Tools and Checklists

Tools is the Library group's first row: every calculator, converter and reference in Pilot EFB Desk, grouped by phase of flight in a two-pane console. Checklists is the row under it - the same checklists as the iOS app, laid out as a desk you tick from. Both carry the app's standing framing: the descent family says "Approximate - use approved procedures." on every screen, and every checklist says "Reference only - not a certified checklist."

Find your way around

The Tools page is a rail beside a pane:

Below 860px the rail stacks above the pane and the whole column scrolls.

How to find and open a tool

1. Click Tools in the sidebar, or press Cmd+K from anywhere and type the tool's name.
2. Press / and type part of the name. Every tool is reachable this way, including the converters inside Unit converters and the calculators inside Descent & approach. If nothing matches, the pane says 'Nothing matches "your term". Try a different term.'
3. Or click a category in the rail and pick from its grid.
4. Click the card. Every open tool lands in Recently used on the Overview; Clear on that header empties the row on every device.

The full catalogue, by category:

How to pin your own shortcuts

1. Open a category, or search, and click the star on a tool's card. The tool joins Pinned on the Overview.
2. Click the star again to unpin. On the Pinned panel, the arrows move a pin up or down; the order syncs to the iOS app.
3. At eight pins the star goes inert and its hint reads "Pin limit reached
   • unpin a tool first".

How to run a descent calculation

The Descent & approach hub lists eight calculators - Required ROD, Top of descent, Required gradient, CDFA profile, Stepdown fixes, Altitude gates, Visual approach and VDP - above a How it works panel linking the Descent & approach guide.

1. Open Descent & approach and click a calculator, or search for it by name.
2. For Top of descent: enter the Current altitude and Target altitude (ft or FL), then pick the method - Gradient %, Angle (in degrees) or 3:1 rule. With a flight active, Use active flight cruise level fills the current altitude; it is always a click you choose.
3. Read the result panel on the right: TOD distance, Altitude to lose and the 3:1 cross-check, drawn as a profile.
4. Read the Assumptions panel under it. For Top of descent they end with "A planning aid only. Fly the FMS, the chart and the clearance."

How to use the timers, clocks and sun times

• Timers ("Holds, approach, crew rest") is a board of cells rather than a list, so eight timers stay in view. Switch Countdown or Stopwatch at the top and click Add countdown or Add stopwatch.
• World clock ("UTC plus up to" your number of bases) shows the Zulu reference above one strip of your bases. Add timezone adds one; the list is the same on the iOS app.
• Sunrise / sunset works By ICAO or By coordinates, with an Output timezone (IANA) field. Its Assumptions say the times are geometric sun positions, that civil twilight is the standard 6 degrees, and that "Operational night definitions vary by authority - check the one your operation uses."

How to keep voyage reports and per-diem

• Voyage reports lists your write-ups with a tally of Reports, Hazards and Showing, a Hazards only filter, Select for bulk actions and New report, which opens the editor beside the list.
• Per-diem ("Layover expenses") is a two-column console: Add expense and the Per-diem tools links (Estimate per-diem, Reports & analytics, Rates & currency, How to use per-diem) on the left, your trips and expenses grids on the right, with Rate settings and Export CSV in the header. Its framing is "Records & estimates only - not financial advice."
• Airport distance ("Great-circle distance & bearing") takes a From and To ICAO code, with Swap between them, and shows the distance, Initial bearing, Kilometres and Statute miles. Until both codes are valid it says "Enter two valid ICAO codes to see the great-circle distance and initial bearing."

How to work the Checklists desk

The Checklists page is a Library rail beside the selected checklist:

1. Click a row in the rail. The sheet opens with that checklist's items, and ?checklist=<id> joins the address bar, so a reload or a shared link lands on the same one. Before you pick, the canvas reads "Select a checklist - Its items open here; tick as you read."
2. Click an item to tick it, or use the keyboard: Space ticks the cursor row, J and K move it, N jumps to the next outstanding item, the up and down arrows walk the rail.
3. Click a filter chip to narrow the rail to, say, Part-run.
4. Press Enter or F, or click Focus mode, for one item at a time: a spine of items beside a hero card, Tick and advance (Space), Skip for now, Untick, and Reset all in the bar. Esc returns to the Library.
5. When every item is ticked the sheet says "Every item is ticked. Reset the ticks before the next run." Click Reset ticks.

How to create a checklist

1. Click New checklist. The page is "Title, optional aircraft type, ordered items" - the form on the left, a Preview - as it runs on the right.
2. Enter the Checklist title and, if you want one, the Aircraft type.
3. Click + Add item for each item, with an optional note.
4. Click Create. The library reloads with your checklist under Yours.

To start from a preset, open it and click the clone control (Clone & edit in the row's actions on a narrow window). Restore defaults resets the four built-in presets and "Your own checklists are untouched."

On iPhone and iPad

The phone hub is one scrolling page of tiles, checklists run one screen at a time, and Per-diem is the one Pro tool there. Tools on iPhone covers the crosswind picture, Decode raw text and Send to.

Troubleshooting

"/" typed into a field instead of the search. The shortcut only fires when nothing is focused. Click an empty part of the page, then press it.

I cannot pin another tool. The cap is eight. Unpin one from the Pinned panel, then click the star again.

The rail shows "No checklist matches". A filter chip is narrowing it. Click All, or clear the filter box.

A preset I edited looks wrong. Restore defaults replaces every edit you made to a preset with its original content; your own checklists stay.

Where next

• Keyboard and the command deck - Cmd+K and the chords that reach every tool.
• Learn & Reference - the guide behind the descent calculators.
• Flight Brief - the active flight that fills the cruise level.