It has been awhile since I have updated this blog. Life has been quite busy lately and I’m hoping it will calm down a bit after the holidays.

One thing that I have been working on that I wanted to share with you is support for Non-Linear Fuel CGs! This will allow you to enter the table of data from your POH for the fuel trends as the fuel weight changes, and FlightScale will now plot the CG changes for your fuel tank from full fuel down to empty! Also, when you enter a fuel weight (or landing fuel weight) it will look up the CG from the table and fill it in for you automatically.

It is important to note that these enhancements can only be applied to the longitudinal CG at this time.

A number of other improvements and interface tweaks are on the way soon. Stay tuned!

Below is a sample screenshot of FlightScale showing a plot using the new variable CG feature (note that the upper bounds of the envelope for the aircraft have been reduced to make relative plots larger). Compare the yellow line on the graph, which shows how the actual longitudinal CG varies with fuel consumption, with the graph of the Fuel Center from the POH for this aircraft. Notice the similar trend in the two graphs.


FlightScale v1.4 Screenshot showing Non-linear fuel CG


Fuel Center variable CG graph from POH

I have just submitted FlightScale 1.2 to Apple for approval. Not sure how long it will be before Apple pushes it out, but this will be a good update!

One of the biggest additions is that you can define landing weight for your fuel tanks! Your plot graph will now show you 3 points, your Full Fuel, Landing Fuel, and Empty Fuel. Not only that, but your graph will label values to your envelope points so you can see the thresholds easier.

You also will now have up to 12 limit points to work with!

You can now define a Max Takeoff Weight and a Max Landing Weight, each will show a horizontal line on your graph for reference.

Good stuff, right? There will be more to come! Thanks everyone for your input. If I haven’t gotten your requests integrated yet I’ll be working on them soon.

I’ve been telling people that I’m working on a huge update to FlightLog and so I need to push off feature enhancements until the huge update is completed. I’m very happy to announce that huge update is almost ready!

This update has been a monster for me to complete. I’ve sunk tons and tons of time into it. Visually FlightLog only looks slightly different, but under the hood I’ve re-architected the log memory management system to better handle large data-sets.

I’ll be happy when this monster reaches your phones and I’m hoping to get some feedback on it. Be sure to contact me immediately if you have any issues with FlightLog after this update. I’m currently putting it through the paces trying to make sure it will hold up to the crazy things you people put it through...

You can read more details about the individual changes here: http://warbredstudios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=618&p=992#p992

Here is a little preview...

Hi everyone, I owe you all an update. I’ve received a lot of feedback for FlightLog, and I’ve told most of you that I’m in the middle of a huge architecture change but didn’t know when I’d finish it. I have a bit more info on that front.

First off, there is an update for FlightLog submitted. This has a few minor updates in it, most notably the ability for FlightLog to open right where you left it off if you are running iOS4. I’m hoping that compiling this for iOS4 will relieve some of the performance issues some iPhone 3G owners saw after they upgraded their OS. This update will likely be out within 5 days or so.

The larger architecture change...I’ve been working on this update for a couple months now. I’ve had a lot of real life distractions along the way too, which hasn’t helped any. But I did reach a milestone tonight with this update. I’ve completed most of the handling of data, including adding/editing aircraft and logs, and also the query builder...All of these systems will utilize your data in a way where it will use a lot less memory. I still have to do the report generation and A LOT of testing, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I don’t feel comfortable giving out a timeframe yet. I’d like to say I’ll have it submitted in 2 weeks time, but I don’t like to make promises I can’t keep. So, we’ll leave it at “I’m hoping to get it submitted within the next couple weeks”.

Sorry for the delay in getting this completed. I know some of you are waiting on features you have requested, and I’ll be getting back to adding new features once this big update is done.

Thank you again for your patience and support.

Just wanted to post what I’ve been up to App wise the past couple of weeks, and what is in store for your mobile pleasure:

FlightScale: I just submitted an update tonight for FlightScale that will allow you to use up to 7 limit points now in your envelope. Judging from Apple’s recent approval process, expect this to hit your iPads in about 5-6 days.

FlightPlan (iPhone): I’m getting some good enhancements in FlightPlan that frankly should have been integrated long ago. A lot of older calculations aren’t heeding the setting changes for your units, and I’ve been fixing them up to do so. I’ve been finding these by doing testing while developing the android version of FlightPlan, so it really will help improve both products.

FlightPlan (android): I’m still making progress on the initial release of FlightPlan for android, but I’m still a ways off from submitting it to the market. I’ll try to check in again in 2 weeks to see where I’m at; I’m hoping to be pretty close to the initial release in 2 weeks but with family coming to visit...you never know.

FlightLog: I’ve started re-architecting how FlightLog handles its data. Namely, I have a few users that are really pushing FlightLog to the limits of their older iPhones and they are having memory issues. When I complete this big update, they will have issues no longer. I’m still a couple weeks out from completing this as well.

