For everyone who’s either pre-ordered a FlightBoxV3 or who is waiting for it to start shipping, here’s where things stand:
The Bad News
We’ve had to bump our shipping date again. We plan to start shipping this summer in time for Oshkosh. Here’s the explanation:
When we committed to the project we selected a radio module that handles the ADS-B reception. The vendor gave us a price and an expected shipping date. As it turned out, they had to adjust both of those rather dramatically. The new price would have either blown the price up for you or eliminated our margin entirely and the schedule slip would have pushed out delivery until late 2026. Rather than canceling the product we have opted to redesign with a different ADS-B receiver module of our own design. This allows us to build the product at a reasonable profit while having better control over costs and our supply chain. We have a candidate design and prototype units in hand and expect to be able to order production hardware in the next month.
All that said, we totally understand if you need to go a different direction. If you’ve pre-ordered and need a solution sooner, or if you’ve simply run out of patience with us, just email or call and we’ll issue a full refund immediately, no questions asked. We’re frustrated by the delay, and we completely understand your frustration.
The Good News
In the redesign process we’ve been able to add a couple of key features that make FlightBox v3 even better. We replaced the Ethernet port (which nobody really needed) with a SD card interface. With the SD card we can add flight logging and detailed map / chart data for the Web EFB.
Flight Logging
FlightBox will automatically record and store your 64 most recent flights in detail. The flight logs can be downloaded in several format including the popular CloudAhoy format used for post-flight debrief and review. We also support Google Earth KML and a generic CSV format that any spreadsheet or database can import. We’re also adding flight playback to our Web EFB so you can review the flight using any web browser.
Enhanced Web EFB
The SD card also gives us space to store all kinds of useful data including:
- Airport diagrams
- VFR Sectional charts
- IFR Low Enroute charts
- Water, Boundaries, and other geographic features
- Terrain use for the hill shade base layer and terrain warnings
- Obstacles
- IFR Procedure Charts
- IFR Procedure Vector Database
Without the SD card FlightBox can still load a map, but it’s just a basic display: an “ownship” icon, airport icons, traffic icons, the course line, and weather overlay. With the extra data from the SD card you get something much closer to the full EFB experience.
We know this has been a longer road than anyone wanted, we’re genuinely excited about what v3 has become, and we’ll keep you posted as we hit milestones toward shipping.
