Kittyhawk App makes notification a snap?

Apocalypso · Mar 22, 2017

I haven't seen much on the Kittyhawk App. I just downloaded it to my iPhone tonight, and it not only shows any airports around your location, but indicates which of them will accept digital notification of your intended flight area and/or has a direct link to call them.

At my house, 4 small airports are shown. I can save a flight plan, and one of the options would be to issue those digital notifications to all 4 small airports. (This requires logging into Airmap also, easily done once in the app.) Together, apparently this also allows the airport to text you with any issues or communications should they need to. (Interesting side note, like most I run my iPhone in airplane mode so i DON'T get calls or texts when I'm flying with it connected to the RC.)

Is this too good to be true? Seems like in the case I cite above, I wouldn't need to call anyone, just file the flight and fly. It looks like major airports don't accept digital notice, requiring a call, but I would expect that.

Thoughts? Experience with it? Tips and tricks?

aesculus · Mar 23, 2017

I'm curious about this as well. It gives the impression that if you start the flight log, it will notify airports on your behalf. Does this mean it will notify any airports you are within the shaded radius of at take off, or does it mean it will notify an airport if you fly into their radius, or what? You're right; it does seem too good to be true.

Cyberpower678 · Mar 23, 2017

I'm interested here too.

Hollajandro · Mar 23, 2017

Airmap has this feature, but I am pretty sure it is just a feature of Airmap and not some official channel. I would probably contact those it lists as being able to digitally notify and ask them if they take digital notification through the app the first time around just to make sure. I live near PDX and submitting a digital notification to them when I launch from my home gets me a text message saying I am too close to the airport to send a digital notification and I need to call the tower.

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

Apocalypso said:
I haven't seen much on the Kittyhawk App. I just downloaded it to my iPhone tonight, and it not only shows any airports around your location, but indicates which of them will accept digital notification of your intended flight area and/or has a direct link to call them.

At my house, 4 small airports are shown. I can save a flight plan, and one of the options would be to issue those digital notifications to all 4 small airports. (This requires logging into Airmap also, easily done once in the app.) Together, apparently this also allows the airport to text you with any issues or communications should they need to. (Interesting side note, like most I run my iPhone in airplane mode so i DON'T get calls or texts when I'm flying with it connected to the RC.)

Is this too good to be true? Seems like in the case I cite above, I wouldn't need to call anyone, just file the flight and fly. It looks like major airports don't accept digital notice, requiring a call, but I would expect that.

Thoughts? Experience with it? Tips and tricks?

Bigger airports are coming online, eg LAX. Plus cities and schools as well.

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

aesculus said:
I'm curious about this as well. It gives the impression that if you start the flight log, it will notify airports on your behalf. Does this mean it will notify any airports you are within the shaded radius of at take off, or does it mean it will notify an airport if you fly into their radius, or what? You're right; it does seem too good to be true.

Right now it just notifies participating airports. Real time fanciness is coming very soon.

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

Hollajandro said:
Airmap has this feature, but I am pretty sure it is just a feature of Airmap and not some official channel. I would probably contact those it lists as being able to digitally notify and ask them if they take digital notification through the app the first time around just to make sure. I live near PDX and submitting a digital notification to them when I launch from my home gets me a text message saying I am too close to the airport to send a digital notification and I need to call the tower.

We have an integration with AirMap, and send digital notice via AirMap. In our next update to Kittyhawk we'll have some cool new features to announce in this area

Apocalypso · Mar 23, 2017

Well I contacted Kittyhawk directly. And gave them a link to this forum post, as you can now see above.

Here's what they said:

"When you create a live flight, we send digital notice to participating organizations. So you don't need to call them. We presume 400 ft. max altitude. (and soon we'll be sending real time telemetry, so stay tuned)"

I asked about the airport(s) being able to text me if they have questions and what was sent - is it just the location entered or any kind of flight plan info. possible....

"That's right. They'll text. We assume a general flight so as not to burden you with a lot of input, but if your flight plan warrants, best to still call if you're going above 400 ft., for example"

So this is great news, with the potential to reduce the hassle of calling every dinky airport "in play". As the previous poster and kittyhawk suggests, in some cases you'll still have to call, but man, this has potential!

This is the way it should work for small heliports, unmanned, etc., I'm stunned this capability exists.

Cyberpower678 · Mar 23, 2017

Kittyhawk said:
Bigger airports are coming online, eg LAX. Plus cities and schools as well.

Are you the Kittyhawk app developer?

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

Cyberpower678 said:
Are you the Kittyhawk app developer?

Yup. I'm the CEO & Co-Founder. I don't do as much coding as I used to, but still push new app code just about every day

Is there anything I can help you with?

Cyberpower678 · Mar 23, 2017

Kittyhawk said:
Yup. I'm the CEO & Co-Founder. I don't do as much coding as I used to, but still push new app code just about every day

Is there anything I can help you with?

Discount on Premium features?

Can you explain this app to me?

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

Cyberpower678 said:
Discount on Premium features?

Can you explain this app to me?

Hi. Thanks for the questions.

Regarding discounts, a) you can use the code INSIDE for a free month trial and b) if you pay annual it equates to two months free, so about a 20% discount

Regarding the app -- and the Kittyhawk.io platform as a whole -- we think about the state of the operation and spend a lot of time thinking about pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight. Whether you're using the app in the field or using the web back at headquarters, we want you to have the right data and best information for the situation.

