fDeck: Graphically beautiful flight instruments

Change Log

VERSION NEXT

Release date

Expected Q1 2021

Release type

Major

Release overview

I am really excited to make this release available to you - it is the culmination of hundreds of hours of new work, enhancements and changes based upon feedback from people like you. I really hope you enjoy it. It does contain some breaking changes. As I have changed the underlying database engine, any previously stored custom stations will be lost.

Release highlights

New Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) instrument

This is loosely based on the Garmin G5 and includes both a Primary Flight display (PFD) and an Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI). You are able to quickly toggle between the PFD and HSI view using the quick toggle button. This is an extrememly complex instrument and has taken far more time to build than I expected. The entire instrument is rendered using vector graphics (not images) so it will remain pixel-perfect crisp and clear on every device - no matter how big or small. I would appreciate any feedback and ideas to enhance both of these intstruments.

New X-Plane connector

You can connect your X-Plane flight simulator to fDeck! Practice using fDeck 'in-flight', or use fDeck as permanent 'external' flight deck for X-Plane - the way you use it is only limited by your imagination! fDeck even sends commands to X-Plane to tune nav1/nav2/adf1 and synchronise OBS settings!
I must admit that I built the plugin to enable me to better test fDeck without having to go flying - which is a great excuse I know, but prohibitively expensive! More details can be found on our website, including instructions on how to download and install the plugin.

New layout engine

The layout engine has been completely rewritten from scratch. Following feedback from my amazing users I have simplified the layout to make it far easier to use whilst flying. Gone is the slightly awkward and problematic pan/zoom canvas. Instead there is now two modes, ‘Grid’ and ‘Swipe’. The app defaults to Grid on tablets and Swipe on all other devices. Try each layout out and see which you prefer on your device. You can switch layouts in the app settings. In addition to the new layout modes, a ‘double-click’ interface has been added to each instrument. Double clicking on any instrument will immediately make it fullscreen. Double clicking on it again will return you to the flight deck grid/swipe layout.

Other changes

Navigation database

now includes complete coverage of US and Canada (previously airports only)
database now updated on a monthly cycle
station list now colour codes stations that are currently tuned
added a ‘detune’ button
all stations now have a valid ident

Map

map now depicts to/from radials as set by the any tuned instruments OBS
aviation overlays enhanced with US sectionals and IFR enroute low-altitude charts

HSI

added option to select the heading source (Auto/GPS/Mag)

VOR

corrected bug whereby the OBS needle sometimes acted in reverse!
enhanced responsiveness of the OBS/needle operation

ADF

added option to select the heading source (Auto/GPS/Mag)
reversed arrangement of time to station and distance-to-go to match VOR

Altimeter

fixed numerous bugs around the altitude source
the altimeter knob is now a button and cycles between GPS/STD and baro referenced altitude

VSI

fixed numerous bugs around the vertical speed source
option added to select units of vertical speed - ft/min or m/min

Compass

added option to select the heading source (Auto/GPS/Mag)
corrected heading bug functionality to rotate with card

Attitude Indicator

no functional changes

Weather

no functional changes

Changes affecting all instruments

enhanced animations - visual effects smoother and utilise less CPU overhead/power
application settings page has been grouped and a number of additional options added
buttons on each instrument have been made bigger for fat fingers/turbulent environments

Other work/bug fixes

fixed time to station units to show correct time to station
rework of location sub-system to be more reliable on app suspend/resume (esp. on Android)
internal database sub-system simplified - no longer using a cloud db - everything is local
stability improvements across the entire application (esp. on Android)
performance improvements across the entire application
may other minor bug fixes too numerous to detail

Click for details

VERSION 1.0.38