iFly GPS Forum

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I don't much use the "click on an airport and fly direct-to" functionality of iFly. I usually have multiple waypoints in my plan, and I typically start building my plan from the Flight Plan page.

When I do, the first step is always to enter the Departure Point. When I'm sitting in my plane or in an FBO doing this, I'm always a little bit disappointed that iFly isn't smart enough to auto-populate the origin.

Maybe when you click the "Clear" button, if iFly doesn't detect that you're at an airport, it just clears the plan. If it detects you're at an airport when you press the "Clear" button, iFly could pop up two buttons: "[Create new blank plan]" and "[Start new plan from KXYZ]"?

That would cost one additional button press if you didn't want your plan to start from the airport you were sitting at, but would save five button presses if you did.

An alternate way to do it would be to leave the "Clear" behavior alone, but then when you click the "Set Departure Point" button, the data entry screen auto-populates with the airport you're sitting at. Again, if that's not what you want, you could click the "Clear" button and type in what you want instead; else, you just click Done.

I'm with you on this. While I realize that a flight plan can be built on the Map page, that's not what the Map page is for and the Flight Plan page gives you a lot more data about your Flight Plan. (Kinda like the difference between getting a pop-up IFR to shoot an approach vs. a full blown flight plan. Both get the job done, but the former leaves a lot of holes.) And too, you would have to pan a lot on the Map page to pick your destination. (Would probably use the Search function instead, but now things are getting complicated. Might as well be on the FP page where the Search function is integrated in selecting a Waypoint.)

So, since iFly already has an auto-detect feature available for knowing your probable departure airport, the trick is how to seamlessly integrate that into the FP page.

One idea is that, after the user hits "Clear," iFly auto-loads the departure airport in the Search box AND highlights it. If that's what you want, you tap "Done." (Which I think should be labeled "Enter" instead.) If it's not what you want, you simply start typing a new Departure point and iFly overwrites what was previously highlighted. No extra button tap needed.

I agree that automation is only effective if it's helpful and not a hindrance. I also agree that it's not hard to enter the departure airport.

I simply question why it's necessary to manually enter the departure airport if you're currently sitting at an airport while building a flight plan. It seems like the vast majority of times that occurs, the plan is going to include the current airport as the departure point. My suggestion was to not change iFly's behavior if you're not currently sitting an an airport. My suggestion would also only require one additional button press if you didn't want the departure airport automatically populated.

Are there really multiple scenarios that would be complicated by this suggestion? What are some examples?