Relevant FARs? There's an app for that (soon)...

The Federal Aviation Regulations (also know as FAR's). This is the Bible of aviation, the rules under which we operate. This is where you'll find everything you want to know about pilots and airplanes in the United States. Ask questions. Get answers.

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Jack Tyler
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Relevant FARs? There's an app for that (soon)...

Post by Jack Tyler »

An industrious fellow has developed an edited draft of the FARs that is just for us, he's streamlined the text so it's more readable, and after some more proofing of the text he plans to publish this in the form of an app. Here's part of how he explains it:

"My copy of the FAR/AIM has 500 pages devoted to regulations. With that
much information, it can be difficult to separate out the important
information from the parts that don't apply to private pilots. As a
consequence, many pilots are not as familiar with the FARs as they
should be. FARs Condensed is a web page and app that aims to remedy that situation
by displaying only the parts that do apply to private pilots with links
that display the full text if more details are desired. For example,
when I was a student pilot, I cared about the rules that apply only to
students, but I don't care right now.

I also have no interest in rules specific to helicopters, balloons, and
airships. So I've hidden that information there if you need it, but
it can be easily skipped if it doesn't apply to you right now. I also hide information that is relevant to only a small subset of
pilots, e.g. special training for Mitsubishi MU-2B pilots and
regulations specific to Alaska. And does anyone ever care that if you
have a private or commercial pilot certificate issued before July 1,
1945 it will not be renewed?"

The first draft of the content is available at: http://touringmachine.com/FARs/
and comments would be appreciated. It has the complete content of the
relevant FARs. The only changes I made are to formatting, (so that the
sub-sections are easier to follow) and ellipses (...) to hide content
that I don't think private pilots would be interested in.

If you'd like to comment on my choices, you can send an email to
FARsCondensed at my company, LearningFundamentals.com."

John Scarry is the fellow who took this on. Try using the tabbed headings on the website and see what you think. Very cool, IMO.
Jack
Flying in/out KBZN, Bozeman MT in a Grumman Tiger
Do you fly for recreational purposes? Please visit http://www.theraf.org
jnmeade
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Re: Relevant FARs? There's an app for that (soon)...

Post by jnmeade »

I like this but......
I guess I like this. One of the mistakes people make when they read FARs is to search for some item of interest, go there and assume that the words apply to them. It is easy to find FARs that say something has to be done only to find out later that had one read the first paragraph, one would find it didn't apply. So, as long as that kind of applicability trail is available, my first reaction is to like it....with reservations.
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drseti
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Re: Relevant FARs? There's an app for that (soon)...

Post by drseti »

I know it would be a huge amount of work, but a customizable knowledge engine would be great. You enter in your class of aircraft and plot's license, along with the airspace you're flying in, search on a given topic, and the Expert System spits out just the FARs that are applicable in this particular case.

You can buy such a system already, but it's expensive. It's called an aviation lawyer. :(

Then, of course, there's Aviation Lawyer Lite - your local CFI. :wink:
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
AvSport.org
facebook.com/SportFlying
SportPilotExaminer.US
langj
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Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:23 pm

Re: Relevant FARs? There's an app for that (soon)...

Post by langj »

I downloaded the app ASA Far/Aim from the apple app store. It seems to already offer all the things you said. I can't remember how much I paid but it was between $5 and $10. It does not offer everything you want Paul.
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