John Ewing has written a lengthy post for his Aviation Mentor blog where he provided a detailed review of FlightPrep iChart for the iPad. He began his review by pointing out that FlightPrep has been selling Windows-based flight planning software and electronic flight bag products for a number of years and now they have joined the iPad bandwagon (they also have plans for an iPhone version) with their FlightPrep iChart software.
John then wrote that instead of offering a whole array of features and capabilities, FlightPrep iChart instead does a few things and it does them well. This includes storing and displaying charts like VFR sectionals and terminal area charts, IFR low-altitude en route charts and terminal procedures. However, there is no support for high-altitude IFR en route charts or for getting weather briefings, route planning or displaying routes on the charts. Nevertheless, John noted that this straightforward and easy-to-use interface approach makes the FlightPrep iChart application easy to use.
At the end of his post, John concluded:
There are iPad EFB apps out there that do more stuff, like display weather, do route planning, georeference your position on the chart, and so on. But those products are also inherently more complicated to use in flight. FlightPrep iChart does a few things and does them well for a reasonable price.
Moreover and if you like the 30-day demo of FlightPrep iChart, you can then choose to purchase a one year introductory subscription for US$49.95.
