February 8th 2014 

• Bring your METARs to life with this new feature. Listen to your METARs as if you were tuning an ATIS or AWOS station, and get the weather information while you are driving to the airport or doing anything else!

• The METARs are sourced directly from the NCAR/FAA weather.aero site.

• To support this feature, a database of more than 35,000 world-wide airports has been added.

• Bug fixes.

Download the new User Guide here.

What is it?

Flight Data Recorder (FDR) is an iPhone / iPad utility application for 'recording' your own data. As its name suggests, it mimics what an aircraft "black box" does, by recording position, altitude and attitude data, along with cockpit voice (cockpit voice recorder, CVR), such that complete information for a flight can be stored.  A CVR records the conversation in the cockpit, and radio communications between the crew and air traffic control (ATC), as well as other ambient sounds (cockpit warnings, etc.).

      What can I do with it?

The data generated by FDR can be imported into the Instructor Station program, and Google Earth 3D files (kml) can be exported, data plotted, PDF reports generated, etc.

The Instructor Station will playback any portion of your flight in Google Earth, with simultaneous audio feed, to provide the ULTIMATE flight re-living experience!

Ever felt lost after an ATC instruction and wished you could hear it again?  In flight, the FDR can also be used as a means to playback a past ATC transmission (Digital ATC Recorder feature), just like the Garmin G1000 can do.

Who is this for?

Use of FDR in combination with the Instructor Station makes it IDEAL for:

Pilots - keep very detailed information of your flights, analyze interaction with ATC, re-fly any portion of your flight later on in the simulator or share with friends and family!  Playback any ATC transmission again if needed.

Student pilots - review flight lessons (including audio!), and get more bang for your buck! 

Flight Instructors - perfect tool to debrief your students with detail, on the ground.

Flight Schools - perfect tool to assess pilot progress and proficiency, instrument flight training, instrument proficiency tests, etc.

Discovery flights and flight tours - create the perfect giveaway for an experience that will always be remembered!

Airline Passengers willing to keep track of flights.

Anyone travelling or practicing sports.

Whether you're out flying, snowboarding, skiing, mountain biking, driving, running, hiking or whatever you're into, FDR is a solution for gathering real-time data on-the-go.  The indexed data can then be used in conjunction with the Instructor Station (or with any other data processing program, like Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers) for post-analysis, to visualize your every move.

Re-live Flights in Real-Time, with simultaneous Audio

Ground Speed and Altitude Plots

Review Maneuvers

Exiting Hold at OILER intersection

Rectangular Course (side view)

Rectangular Course (top view)

Turns Around a Point (side view)

Turns Around a Point (top view)

Power-off Stall

Slow Flight

Short Field Takeoff

Precision Landing

ILS Approach to KEFD,

ending in a missed approach to RWY 17R

PDF Report generated for this approach - see below FAA approach chart for reference:

Download generated KML file (Google Earth) here.

Link to aeronautical charts (for Google Earth overlay)

VOR-DME Approach to KSGR,

ending in a Circle-To-Land maneuver to RWY 17

Sight-seeing flight around Houston-Galveston

Vertical Profile

Departure from RWY 33 at KIWS &

Arrival to RWY 15 at KIWS

Flying Over the San Jacinto Monument

Crossing the Houston Terminal Area Class B VFR Corridor

Flying just North of Houston-Downtown

Terminal Area Chart Overlay

IFR Chart Overlay

How does it work?

The application uses the GPS and Compass sensors on your device to extract and store the following data: latitude, longitude, true direction, magnetic direction, speed, distance, time, optional points of interest, and a lot of other data.

Recorded data is saved to a CSV file at 2.5 FPS (one point logged every 400 milliseconds) with filenames matching the date and time they were created (i.e. '13-09-15_1530_43.csv' was created on the 15th of September of 2013, at 15:30 and 43 seconds).  Recorded audio is saved in a ‘CAF’ file, with the same name as the data file.  Files can be sent via email or be retrieved from the device in iTunes, under File Sharing (1.- Open iTunes, 2.- Browse to your device, 3.- Under the APPS tab scroll down to the file sharing area and look at FlightDR Documents).

Approximately 60 minutes of data recording equates to 1.7 MB of data on your device. Including voice recording, that amount is about 7.7 MB.  To keep things tidy, it is recommendable to delete files once they have been exported from the device and placed them on a computer.

How do I use it?

Once you have FDR installed on your device, you only need to decide whether you want audio to be recorded as well or not, and click START! It’s that easy! There are a few things you need to know if you want accurate results generated for your data:

• Only use outdoors
• Give your phone a good wave around in the air to ensure the compass configures itself properly.
• Depending on the activity you are performing, the position of the phone is crucial.  If you require accurate orientation/axis values (pitch/roll) for flying or snowboarding (spins/rotation), I recommend placing the phone/iPad upright or horizontally, facing the user and in a fixed position (i.e. inside a pocket or bag that won’t move around inside the airplane, or fixed on a mount).  For personal use, place the phone upright against your lead hip/waist inside your pocket.  Just placing in any of your pockets works fine for everything else except rotation, as it moves around when loose.

FDR records data in the background, so you can use another application while recording.

FDR has an option to start recording when speed is above 15 knots (about 17 mph or 28 km/h), so that the user does not have to be paying attention to the recorder, and can focus on important tasks at hand. 

FEATURES

• Records in-flight DATA (speed, altitude, pitch, bank, ground speed, g-forces, vertical speed, true and magnetic headings, distance travelled, ...)
• Records in-flight AUDIO (input jack, Bluetooth and regular mic)
• Digital Clearance Recorder, to playback any past ATC transmission.
• Works in the background, so you can keep using your favorite apps while flying.
• Can start recording automatically (when reaching 15 knots or after timer elapsed). 
• Can stop recording automatically (after maximum preset time).
• Can send and share files via email. 
• Can download files to computer via iTunes.
• Works seamlessly with Instructor Station, to deliver: 
• Simultaneous audio and flight track playback (2D/3D in Google Earth) 
• Real-time visualization of data (speed, altitude, etc.) on plots. 
• Generation of PDF reports 
• Export KML files (Google Earth)
• Approach vertical and horizontal plots
• Print color plots of data
• Speak-to-ME TAR engine: Located under the WXR tab, this allows listening to your METARs as if you were tuning an ATIS or AWOS station, and get the weather information while you are driving to the airport or doing anything else!
  • The METARs are sourced directly from the NCAR/FAA weather.aero site.
  • Database of more than 35,000 world-wide airports has been added.