With the development and popularity of the iPhone, a number of useful applications have appeared specifically geared for pilots or the aviation community in general. One of these applications, The Pocket Flight Management Assistant (PFMA), was recently reviewed by John Ewing who has posted a detailed review about it on Aviation Mentor.
According to John, what is great about the PFMA as opposed to many other iPhone applications and hence worth repeating is that this one has the ability to calculate winds while flying. In fact and although there is no user manual with the application, John was able to figure out how to calculate winds aloft in under 20 seconds. In addition, the application’s WIND screen can also determine landing crosswind components as well plus perform a number of other useful calculations ranging from fuel calculations to meteorological conversions.
John concludes that the PFMA is a nice aviation calculator that strikes a good balance between frequently-used features and simplicity while having a user interface that resembles a flight management system. However, he also states that someone new to aviation who might still need a hand by having a product with explicitly-named functions and features might not be well served by the PFMA. Otherwise, experienced pilots will find the US$4 application a very good value and something worth having.
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