Last Saturday I had a last minute to fly to Atlanta. I have made this trip many times before and it’s only an hour flight, so it’s not an insane trip. I had to fly to Falcon Field (KFFC) for a quick stop and then over to Peachtree Dekalb (KPDK), which is on the other side of Atlanta. The weather was scattered clouds, so there was a little IMC, and it was mainly VMC for most of the flight. I filed my IFR flight plan on the iPad and then did my preflight and jumped into the plane. I tuned in the G430s, checked the ATIS, picked up my clearance and departed. As I was climbing out I then realized that I forgot to put the iPad in the plane and had left it in the car! CRAP!!! This was the first time I had done that and at that point felt very lost since I no longer had that quick ability to use my iPad to reference airport diagrams, NOTAMS, or my IFR Low Charts. It was amazing how reliant I had become on that iPad. Luckily for me I had my paper charts in the plane, so I was legal, but it’s just not the same as the iPad. The Cirrus has pretty much all the data a pilot could ever need, so it’s not like I was in any danger, but the point is that I had become so accustomed to having Foreflight at my fingertips, that it really through me for a loop. For trips to Atlanta, it’s pretty much GPS direct and vectors to the ILS. Now if this had been a trip to the north east around New York, Philadelphia or Washington DC area, it would have been a totally different story and I would have turned back! I love my iPad and it really has changed flying, but I guess I need to work on my preflight a bit to ensure I don’t do that again. Maybe the new iPad Mini I purchased will help me to not forget it! ;-)
