At the Wings of Carolina Flying Club we have numerous talented and dedicated members who volunteer their time and energy adding value to the club. One of those dedicated individuals is Ken Williams who has undertaken the tedious job of digitally scanning all the manuals for our aircraft. This includes the POHs as well as the manuals for the equipment installed in our aircraft. This is an amazingly valuable service he performs for our membership.

Some time ago Ken and I collaborated on the creation of a website to make those scanned documents more readily available to the members. This website includes the ability to download each and every document as a digital archive.

Recent research seems to imply that having a digital version of critical documents, like the POH for the aircraft, is an adequate substitute for having the paper copy. To read the information from the FAA for yourself you can look at AC 120-76B and AC 91-78. While the discussion in these ACs center around the use of EFBs, there is some sense that additional/auxiliary applications are a legitimate part of the overall EFB solution. This suggests that applications like those discussed below fall under the umbrella covered by these ACs. As always, it is up to the PIC to determine for themselves appropriate applicability.

This article discussed one technique for transferring that archive to your iPad.

Archive Organization

The archive is organized such that if you have it un-Zipped on your local machine there is an HTML file that looks much like the display on the website. All you do is point your browser at the 'index.html' file in the un-Zipped directory, and it will let you navigate the documents as you do on the website.

The directory structure looks like the following :

.
├── index.html
├── img
│   ├── checkmark.png
│   ├── unchecked.png
│   └── WCFC-logo.jpg
└── data
    ├── Audio_Panels
    │   ├── Bendix-King_KMA_24.pdf
    │   :
    ├── AutoPilots
    │   ├── Bendix-King_KAP_140.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Cessna_152
    │   ├── N4640B_POH.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Cessna_172
    │   ├── N53587_POH.pdf
    │   :
    ├── DMEs
    │   └── Bendix-King_KN_64.pdf
    ├── Engine_Monitors
    │   ├── EI_CGR-30P.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Fuel_Totalizers
    │   ├── JPI_Fuel_Scan_450.pdf
    │   :
    ├── GPSs
    │   ├── Garmin_GTN_650Xi.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Intercoms
    │   ├── Intercom_in_GNC_255.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Mooney_M20J
    │   ├── Generic_Mooney_POH.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Nav_Coms
    │   ├── Bendix-King_KX_155A.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Other
    │   ├── Bendix-King_KMD_550_Multi-Function_Display.pdf
    │   :
    ├── Transponders
    │   ├── Appareo_Stratus.pdf
    │   :
    └── Warrior
        ├── Generic_Warrior_POH.pdf
        :

There are a number of top-level items in the directory structure. Obviously, one of them is the 'index.html' file. Then there is an 'img' directory that holds a few useful images for the HTML page. Finally there is the 'data' sub-directory that holds all the PDFs.

The 'data' directory tree is organized into aircraft (where the POHs are stored) and a number of equipment type sub-directories (i.e. Intercoms, Transponders, Nav/Coms, GPSs, and other equipment types). Each of these PDFs is given a reasonable human readable name.

This directory structure is designed for the user who will reference the manuals on their local computer. Some of the items in the downloaded archive are not needed on your iPad. All you need on your portable device is the 'data' directory tree.

Make a Local Copy

The first step is to make a local copy of the archive directory tree. You use the archive download link at the bottom of the 'equipment' page to pull the ZIP file down to your local machine.

When I say "local machine", I actually mean a DropBox folder that you can access via your local machine. DropBox is a shared network file system service that has a free service level. It is extremely popular and has support for numerous platforms.

My strategy is to download the ZIP file and then unZip it on a DropBox directory. I then rename the 'data' directory to 'WCFC Manuals'. You can then navigate to that directory on DropBox using the build-in capability in your PDF reader application on your iPad.

Documents Application

One of the more popular PDF reader applications is one called Documents from Readdle Technologies Limited. It is available from the Apple App Store. This is available as a free version which has all the capabilities needed to display all the club’s documents.

Once there, I can download that entire directory to a desired target location with the Move feature. Click on the three dots to the right of the 'WCFC Manuals' line and select move. Navigate to where you want that directory downloaded, and kick off the download. Once the download is completed you’ll have all the manuals on your iPad.

NOTE

You may be fooled into thinking that you can download the ZIP archive directly into Documents. It is true that the app has the ability to un-ZIP archive files. The problem is that the Slack authentication fails when using the internal browser in Document with a complaint that the browser is not supported. I have no idea if a similar problems exists with GoodReader, but am interested in finding out if you happen to have that application on your iPad.

Goodreader Application

Another extremely popular file management application is GoodReader from Good.iWare. Unlike Documents this is not a free app, but it is extremely capable and is actually quite inexpensive. While I don’t have that application myself, my reading of the website indicates that it also has a DropBox connectivity capability, and a similar strategy can be employed as described above to bring all the files onto your iPad.

ForeFlight Application

The obvious place to stash the downloaded documents is in the "Documents" section of ForeFlight. As it happens, ForeFlight does have the ability to connect to your DropBox service as well. At this time I see no mechanism for downloading an entire directory tree into the "Documents" section, but you can easily download individual PDF files.

Prepare your download directory tree as described above, then go into the "Documents" section of ForeFlight. Click on the plus button, and it will give you various options. Select "Files" and then select DropBox. Navigate to the location where you downloaded and un-Zipped the archive. Navigate to the individual directories which have the files you wish to download.

Once there tap on the three dots (in a little circle) at the top of the dialog and pick the "Select" option. This will give you either a list or grid (your choice) of documents to select. Tap on the ones to download, and then click on "Open". They will be downloaded into your "Imported" area in the "Documents" section of ForeFlight

I have a request in regarding a way to download directory trees, but have yet to get a response. I’ll update this article when a response is given. I’m not holding my breath, though.

Can we make it easier?

If we didn’t require members to authenticate to the server we could very easily set up a service which would more easily allow you to sync the files with your device. However, since the decision has been made to do at least some minimal gate-keeping to help ensure that only club members access these documents, the manual steps above are currently required.

Please contact Dwight Frye if you have any issues or problems with these instructions.