Today I did a flight with my new iPad mini 5, WIFI only.
When starting the engine, I get a message that the internal GPS does not function properly.
En-route I restarted the app multiple time, but it does not give me any position and the message remains. Changing to automatic source did exactly the same.
The aircraft was a Tecnam P-92 with only analog gauges and no fancy GPS or other electronic systems etc.
Connecting my iPad to my iPhone also did not solve the issue. On my iPhone XR I had no issues at all. Does this sound familiair to others? Or any idea what could cause the issue? On the airport terrace or at home I have no issues and GPS location if founded instant.
Did some research, because my iPad in WiFi only it needs an external GPS or iPad with cellular to function properly.
Hi Cristian,
I had a very similar thing happen to me last week and have discussed with Rob via email but we didn't come to any conclusion on why it happened. interesting to hear that i was not alone with this happening.
I lost GPS twice during the flight and the Ev4 chart mapping zoomed way out into space losing chart mapping completely which could have been very awkward had I been in busy airspace.
On the Thursday the 20th August (The day of my occurance)there was supposedly a high risk of GPS being affected by Solar flares from the Sun ( Google it). Probably total rubbish but a possibility I suppose.
Regards,
Alan
I got red dots on the map and assuming my position and track but it was far away from right. I asked the question on a Dutch pilots group where many said using a WiFi only iPad with external GPS or an iPad with cellular.
As I just bought the iPad, I have trade it in for one with celllular. Dit not flown with it yet.
Hi Christian,
The red dots you saw mean that the positional data is not reliable.
iPad's that are wifi only do not have an internal GPS receiver. They can only estimate the position based on wifi and mobile network. This only works at ground level in dense populated area's like cities. This is far from accurate and does not contain altitude, speed and directional data, so we can't use it in flight for navigation purposes. Therefore it can only work combined with an external GPS receiver.
I understand that you now have switched it to the cellular version. That one does have an internal GPS receiver and works perfectly with EasyVFR 4. We have several in our office at Lelystad airport for demo and testing purposes. In my opinion, the best tablet on the market for in-flight use ?
Cheers,
Tim
This is indeed a bummer. I have the same problem and now I know I have the wrong device.
bummer
Unfortunately Apple are (IMHO) quite poor at making issues like this sufficiently clear to potential customers. GPS technology is so pervasive and ubiquitous these days that it is hard to imagine that expansive tablets like iPads sometimes do not incorporate it.
But as Christian and Tim have said above, if its too late to return your iPad and swap it for the cellular version, another option might be to buy an external (blue-tooth) GPS (eg Garmin Glo less than £100) which your iPad should happily work with (but as with everything tech, CHECK THE SPEC carefully before buying!).
