Plates tab has been replaced with Airfields tab. This is mainly a reorganisation to make things easier to get to, with less scrolling, but also we've taken the opportunity to provide better access to our own data about airfields in the same tab.

When you plan a route from A to B all the enroute airfields are automatically present in the Airfields tab, of course. But you can add other airfields to that list too; just like you could with the old Plates tab except now your list of "extra" airfields is saved along with your route, so you know their briefing information will be there at the touch of a button when you fly.

This is obviously a fairly significant reorganisation but hopefully it has resulted in more information at your fingertips with less looking around to find it. The Information link for airfields from the What's Here menu takes you to the tab too. The full screen Airfield Information window hasn't gone anywhere, but it will be updated to incorporate the new approach/admin views that you'll see in the Airfields tab.

A new chart style called SkyDemon 3 has been introduced, which compared to SkyDemon 2 changes the terrain colours and reintroduces large areas of woodland. Currently woodland isn't included in the raw chart data for most countries, but we've published an update to our Germany chart which does include this data so you can evaluate the chart style. We hope to include the raw woodland data in most European charts next AIRAC update.

Can I just check I'm interpreting this right.....
Trying out the new chart style 3 I can see woodland in the UK, but a lot of the terrain shading is removed.  i.e. whilst the Pennines are still slightly shaded in grey, the Yorkshire Wolds that were green have now become plain white..... so effectively a choice for style 2 for terrain information or style 3 for woodland?

I guess it depends on the sort of flying that you're doing - but as someone who's typically flying between 2000ft and 5000ft terrain shading feels much more helpful that woodland - except if I was trying to manually verify my position by reference to woodland.

No harm having the choice, but I think I'll be sticking to style 2.

If I open the new "Airfields" tab, then select "Document Browser" and then "Tools" a new window opens behind the "Index" window and cannot be accessed (see attached screenshot). 

I find that the "Create" button in the "Airfields" tab is misleading and think that perhaps "Add" might be a better option.

It is accessible by taping on it, at least on my device - should be on front though.

Thanks all.

Regarding chart styles, you do indeed lose different colours for different terrain elevations. We have mainly introduced the SkyDemon 3 chart style for central European pilots who aren't used to having those terrain colours anyway, and are accustomed to have it all white with large forested areas emphasized instead. If you prefer style number 2, please do stick with it - it's not going anywhere.

The Create button should indeed have been an Add button.

I've tried switching to an alternative presentation for the document browser, where it now appears inside the Airfields pull-out tab itself, rather than trying to be fullscreen (which was pointless). This might be a less jarring experience, and solves the UI issue pointed out above. Let me know what you think.

Hello Tim
I like the new Skydemon 3 chart stye because it resembles the DFS ICAO style, hopefully this will be available for the rest of europe soon - when flying in mountainous regions I use terrain safe anyway, so it fits perfectly. Good work as always !!!!

...some minor bugs though...

- back button under Index (document browser) is not working
- the "document browser" is only available when an airfield is present, e.g. in case updating the plates database I need to add an airfield first to get access. Should be there constantly.
- e.g. being in the Approach Information folder I need to hit the back button (hardware) three times to get back to the navigation screen, what do you think about including some back buttons here & there ??

Keep up the excellent work

-mike

Thank you that's much better.
Simon

Thanks Mike, the first two of your issues have been resolved and the next beta will reflect this.

Regarding back buttons, I appreciate the problem but you can always collapse the Airfields tab if you want to immediately get back to the map. We prefer sticking to the Android native Back button but if you had a specific suggestion that was echoed by other users we would certainly consider it.

Hi,

I've tried yesterday's beta on Android.

First of all, I’m very happy with the new Skydemon3 chart style. Thanks for that! Having trees back is a very good thing and this style + terrain safe makes things more readable to me.

In the meantime, I’ve confused by the new airfield management/tab. It adds many clicks and does not feel as "smooth" as previously when navigating thru multiple places.

The « find plate » has disappeared from the contextual menu when long pressing on airfields (on the map). Perhaps it’s possible to find it somewhere else but I haven’t been able to access plates for airfields that are not on the route, or marked as alternate. Yes, the « add » button is the airfield tabs is here, but it adds too much clicks and extra steps for just quick view. If I want to access the plate of an airfield I’m flying over, I don’t want to enter a « planification like » mode. The same apply when drawing a route, I want to quickly access plates without adding them all to my airfield list and make it overcrowded. Perhaps I've missed something?

Thanks,

M