For example, when you're getting ready to fly, we've spent a lot of time on the app to deliver excellent real-time and forecast weather and airspace advisory information so you can plan and operate your mission in great conditions with no surprises.

We're also a big fan of checklists, and have enabled the pilots in the Kittyhawk community to share their best practices around checklists. You can see all of the published checklists on our site and quickly add them to your account (where you can then edit or tweak them for your particular use).

Drone Checklists Perfect for Any Operation | Kittyhawk

For in-flight, we have some pretty cool stuff in the works, so I'll leave that one for now...

When it comes to post-flight, we've made logging as seamless as possible, and recently rolled out DJI Sync into our iOS app (already in website as well) where you can pull in super detailed logs directly from DJI Go.

Hope that helps. If that spurs other questions or ideas, please let me know. We love this stuff and this kind of dialog helps the platform moving forward to serve the needs of our pilots

capt._dan · Mar 23, 2017

Kittyhawk said:
Hi. Thanks for the questions.

Regarding discounts, a) you can use the code INSIDE for a free month trial and b) if you pay annual it equates to two months free, so about a 20% discount

Regarding the app -- and the Kittyhawk.io platform as a whole -- we think about the state of the operation and spend a lot of time thinking about pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight. Whether you're using the app in the field or using the web back at headquarters, we want you to have the right data and best information for the situation.

For example, when you're getting ready to fly, we've spent a lot of time on the app to deliver excellent real-time and forecast weather and airspace advisory information so you can plan and operate your mission in great conditions with no surprises.

We're also a big fan of checklists, and have enabled the pilots in the Kittyhawk community to share their best practices around checklists. You can see all of the published checklists on our site and quickly add them to your account (where you can then edit or tweak them for your particular use).

Drone Checklists Perfect for Any Operation | Kittyhawk

For in-flight, we have some pretty cool stuff in the works, so I'll leave that one for now...

When it comes to post-flight, we've made logging as seamless as possible, and recently rolled out DJI Sync into our iOS app (already in website as well) where you can pull in super detailed logs directly from DJI Go.

Hope that helps. If that spurs other questions or ideas, please let me know. We love this stuff and this kind of dialog helps the platform moving forward to serve the needs of our pilots

Android?

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

capt._dan said:
Android?

We're on Android as well :

Some of the new features to iOS (like DJI Sync) are not yet in Android, but coming soon. All of your activity, logging capabilities, and fleet information, plus the preflight weather and airspace, are all part of the core Android experience.

Yoshizakura · Mar 23, 2017

Any chance of an in depth YouTube video of how exactly to use the app please? I've connected it with my dji account and my AirMap app but. Or flown yet. I'd like to know how to use it correctly before flight.

Cyberpower678 · Mar 23, 2017

Kittyhawk said:
Hi. Thanks for the questions.

Regarding discounts, a) you can use the code INSIDE for a free month trial and b) if you pay annual it equates to two months free, so about a 20% discount

Regarding the app -- and the Kittyhawk.io platform as a whole -- we think about the state of the operation and spend a lot of time thinking about pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight. Whether you're using the app in the field or using the web back at headquarters, we want you to have the right data and best information for the situation.

For example, when you're getting ready to fly, we've spent a lot of time on the app to deliver excellent real-time and forecast weather and airspace advisory information so you can plan and operate your mission in great conditions with no surprises.

We're also a big fan of checklists, and have enabled the pilots in the Kittyhawk community to share their best practices around checklists. You can see all of the published checklists on our site and quickly add them to your account (where you can then edit or tweak them for your particular use).

Drone Checklists Perfect for Any Operation | Kittyhawk

For in-flight, we have some pretty cool stuff in the works, so I'll leave that one for now...

When it comes to post-flight, we've made logging as seamless as possible, and recently rolled out DJI Sync into our iOS app (already in website as well) where you can pull in super detailed logs directly from DJI Go.

Hope that helps. If that spurs other questions or ideas, please let me know. We love this stuff and this kind of dialog helps the platform moving forward to serve the needs of our pilots

What about notifying ATC with digital notifications? How does that work, and how does one use it?

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

Yoshizakura said:
Any chance of an in depth YouTube video of how exactly to use the app please? I've connected it with my dji account and my AirMap app but. Or flown yet. I'd like to know how to use it correctly before flight.

Thanks for the suggestion. Videos are coming (my co-founder is working on a whole series : ).

In the mean time, I'd suggest just downloading and poking around. I think (hope) you'll find our design super usable and friendly.

Birdman5280 · Mar 23, 2017

Love the free portion of the app. Really nice. Wish I could fly more to make the $9 a month worth it.

Kittyhawk · Mar 23, 2017

Cyberpower678 said:
What about notifying ATC with digital notifications? How does that work, and how does one use it?

Attached is a screen shot for reference.

Within our airspace screen you can see a list of advisories near your location (a new feature coming out tomorrow is that we show the start / end times of a TFR

.

If we have a phone number for the advisory, the phone icon is green and if you tap the row, you can contact them directly.

If the entity accepts digital notice (which UCSF Heliport does in this example), if you create a live flight from within Kittyhawk, we'll send digital notice and contact ATC on your behalf.