Canyon Sport Flyers: Flightstar II SC iPad Installation

I have done a couple of cross country trips with my iPad with the addition of the Bad Elf GPS and WingX Pro GPS software. I found it very user friendly and accurate. Living on the border of the NY and Detroit Sectional, the moving map stitches them together. The wind data and ability to add your CAS gives you pretty good data for a VFR flight without all the paper floating around you. There is an auto update of not only the sectionals but the AFD as well. There are also aerial photos of airports. It is a pretty powerful tool, even if your aircraft of choice is something like a Flightstar II. Below are some photos of how I attached the iPad to my Flightstar panel. It is a little tight but with one bolt I can remove it if I am flying with a large passenger in a local flight. Part of the beauty of owning and Experimental Light Sport is the fact that you can do things like this.

In the center of the panel a pedestal mount for a hand held GPS was removed to make room for the iPad. A template was created and 4 holes predrilled for the new mounting assembly.

The actual panel mount is a heavy duty, but light, aluminum mount that was used to attach to a tube on my powered parachute for a ICOM A-4 radio mount. It was secured to the Flightstar panel with 4 machine screws with nylock nuts. There are 2 small panels hanging below the attachment point that allow for angle adjustment and iPad aluminum panel mounting panel.

I purchased a rigid piece of sheet aluminum from Lowe's. I cut it down to a size just a bit larger than the iPad. I rounded the corners and deburred the edges. I then painted it a color similar to the panel and used 4 machine screws to attach the aluminum to the mount. The black material is a high quality Velcro purchased from Bear Perkins Powered Parachutes http://www.bearperkins.com/ The velcro will attach the iPad holder to the mounting assembly.

The iPad holder was chopped from a knee board purchased from Sportys. http://www.sportys.com/ Yes, I said chopped, but the design of the iPad knee board was too bulky for the confines of a Flightstar cockpit. It was secured to the mount by the velcro and is very secure and easily removable.