App Designed To Increase Pilot Situational Awareness On Approaches

A new app recently released by Honeywell gives pilots an unprecedented way to preview and brief approaches.

In the GoDirect Flight Preview app, pilots can select an airport, runway, approach, and transition and then view that approach in a 3D rendering on a Google-like map. This allows pilots to become familiar with a procedure, the surrounding terrain, and the airport environment before actually flying the approach.

According to Honeywell, Flight Preview is an app developed by Honeywell to increase a pilot's situational awareness around their destination airport. This is accomplished by augmenting a traditional approach plate with an animated, three-dimensional view of a selected approach. Our 3D-modeled terrain can be overlaid with real satellite imagery to enhance the realism.

The app is free, but for the full functionality of the app, a data subscription (either monthly, or annually) must be purchased covering the region(s) in which you wish to preview your airport's approach through the app store or directly from inside the Flight Preview app. Regional subscriptions vary in price. A monthly subscription to a region costs $1.99, and a full year's subscription to a region will cost $19.99.

For best results, Honeywell recommends previewing your approach with an active internet connection. This will allow you to stream satellite terrain data to the device, heightening the realism of the rendered approach. You will also need to have an internet connection to download any new regional approach data.

When using the app offline, the 3D approach will be rendered using Flight Preview's internal mapping engine, with a synthetic terrain. However, you will need an internet connection for realistic streaming satellite terrain and to download any new approach plates.

Flight Preview requires at least iOS 8.4 or above, and an iPad. Honeywell recommends at least an iPad 3 for best performance.

(Image from Honeywell YouTube video)

FMI: https://aerospace.honeywell.com/services/aerospace-services/godirect-flight-preview