So, all in all, I’m getting some good stuff done. It’ll get to you soon, I hope! Happy 4th to everyone state side. To everyone else, go on holiday anyway! :D

I have just submitted the v1.1.0 update for FlightScale on the iPad. This version brings with it the helicopter template which allows for the center of gravity to be calculated for both the longitudinal and lateral axis. Plotting your limits currently only occurs for the longitudinal axis.

This update contains a few other minor updates. More information can be found at the forums.

It will likely take a few days for Apple to approve this update, unfortunately. But it’s coming, I promise!

I just wanted to let the community know that I have started development of FlightPlan for android. The release is still a few weeks off, but I’ll be releasing this software in stages, meaning that when I get the core E6B functions completed I’ll submit it to the store. As I finish more advanced functions, like Weight & Balance, those will be included as well.

I do look forward to getting FlightPlan out on android. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any specific questions.

FlightScale has been released for the iPad! FlightScale takes the core Weight and Balance functionality from FlightPlan and brings it to a beautiful large screen!

There is plenty more on the way for FlightScale. I’m planning to get helicopter support integrated, and email reports integrated as well. I’ll then bring this functionality over to the iPhone version in FlightPlan too.

Stay tuned!

I just got my hands on an iPad! I admit that I wasn’t terribly excited about the device before I got one for myself, but after spending a bit of time with it I know this will be an invaluable tool for many people. The device is awesome for sure.

The screen is simply brilliant. Apps made for the iPad just seem so powerful because of all the information that can be presented to the user. User interaction is also easier because of all the space available to place components.

I certainly want to bring my apps to the iPad because there are some tools I’ve created that will benefit greatly from the larger format. I’m first planning on bringing some of FlightPlan’s functionality to the iPad, but in parts since FlightPlan is so gigantic; it’d take awhile for me to complete the entire app.

I’ll be working on improving UI design as I rebuild these tools, and then I will be moving the improvements back to the iPhone versions of the app.

I’m starting off with the Weight and Balance tools. I’ve already started building these and I’m very pleased how they are turning out. Everything fits on one screen, including data entry, limits entry, and your live graph!

My goal is to have the Weight and Balance iPad app completed and submitted within 2 more weeks. Stay tuned for screenshots and more information about this project!

Thanks everyone for your emails with feedback and requests.

I’ve been working on an update to FlightPlan tonight, and I’m happy to say that I’ve made some good progress on improving the Weight and Balance system more. I currently have FlightPlan plotting your weight and balance on a diagram so you can see your envelope and how you fall within / around it!

This is a feature that has been asked for a few times now, and it is something I’ve always meant to add but I just didn’t know how to approach it. The new limits screen gave me a good place to put this information so I figured now is as good of a time as any.

I’ll be continuing work on this update for the rest of this week and submit it by the end of the weekend. You should see a FlightPlan update hit your phones next week sometime.

Read more details about what this update will include here: Version 1.19.0

If you are having trouble generating FlightLog reports, meaning that FlightLog crashes when you hit the generate button, and you have FlightLog version 1.4.6 or later, please try the following. If you have an earlier version, please update FlightLog and then do the following.

This will reset your report generation settings, such as your column order and visibility, but it should restore your ability to generate reports.

1. Type “reset” into the field where your email address goes on the report options screen.
2. Tap “Generate Report”
3. Confirm resetting the settings by tapping “Reset”. (This will bring you back to the home screen)
4. Replace your email address in the email field, tap “Generate Report” again, this should complete successfully.

If this does not fix your problem please contact me immediately.

This is a very important update that fixes an important issue with the v1.5.0 update. Please look for this on the app store.

I have just submitted the 1.5.0 update to Apple. Apple’s approval time has been getting better lately, and we may see this go out as soon as a couple days from now! I wasn’t able to get all of the new features I plan to add into this update, but this update is still very big. Read about the specific changes here on the forum post.

The major enhancement in this update is the ability to mark your favorite fields so they are easier to find when logging your entries.

FlightLog has been receiving a lot of attention lately. This is mostly because I have been receiving so much feedback for it. I have some big enhancements I want to get integrated. I am not sure if I can get them all in for the next update, but these are all things that should all be available soon.

I of course have a few more fields that people have requested to be integrated into the system. Of course I want to get these in, but as most of you know there are so many fields available now for FlightLog, it sometimes can be hard... Read More...

This minor revision has been released by Apple and addresses an issue with the Great Circle and Course calculation suffering from error within certain quadrants of the world.

The software I offer on the app store is a product of evolution shaped by its users. Almost daily I receive emails from users who provide valuable feedback on the software, and these users generally also provide me a list of requested features that they feel that would make the product perfect for them. I would love everyone to think the product is perfect for them, so I try to incorporate everything possible!

There are some great things in the pipeline for my apps and... Read More...