AIP, the Aeronautical Information Publication.
Documentation pretty similar between the two.
Look just a tiny thing but OzRunways probably has a better navigation through the documents
than AvPlan I've found it a bit easier to get around but look it's just a tiny thing
so again this one very similar has to be a draw.
And finally looking at the moving map itself we've already looked at the layout but the
map when you're in the air and it's following you along remember of course you can't use
this as a primary means of navigation but just as a backup having that moving map in
the cockpit look both worked pretty much exactly the same way.
The one thing I really do like are some of the overlays that you can put on for the weather.
Now another disclaimer of course even with the weather overlays remember those are delayed
so don't use them as a primary source of navigating around thunderstorm cells or bad weather.
But OzRunways did recently introduce a new update to their app called WindyTV which allows
you to put an overlay on top of your moving map with wind speed and direction.
It's really useful it's also got forecasts as well so if you've got a flight coming up
in the future you can get a rough idea of what you think the winds might be doing.
So just because of that they're very similar but OzRuways just seems to have a few more
features in terms of the moving map so just by a whisker they win this one.
So those were the things that I looked at when I was reviewing both of the applications
now if I have to pick a winner between the two, this is really hard, I mean I don't want
to sit on the fence I do want to give a recommendation but both are really good, both pretty much
do everything you need them to do.
But if I HAVE to pick one, and this is just my recommendation, my personal favourite out
of the two is OzRunways.
And it's mainly because I just found the interface a lot easier to use and I just think in those
situations when you want to knock out a flight plan quickly it's just a little bit easier
to get around and so for that reason my pick is OzRunways.
Now don't just take my word for it, both apps actually allow you to do a free trial download
I think it's 30 days for both apps, so what I'd recommend is download them to your tablet
or your smartphone and try them side by side.
Now I hope you found that helpful, thanks as always for watching, if you haven't already
do subscribe to the channel there's a new pilot and travel video coming out on this
channel every week.
Thanks as always for watching though and I'll catch you again soon.