Thanks Tim, you can indeed get into approach info with just one click 

Thank you for that feedback. Please note that you can get to the approach info screen by simply tapping once on the airport information at the top of the screen, which used to simply say "Next: Airport Name". Now that we've designed the approach info screen we might reduce the amount of information displayed back down again.

The static info screen does duplicate a bit, we're aware of that and it's intentional. We hope people won't need to go into that screen unless they're sitting on the ground needing to look up a piece of info that wouldn't be needed in flight.

Well done Tim and team, I've just had a quick look on the simulator mode. My initial worries about the high contrast mode was all the pink lines, (near Manchester low level route) but on further inspection I see that the 'route line' is now clearer with the white centre. The approach info is good.In the sim mode and also on the device  it means  3 clicks to access the approach info, I don't know whether there could be  a quicker method of accessing the info.

The switching of runways from within the approach info works well

When in high contrast mode the white lettering for the info at the top of the screen(on the device) is fine, but  on the other charts it's difficult to read, I'm not convinced that the info is needed as it's shown in the approach info and it tends to clutter the chart a bit. 

  I might be jumping the gun here a bit but, The page  'static info'  buton leads to, duplicates  a lot of the info from the previous page and the bottom part of that screen is too small to read comfortably.

Just for your info, and something which doesn't affect flying in any way, when in the sim mode and you go into 'approach info' and then static info, it could do with a 'back' buton, like you have on the device itself

Thanks again for letting us have a play

I've just posted an update to the beta. The "View Plate" window has been entirely replaced with a new "Approach Info" window which draws a better map (with runway end buttons) and a scrollable list of the vital information needed for an approach. Also included in the list are the nearest available TAF and METAR, and any NOTAM for the aerodrome.

The old paged static display of aerodrome information, similar to the printed chart you get from SkyDemon Plan, is still available.

Please try the latest beta on the simulator or on your devices and give us some feedback.

Cheers!

I also support abbreviated circuit depiction.

Right now! I've just posted a beta so that people can get an idea of where we're going. There's no circuit depiction at all at the moment, and no nomination of circuit direction.

As before, runways are highlighted when on your last route leg, and the nearest runway is highlighted. What is different is that you can also select a different runway at any time by bringing up the airfield plate and tapping a runway end. What is also different is that once a runway end is selected, information is displayed at the top of the screen over the map including the runway name, dimensions, elevation, circuit information (where available) and the tower frequency.

Please download the refreshed beta (uninstall any older version you're using) and play with it on the simulator and let us know whether you think this is helpful, and if you'd change anything.

Again, this is designed to make SkyDemon more helpful in that phase of the flight where you start thinking about your destination: talking to them, joining, setting up etc.

Personally I would go with the abbreviated circuit depiction, showing a clear indication of the circuit direction turns. As I mentioned before I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of showing a full circuit pattern, but the abbreviated information you mention sounds very useful. By the way, is (or when will) this be available in some sort of beta so we can see where you are at?

So far what we have is the ability to choose a runway. In the current public version when you view the airfield "plate" you see a map with a plane icon (or arrow) overlaid. We've changed this so that the runway numbers are drawn much bigger, in circles which are actually buttons. The selected runway end is highlighted. We have retained the automatic runway selection from before, so that if you don't explicitly choose one you'll get the one that is most aligned to your current position. If you do select one, then that becomes the active runway end regardless of your position. This answers a demand we had previously to be able to select your target runway end earlier in the flight.

We can depict a "standard" circuit (with accompanying warning), or we can depict a sort of abbreviated circuit, with only a couple of arrows connected to the ends of the runway showing which direction to turn, or we can depict nothing at all. What do you think?

Regardless of what we do with circuit depiction, once a runway has been selected we want to overlay some useful information on both the main map and on the airfield "plate" screen. Info would be the vital statistics of the runway selected and an appropriate frequency, selected automatically from the list. This would have to be cyclable (by tapping) since some airfields have multiple appropriate frequencies, but by default we'd choose TWR or A/G or A/A.

Since we don't have any local data for circuit geometries we may have to dispense with the idea of offering to alter the route to guide you to part of the circuit instead of the ARP. Any other suggestions are welcome!

Would be a very good and possibly unique addition.



I can imagine a fixed plate with the whole aerodrome shown in the center of the plate, with big runways and big runway designators (numbers). The position of the aeroplane depicted moving on the plate. The Runway colour changes when the pilot taps the screen on the desired runway End. Last minute runway changes can be made by tapping again any of the other runways. If possible the runway colour, once tapped adopts a sequentially changing shades of a distinct colour ranging from the approach to the departure ends along the whole length of the runway, making the desired runway stand out for ease of reference.



It would be nice to have an inset or part of the screen made available to show the flight final approach & landing profile.

Very Newbytheway

DurhamTeaseAirport

I agree with Revilla that directions to join the circuit "standard way" could be dangerously missleading. I would personally never follow such directions without prior verification with official VAC charts, especially after reading your warning, that actually "system has no knowledge about local conditions" Then what is "standard" in the first place? As I know "standard" joining differes from country to country.

Moreover I can not imagine how practical would be selecting joining points: pushing fingers at poore resolution screen in possibly bad screen visibility conditions (sun) at one of the most critical moment of the flight, when you normally should look out for trafic in the circuit, listening to radio, identifying wind by windsock direction, etc...



This functionallity would be helpfull if one day real circuit geometry and joining/departing patterns could be shown on airfield plate.



All above critisizm is about joining the circuit. But I like the idea to give some information about circuit itself. I would give following:

-Frequency ( but not "Approach", it should be "TWR" or "A/A");

-Altitude of the circuit and Altitude of the runway (or Altitude of Circuit and its Heght above runway);

-Visual presentation of circuit (simplified, just to show on which side of runway it is);

-Clear runway numbers (you have it already on extended centerline, but I noticed if there are L and R runways, sometimes numbers overlap and difficult to read).



And all this better to be accesible during flight preparation, not just pop up during actual flight, as I still would be more comfortable if I can review and verify this data before the flight.