Garmin SmartCharts 📱, AIR Picks Dynon 🎛️, CubCrafters FADEC ✈️
Garmin Brings SmartCharts to Garmin Pilot Web (2 minute read)
Garmin's SmartCharts — its decluttered, operation-tailored terminal procedures — are now available in Garmin Pilot Web, extending the feature beyond the mobile app. Pilots can pare instrument approach procedures (IAP), departure procedures (DP), and standard terminal arrival routes (STAR) down to just the relevant data by selecting aircraft type, arrival/departure/approach transition fix, and runway, and the charts are wired into the flight-planning flow to flag weather and NOTAM impacts and surface needed minimums or equipment changes before departure. SmartCharts requires a subscription and is available now on both Garmin Pilot Web and the Garmin Pilot mobile app.
AIR Names Dynon Its Exclusive Avionics Provider (2 minute read)
"Smart" eVTOL maker AIR has named Dynon Avionics its exclusive avionics provider, tapping Dynon to customize its SkyView HDX platform for both the AIR ONE personal eVTOL and a heavy-lift unmanned cargo aircraft. The adaptation adds support for electric propulsion, energy management, and a simplified pilot interface on top of SkyView HDX's existing high-resolution touchscreen PFD/MFD displays, synthetic vision, moving-map navigation, autopilot, and ADS-B traffic and weather. Dynon president Brad Thurow framed it as pushing the SkyView HDX line — long a staple of experimental and light-sport panels — into the advanced air mobility segment, with AIR CEO Rani Plaut citing the goal of keeping the cockpit "intuitive, safe, and accessible."
CubCrafters Rolls Out a Software-Only Power Upgrade for the Rotax 916 iS (2 minute read)
CubCrafters released a software-only FADEC upgrade for aircraft powered by the Rotax 916 iS engine, developed with aerobatic pilot Luke Czepiela and RS Flight Systems. Priced at $1,500 and available immediately with no hardware changes, the update retunes the engine to improve acceleration, climb, cruise speed, deceleration, and energy management, and has been evaluated on both Hartzell and MT propeller installations. Owners are directed to contact CubCrafters customer support for eligibility and scheduling — though the company notes Rotax, which traditionally does not endorse modifications to its engines, has not weighed in.
What to Do When Your iPad Gets Too Hot (or Too Cold) in the Cockpit (3 minute read)
This beginner-focused guide explains how to keep an iPad running through summer heat and winter cold, noting Apple rates iPads for 32°–95°F (0°–35°C) operation — a range a closed cockpit on the ramp easily exceeds, triggering the "Temperature" warning and shutdown that can hit mid-flight. Recommended fixes include shading or yoke-mounting the iPad on the cockpit's shady side, passive heat-blocking gear like the Scooch Heat Block screen protector, active-cooling cases such as the Navigator (with heat sink), X-Naut, and Bluebird Aero, and force-closing background apps before takeoff. For cold-weather flying it warns of sudden battery drops and reduced touchscreen responsiveness, especially with gloves.
Survey Points to an ADS-B In Readiness Gap (3 minute read)
A new Acron Aviation report, based on an April survey of 100 airline management professionals, finds 47% of carriers have equipped at least part of their fleets with ADS-B In and another 40% are evaluating it — even as 34% of respondents admit they don't understand the difference between ADS-B In and ADS-B Out. The study lands as the ALERT Act (passed by the House, pending in the Senate) would mandate ADS-B In on most aircraft by Dec. 31, 2031, with cost cited as the top barrier at 38%. Acron points to an FAA trial at Dallas/Fort Worth with American Airlines that used ADS-B In and "traffic to follow" procedures to cut arrival spacing by 12 seconds, add four to five landings per hour per runway, and save 490,000 pounds of fuel in its first year.
Airhart Is Bringing a Rethought GA Cockpit to Oshkosh (5 minute read)
GA cockpit startup Airhart Aeronautics will bring a production-equipped customer aircraft and a hands-on flight simulator to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (July 20–26, Booth No. 439) to show off its clean-sheet, simplified flight-control system. Co-founded by former SpaceX engineer Nikita Ermoshkin, the Long Beach company argues the GA cockpit hasn't fundamentally evolved in generations and that complexity helps drive the roughly 60% of student pilots who never finish training to quit. Airhart's pitch is a vertically integrated, intuitive interface meant to make flying as approachable as driving — president Nate Thuli says the system "comes to life" only once a pilot actually flies it.
Pro Tips from ForeFlight Power Users Training: Emergency Glide (1 minute read)
iPad Pilot News's "Pro Tips" video series spotlights a lesson from the ForeFlight Power Users Training course covering ForeFlight's Emergency Glide Mode, which automatically computes a wind-corrected glide range, highlights reachable airports, and flags potential off-airport landing sites during an engine-out. The short walkthrough shows how the feature trims decision-making workload in a high-stress moment, and points to the broader course — more than five hours covering advanced flight planning, IFR procedures, weight and balance, performance calculations, and Logbook — available on the Sporty's Pilot Training app for $75.
