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SimPlates app for iPhone and iPad


4.2 ( 9472 ratings )
Lifestyle Entertainment
Developer: Dauntless Software
49.99 USD
Current version: 12.2.5, last update: 1 year ago
First release : 13 Mar 2012
App size: 119.49 Mb

SimPlates brings you the world’s largest collection of real-world IFR approach (and other) charts for the serious flight simulation enthusiast to your fingertips! SimPlates is not a flight simulator program in and of itself, but can be used as a companion on your iPhone and/or iPad concurrently with your enjoyment of your preferred computerized desktop flight simulation program to help expand the realism and excitement of the experience. SimPlates has been called "a must have for the serious flight simulator enthusiast" and "a great addition to your flight sim bag" by major flight simulation websites in independent reviews.

++THE VERSION NOW AVAILABLE HERE IS OF THE NEW SIMPLATES ULTRA version which is a great leap forward in terms of plate coverage to the previous generation of SimPlates and has an improved user experience. The app looks and works great! Thank you all for the great feedback and kind words about SimPlates on simulator forums. Were glad youre enjoying the massive number of plates (way more than any other sim product has - including expensive subscription based services) and we continue to update the plate database further with more plates still. Happy simming!+++

The basic way that you use SimPlates is just like pilots from those flying small Cessnas to those flying the largest Boeing and Airbus airliners do every day. As you virtually approach an airport on your computer, bring up its corresponding plates in the SimPlates app. Use the plate as a guide in flying the approach to landing - just like a real world pilot would. SimPlates is useful for virtual pilots of many desktop flight simulation programs, including Flight Simulator (all versions including FSX, FS2004, and MS-Flight), X-Plane, and more.

While SimPlates are real-world plates, they are NOT SUITABLE FOR REAL WORLD FLIGHT OPERATIONS and MUST NOT BE USED FOR REAL WORLD FLIGHT OPERATIONS OF ANY SORT, PERIOD. As SimPlates is intended for flight simulation entertainment use, the plates are not kept up to date with real-world aviation changes (worldwide subscriptions for real-world current data cost thousands of dollars per year from other sources). However, for serious flight simulation entertainment use, the massive collection of plates represents incredible value and capability.

SimPlates includes over 70,000 real-world IFR plates, including approach plates, SIDs/STARs (Departures/Arrivals), Airport Diagrams, Approach types include ILS, VOR, VOR/DME, NDB, LLZ, SDF, GPS, TACAN, Helicopter and Visual. With so many plates, SimPlates provides very good worldwide coverage. For most countries and major airports of the world, if you are looking for a plates, SimPlates will likely have it. However, the coverage is not universal - please see http://www.dauntless-soft.com/products/simplates/airportlist.asp for the current list of inclusions and coverage notes. While most countries of most interest to simmers are quite up to date, a few are a bit older, such as AU/NZ due to provider issues.

Supplemental features include an integrated WORLDWIDE Airport/Facilities directory and a worldwide NAVAID (Navigational Aid) directory.

Simplates friendly interface makes it easy to find exactly the plate or information you are looking for quickly. As the totality of plates exceeds a whopping 100gb, the plates themselves are not included with your initial download from the AppStore. Rather, they are downloaded on demand when you select them in the app – this generally takes only a few moments per plate, but does require you to be online. Any plates you have downloaded into SimPlates remain on your device (unless cleared) so that you can continue to use them even while offline. While this works great - this might mean that OCCASIONALLY the server might be unavailable for short periods.

Thank you for checking us out and happy sim flying!

Pros and cons of SimPlates app for iPhone and iPad

SimPlates app good for

Despite some charts being old, imho this is stll the best chart program for the ipad. Most other ones cover only the US. Better old charts than no charts unless you are willing to pay big bucks.
Version 12.1.4 works again after bug in 12.1.2 and 12.1.3. It is again no. 1 in sim plates for iOS.

Some bad moments

Plates are way to old. MMMX from 1998. Do not buy this application.
Some of the data is quite aged. Additionally, there are constant server issues or the plates are not available even though they are shown as listed. Product support is poor to non existent.
In this day in age, pretty much every single plate for every airport in the world is available online for free. I was looking for an app that was a one stop shop to prevent me from having to go to a bunch of websites to get the required charts that I need. I guess I was expecting too much from a $40 app. This is where there should be a try before you buy feature. I read about the app before purchasing so I was expecting some of the charts to be dated (for countries that dons have the charts published online for free) but at least somewhat usable. I could never use this for flying online on VATSIM outside of the USA. For example, some of the Canadian Charts are from 2004. These charts have been available online for free for YEARS! All the SID/STAR in CYYZ went to all RNAV a few years ago. None of those are there, just the old procedures from 2010. There is no excuse for the links to these charts not being updated, especially for an app as expensive as this. The only charts that are current are the USA ones. There is an app for $2.99 on the app store that I previously used for that and is much better. There is no multiple tab option in the app so I have to back out of a chart to bring up the next one. This makes it a real pain for transitioning from a STAR to an Approach. Searching for a chart throuh the app is painfully slow even if you already have the chart downloaded. Save your money. Id delete this app off my ipad if it was free.
I bought this app after bring impressed with other Dauntless products. SimPlates has an absolute ton of plates. I use it with msfs. Note on my iPod touch I had to update the iOS version to make it work perfectly, but this was simple and I should have done it before anyway.
Quite a large collection of plates for simulator. Very useful for flying and practicing instrument approaches. App is easy to use, highly recommended!
This could be a nice app for flight simmers. Unfortunately this app is too expensive to have the problem related to server connection. On 10 occasions connecting to the server for airport info, IFR plates was unsuccessful This is obviously required because of the amount of information. When it works a lot of the data is good though not always up to date.. I am sorry to say this is not worth the money..