iPad altitude limit

[Jason Bourne]

It's a BS legal department boiler plate disclaimer. I have had my 'pad up to 17,500 ft in an unpressurized airplane and used it up there with no problems. I wouldn't bring a spinning HD device up there, but solid state electronics are fine.

The legal department has to have something to do though, right?

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

The plane may be at 30,000+ feet but the fuselage is typically pressurised to ~8000 feet if I recall correctly.

If they didn't pressurise the plane everyone would die.

You got the first part right. But planes are pressured for comfort, not for survival. You could survive just fine at 30,000 feet, as long as you had oxygen.

 

[sammich]

You got the first part right. But planes are pressured for comfort, not for survival. You could survive just fine at 30,000 feet, as long as you had oxygen.

Right. You could be fine in space, as long as you had a suit.

 

[gtvyt]

My MBP didn't

I didn't think about this until it was too late but, I fly an
airplane that has an unpressurized external baggage compartment and took
my pad to 45,ooo ft.
Ooops
it is heated so it didn't have to suffer the temp changes, but it's still working fine after that little trip so I'd have to say don't worry about it.

Don't plan on doing that regularly tho.

BTW my MBP survived many trips out there as well.

My MBP didn't! now the guy (or the god of lost baggage) who took my luggage 3 years ago enjoy my MBP and dirty underwear....

ALWAYS take your valuables with you to the cabin!!

 

[topmounter]

I guess I need to put a sign up on the road up to Mt. Evans near my place... "Warning: iPads may explode beyond this point!".

 

[jamone13]

Right. You could be fine in space, as long as you had a suit.

That's an entirely different matter. A suit provides oxygen also, but more importantly a space suit maintains body pressure. Without it in space your body will expand quite dramatically. I recall a story where a pilot bailed out without a suit a > 50,000 ft, and said his stomach bloated so much he looked pregnant.

It is entirely possible to fly up to around 30,000 ft with just a oxygen mask, and no suit.

 

[poloponies]

That's an entirely different matter. A suit provides oxygen also, but more importantly a space suit maintains body pressure. Without it in space your body will expand quite dramatically. I recall a story where a pilot bailed out without a suit a > 50,000 ft, and said his stomach bloated so much he looked pregnant.

It is entirely possible to fly up to around 30,000 ft with just a oxygen mask, and no suit.

Pressurized oxygen, yes. The drop-down-masks in airplanes, no. And you really need to be trained if you're going to do it for any extended period. There are a bunch of wheel-well stowaway stories - most with pretty bad endings. As for whether the ones who survived suffered any permanent brain injury from insufficient oxyge, the fact that they stowed away in a wheel well is pretty good evidence of limited brain function in the first place.

 

[ThatsMeRight]

That's an entirely different matter. A suit provides oxygen also, but more importantly a space suit maintains body pressure. Without it in space your body will expand quite dramatically. I recall a story where a pilot bailed out without a suit a > 50,000 ft, and said his stomach bloated so much he looked pregnant.

It is entirely possible to fly up to around 30,000 ft with just a oxygen mask, and no suit.

I wonder what would happen with your 'sensitive area'

 

[astopy]

No, of course not.... as long as you stay substantially lower than the orbit of the 24 GPS satellites. But even then you would get accurate position information, just the altitude information would be inaccurate. (But how frequently are you wandering around in space? )

Actually, not quite true. From Wikipedia:

The U.S. Government controls the export of some civilian receivers. All GPS receivers capable of functioning above 18 km (60,000 ft) altitude and 515 m/s (1,000 knots) are classified as munitions (weapons) for which U.S. State Department export licenses are required. These parameters are clearly chosen to prevent use of a receiver in a ballistic missile. It would not prevent use in a cruise missile since their altitudes and speeds are similar to those of ordinary aircraft.

Wouldn't affect the iPad on a plane though, obviously.

 

[darngooddesign]

Every so often a thread like this pops up. I can't believe that Apple is going to have to amend their spec sheet to cover this misconception.

*shakes head*

 

[Runt888]

My MBP didn't! now the guy (or the god of lost baggage) who took my luggage 3 years ago enjoy my MBP and dirty underwear....

ALWAYS take your valuables with you to the cabin!!

I'm assuming he wasn't talking about a commercial airplane (which have pressurized baggage compartments).

 

[Fry-man22]

Gotta stay lower than the towers or it will get confused.

This post is almost as bad as the original question. You know GPS uses satellites not towers, right? I guess you are halfway correct - as another poster mentioned you would indeed need to be below the satellites orbiting the planet...

 

[astopy]

This post is almost as bad as the original question. You know GPS uses satellites not towers, right? I guess you are halfway correct - as another poster mentioned you would indeed need to be below the satellites orbiting the planet...

iPhones and iPads (and other phones, mobile devices, etc.) use assisted GPS, meaning they use cell towers in combination with the GPS satellites -- hence there being no GPS on iPod Touch and iPad Wifi. I'm assuming that's what Sydde meant.

