Foreflight to IFD

I'm sure this has been discussed, but I can't separate the signal from the noise.  There is a lot of discussion here about Stratus wifi signals, and I don't have one.

I have release 10.2 in my IFD and I have Foreflight 9.2.1 in my ipad.

I created a local flight plan (at home) in Foreflight that started out as a simple airport-to-airport path, but then I built in a bunch of twists and turns using the rubber-band feature.  I ended up with maybe a dozen lat/long waypoints for my flight.  My hope was to "push" this plan to the IFD without needing to program any of it.

When I got the airplane started, and the IFD booted up, I put the ipad on the LIO wifi signal.  I pressed the PANEL button in Foreflight and the only option was "Load From Panel" (which is the function that brings the IFD plan into Foreflight, not the way I wanted it to go).

There was no "Send to Panel" button presented.

Any clues?

Does the "Send to Panel" function not work if the flight plan includes random (lat/long) waypoints?
Do the ipad and IFD have to be on the same database cycle?  (I think the IFD data was three days expired.)
Are there other must-set parameters in the ipad?

David Bunin

oskrypuch wrote: The database cycle could be an issue, that configuration should work.

Simpson, does the IFD database need to be current for the unit to accept a flight plan from a wireless device?

My experience has been the same. Have to wait a bit then both 'Load From' and 'Send To' buttons are visible in FF.

Another question: if I modify an active flight plan in FF, what's the easiest way to get the changes to be reflected in the active plan on the IFD?

210 Driver wrote: I just waited another 3-4 minutes and tried again, and then the option to upload to panel was available. It's happened to me two or three times now, and all I did was wait and try it again.

Hmm.  Okay, then maybe this isn't a feature that is well suited to my operation.

I normally turn on my avionics after engine start (once the engine is in a stable idle) and then I program the FMS before I taxi the airplane.  This also gives time for the engine oil to warm up before power is increased for taxi, and also gives the GPS time to lock on with the airplane stationary.

If the solution is to wait minutes for the link, and program the FMS at the runup pad, I am less impressed with the feature.

+++++++++++

By the way, the push did work on my next flight which only had a departure and destination.  So possibly the random lat/lon points were still part of the problem last time.

David Bunin

I tend to agree.  The only instance where I really thought the upload would be helpful was when I "drew" my flight on the ipad as a series of random points.  And of course that's when it didn't work.

I suppose I could achieve the same thing by drawing it again in the IFD with the rubber band function.  While the engine is running, and it's 98 degrees outside, and my main passenger is glaring at me and unhappy.

Hmmm.