iFly GPS Forum

Yes. I asked for the bigger tower icons a while ago. (Granted.)

At first I thought their location was a curiosity too. But let's say that you're flying hard IFR in lousy weather. And your destination is in lousier weather. (Or maybe your on your way to your Alternate.) Now that we have ADS-B wx, and now that we're starting to rely on it, one piece of data in my decision as to whether to continue is: Am I headed toward, or away from, an ADS-B tower? If there are none near my Destination, then my ability to get near real time wx is questionable, and I might change Destinations or Alternate.

In some parts of the country, towers are easy to come by. But out here in the desert SW, they tend to be few and far between.

So knowing where they are (and being able to find them easily) is useful mostly for IFR flying. But I could make the same argument for VFR in TRW season when deciding whether to push on or land short. Would hate to lose NEXRAD when the skies are getting dark.

Would a slower flash be a happy compromise?

I ditto ErgonomicMike's answer. Mississippi used to have 2 towers (they have more now), and most of my flights cross Mississippi diagonally. 95% of the time I could care less how many towers I "see", but 5% of the time it's comforting to know the NEXRAD will be updated for the next xx NM. On one recent flight, I went 10 minutes without a tower in worsening IMC and you can bet I was anxious to see a flashing tower. An option to turn them on & off in the weather layer menu (METAR's/TAF's) would be a good option.

"Reliance" isn't exactly what I said. (I try not to rely on automation. I've seen AWOS's report clear in 'clealy' Broken sky.)

ADS-B info is just another piece of the big picture puzzle. Yeah, it 'can' be old (altho my experience is that it's been very timely). But I would rather have it than not, espcially when the going gets rough. (I can't tell from my Stormscope if something is brewing nearby, getting ready to strike. And Flight Watch is gone, now that everybody is using ADS-B.)

Naturally, those who don't want to integrate ADS-B data in their decision making process are free to ignore it. But the wholesale disabling of flashing by iFly smacks of Big Brother, as if iFly knows what's best for me.

If I'm stupid to want to see where towers are, I should be free to be stupid and have them flash.