 

[kdarling]

Anyone know if the gps has an altitude limit in the iPad?

Would have to look up the specs for that particular chipset.

Of course, all civilian GPS units are supposed to have display limits of either 60,000 feet or 999 knots.

(If you think about the various possible evil uses of an off-the-shelf GPS, you'll understand why.)

iPhones and iPads (and other phones, mobile devices, etc.) use assisted GPS, meaning they use cell towers in combination with the GPS satellites -- hence there being no GPS on iPod Touch and iPad Wifi. I'm assuming that's what Sydde meant.

A-GPS does not mean using cell towers in combination with GPS. That would be called a hybrid positioning setup, or possibly a fallback system when GPS is missing.

A-GPS calculates location and movement only from satellites. That's why it has "GPS" in the name. The "A" in this case is getting assistance in the form of initial satellite information from a server on the internet.

 

[KHZahorsky]

iPAD + 10.000ft altitude limitation, tested to 17.000ft

Would have to look up the specs for that particular chipset.

Of course, all civilian GPS units are supposed to have display limits of either 60,000 feet or 999 knots.

Yesterday I have tested ForeFlight on my new iPAD in my Mooney 252 up to 17.000 ft and everything worked fine. Apple had posted the iPAD would only work up to 10.000ft.

I suspect this limitation comes from the limitation for hard disks that work only up to 10.000ft because of the thin air. Because of that limitation, I had already modified a Sony Vajo 8 years ago with an SSD, so I could use Jepperson FlightMap IFR during my long flights at 25.000 ft.

The iPad with ForeFlight seems the ideal set for aviation.

While others suspected the temperature would rise with alititude, I also measured the temperature which was stable during that 1 hour flight.

I am in the process to prepare a video for YouTube with my findings, as many pilots are interested to use the iPad also in non-pressurized aircraft at higher altitudes.

Karl-Heinz Zahorsky
Commercial Pilot, MEI
N228RM
Sarasota, Florida

 

[pfft]

You got the first part right. But planes are pressured for comfort, not for survival. You could survive just fine at 30,000 feet, as long as you had oxygen.

Right. You could be fine in space, as long as you had a suit.

 

[rdrr]

You also have to consider the temperature as well. Non operating temp is -4 to 113 degrees F, and I believe that at 30000 ft the temp is around -30 degrees F.

 

[topmounter]

Looks close enough and you'll find that most electronics equipment have similar environmental parameters in their specifications. It's not that they won't work outside of those parameters, it's that they aren't designed to work or tested outside of those parameters.

 

[Shotgun15e]

iPhone 4 and iPad 3G flown to 17,500 ft

Flew a bunch of GPS type gadjets up to 17,500 ft today in an unpressurized airplane. Included in the bunch were the new iPhone 4, the iPad 3G w/ GPS, the older iPhone 3GS and a Wifi only iPad. All worked fine with no issues.

GPS in all devices worked fine at all altitudes and was very accurate compared to both a Garmin 430W and a 496.

One of the guys I took up has a blog and will post video of all the tests ran if anyone is interested.

v/r.

SG

 

[topmounter]

The GPS on my iPhone works fine when I don't have any cell signal... granted I can't download the map, but I can set a pin and look at the pin's location on the map later when I do have signal.

 

[DisneyRicky]

Just don't take your iPad to the top of Mount Everest

The coldness of the mountain would make it die before the altitude does.

 

[oakrrl]

iPad at altitude -- NO WORRY!

I just came back from Himalayas, used iPad at 5600 meters (about 18,000 feet) for about a week at a time -- no problem.

(Of course, it's cold up there, and that does affect battery life, so bring a backup battery solution. I used an iSound 16,000 mAh, and it had enough to recharge the iPad twice).

 

[ratzzo]

I just came back from Himalayas, used iPad at 5600 meters (about 18,000 feet) for about a week at a time -- no problem.

(Of course, it's cold up there, and that does affect battery life, so bring a backup battery solution. I used an iSound 16,000 mAh, and it had enough to recharge the iPad twice).

That's remarkable! I would never imagine taking my iPad that high up, lol

 

[poloponies]

I just came back from Himalayas, used iPad at 5600 meters (about 18,000 feet) for about a week at a time -- no problem.

(Of course, it's cold up there, and that does affect battery life, so bring a backup battery solution. I used an iSound 16,000 mAh, and it had enough to recharge the iPad twice).

Unlimited juice:

http://www.solarjoos.com/

 

[4DThinker]

At least one airline is issuing iPads to their pilots. They keep all the necessary flight manuals and such in PDF form on the iPad, and the iPad is far lighter than the flight bag it replaces.

Knowing Apple though, they would surely refuse to repair your iPad for any reason if they knew you had take yours past 10,000ft.