iFly GPS Forum

The wx here today is horrible and I was interested in how high the tops were and if any ice. (Turns out they are high and yes.) So I fired up iFly to try to get some PIREPS. I can't think of an easy way to call them up on the map. I tapped around on various airports in my area, called up the QV, Wx, More Info. I didn't get any PIREPS that way either, and it seems hit or miss.

Interestingly, I ended up calling FSS, and there were a few PIREPS in the vicinity of the airports I tapped. So one question is, do PIREPS show up the way I just did it? (Think I just realized the answer to my own question. I bet those are ADS-B PIREPS. If so, then perhaps iFly should say "ADS-B Only" instead of "None reported for this area.")

The other thing I'll try that will probably work is to create a "fake" flight plan somewhere local and get a briefing.

But really, I'm looking for a METAR type feature, where I can select a PIREP layer to see what's being reported.

Admittedly this is not very high on the request list, since 1) the only time I care about PIREP's is when it's IMC and 2) when it's IMC, I get a briefing and will get PIREPS that way.

I agree with Mike that PIREP's are extremely useful and extremely hard (impossible) to find within iFly. I'd even like to see a PIREP option on the MapMode screen that flashes little airplanes on the map in a similar, unobtrusive fashion as the ADS-B towers. I don't think PIREP's come with an exact lat/Lon, but you could put them over the reported navaid and we could decipher the text to know it was "35 miles northeast of ...". Yesterday I was watching the ADS-B download stream and there were plenty of PIREP's coming across, but no easy way to locate them.

In addition to PIREP's, I'd like an easy way to find the winds aloft forecast. Tapping METAR dots hoping to find either product is cumbersome, time consuming, and too much head-down time.

Cobra you're right, the winds aloft works great on the ground with an internet weather update. The problem I have is using it in flight with an ADS-B stream. I tapped around in flight the other day and as usual, couldn't find an airport with winds aloft, even though I could see the reports streaming in via ADS-B. Maybe winds are like internet NEXRAD - you can take off with an internet radar picture, but it gets erased and replaced with ADS-B info. Or maybe my ADS-B box isn't formatting the winds data correctly for iFly to decode. I just know that I've had trouble finding winds aloft dataawhile aloft in iFly for a few years, to the point of memorizing which airports have them, but that doesn't work when I'm in unfamiliar territory. It could certainly be an Operator Headgap Error. I could also see PIREP's streaming in, but couldn't locate any in iFly.

As for PIREP's, I just think a layer that could be turned on and off would be nice. I flew through Memphis class B the other day in some particularly nasty weather, and the controller asked me several times for flight conditions that he passed on to others inbound. PIREP's in VFR weather may not seem as important, but knowing there's unforecast turbulance ahead at my level is good info to have, so I'd probably leave the layer on unless it got too busy. Perhaps the layer could have a gear that let you set an altitude range, to weed out the "moderate chop at FL390" reports.