October 1, 2009, Garmin has come out with My-Cast for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The core element of Pilot My-Cast is its robust aviation weather offerings. Pilot My-Cast’s newest weather feature is a METAR and TAF bubble map that displays current and predicted weather in a pictorial format.

This enhancement is in addition to the weather information already available such as NEXRAD Radar, METARs and TAFs displayed in text and graphic formats, panable weather maps, infrared and visible satellite loops, lightning data, SIGMETs, AIRMETs, PIREPs, NOTAMs, winds aloft and more. 

My-Cast by Garmin, a premier cell phone application that provides critical aviation weather data, flight planning and flight filing services to U.S. and Canadian based subscribers. Pilot My-Cast is already compatible with many popular phone models, such as BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, and is available from all major wireless carriers in the U.S. including AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, as well as Handmark® and Handango®.

Compared to other aviation-specific cell phone applications, Pilot My-Cast is unique because it receives aviation data directly from the foremost providers, such as the National Weather Service, Environment Canada, and Federal Aviation Administration. Because the data comes directly from prominent sources, pilots can be confident that the weather and flight planning information is up-to-date and accurate.

In addition to seeing the weather, pilots can create routes and see the weather in relation to their planned flight path. Pilot My-Cast also now includes standard terminal arrival routes (STARs), standard instrument departures (SIDs), and victor and jet airways, which are designed to aid pilots when planning their flights.

Pilot My-Cast has also greatly expanded its airport data and it now includes airport diagrams. These diagrams are in addition to the AOPA Airport Directory, which pilots already have access to through Pilot My-Cast. The AOPA Airport Directory is one of the most comprehensive sources of airport information and includes information for over 5,300 public-use airports and more than 7,000 FBOs, such as pilot services, ground transportation, lodging, restaurants, and local attractions.

After a Pilot My-Cast subscriber checks the weather and plans their route, they can take the next step and file a flight plan through an easy-to-use flight filing feature.  Pilots can file their flight plan with a few taps, and the information is automatically sent to the DUAT(s) providers. Using Pilot My-Cast to file a flight plan is often faster than traditional flight filing methods because it stores the most recently filed plan, so pilots will only need to alter information that has changed from the last time they filed.