FlyQ / FlyQ+ Appears to have been abandoned by Aircraft Performance Group
Posted by motongo@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 22 comments
I was doing some investigation to determine what was going on with FlyQ / FlyQ+. Over a year ago there was a big fiasco in which Aircraft Performance Group notified ”Lifetime FlyQ” Subscribers that they were going to terminate the Lifetime subscriptions and force users to start paying an annual subscription again. Apple received a lot of complaints (because this violated Apple’s App Store terms) and Aircraft Performance Group backed off, creating a product fork called FlyQ+, allowing the ‘Lifetime Subscription’ users to continue to use FlyQ without new features.
Now, more than a year later, there have been no updates to the app, and at least one feature has been broken for months; AirMets displaying on the map. I’ve not received a response from support concerning this issue when I last inquired.
The founder of the original company that produced FlyQ, Seattle Avionics, is Steve Podradchik. I looked up his LinkIn info and since March of 2025 (around the time of the last FlyQ+ update) his job title is ‘Head of PILOT ONE platform’. So I looked up Pilot One, and there is a new app from APG that appears to be a duplicate of FlyQ. The first version was released on the App Store a month ago, and since that time it has received 13 updates! The feature set sounds a lot like FlyQ EFB, including FlyQ’s claim to fame, “Important features are always within two taps”.
It’s obvious to me that this is a new strategy to drop the responsibility of the company to continue to support those that purchased the high dollar ‘Lifetime subscription’ from Steve Podradchik before APG bought the company.
CaptMcMooney@reddit
shrug, development, support and maintenance, is GOD AWFUL EXPENSIVE, probably shouldn't have made that lifetime commitment in the first place
mirassou3416@reddit
I guess all bets are off now that APG purchased the company. Either pay or go somewhere else. Foreflight was sold too and I'm hoping that the new venture firm pumps enough money into the company to keep things as stellar as they always have been
motongo@reddit (OP)
Unfortunately I think you’re right. No releases in over a year. The last FlyQ blog update was October 1st, 2025. AirMets on the map have been broken for months with no status. No responses to support emails on other broken issues. And now a duplicate app from the same company pops up in the past month with multiple releases nearly every week.
mild-blue-yonder@reddit
Ok so I get that it’s frustrating to see a lifetime subscription not work out forever, but you paid for lifetime access to subpar EFB for like 400 bucks some number of years ago and you still have lifetime access to the product. It just sucks more now than it used to. That’s life. There’s no free lunch.
Looks like there’s a similar app out there with fewer bugs an ongoing support for you at a more sustainable price though!
But really, just get Garmin pilot or ForeFlight. There’s some safety in numbers, and they don’t need to sell lifetime access for quick capital while the product is taking off.
motongo@reddit (OP)
If this was a “free lunch”, I wouldn’t be unhappy. But I paid their price for a dining plan. Are you saying businesses are free to not deliver what they promised?
mild-blue-yonder@reddit
I’m saying they did deliver what they promised which is access to the app forever. They haven’t ended that and you still have access to the app you bought, you just don’t like the product anymore. That’s fair. I’d say stop paying for it, but you already did!
motongo@reddit (OP)
When the app is allowed to break, and features that were advertised and purchase are no longer available, then they are not delivering on their promise.
mild-blue-yonder@reddit
Ok buddy. Good luck with your goals.
Several_Sink801@reddit
Sounds like your problem is with APG, not Podradchik. APG bought the business that you had a deal with, and is running it unfairly. Podrachik left and is doing his new thing, he doesn’t owe you anything.
motongo@reddit (OP)
Nope. Podradchik is working for APG, the company that bought his company.
Bunslow@reddit
Are you saying the founder "left" Seattle Avionics, or something? Or SA itself is going bankrupt or...?
motongo@reddit (OP)
The founder of Seattle Avionics sold his company (and product) to Aircraft Performance Group and stayed on. Over a year ago, APG decided they didn’t want to support those who had purchased FlyQ ‘Lifetime Subscriptions’ and notified lifetime subscribers that their subscriptions had to be converted to annual paying subscriptions to continue using the product. (Violates Apple Store terms that protects customers). They backed off and said Lifetime subscribers could continue to use the app, but they stopped all updates for over a year and the app is beginning to break. In the meantime APG (under the direction of the original developer and founder of FlyQ) is developing a copycat app named Pilot One. Looks and acts identical, and is where all the development is going.
Bunslow@reddit
So the founder sold out and then joined the sellouts? Does this mean that other Seattle Avionics products aren't to be trusted either? I've been looking at their small airport chart diagrams, which as far as I can tell are a unique product, but if that product is also about to shit itself...
saml01@reddit
Send to Luis Rossman. This is the kinda shit he fights for.
motongo@reddit (OP)
I just downloaded the “Pilot One” app. It is a clear clone of FlyQ EFB. All the menus are the same and the functionality is the same. I edited the post to include a picture. Any user of FlyQ EFB is going to immediately recognize that it’s the same app.
dopexile@reddit
Well, not terribly surprising. With a limited number of users, there's no way to recover recurring long-term development costs from a one-time payment.
motongo@reddit (OP)
When Seattle Avionics sold FlyQ lifetime subscriptions, they always communicated clearly that the number of lifetime subscriptions was very limited to keep the future of the business sustainable. It was part of their messaging that they could be trusted with a large upfront payment and continue to deliver the solution.
dopexile@reddit
Sure, Bernie Madoff promised a lot too! FlyQ could never keep that kind of a promise.
I went to a few of the EFB forums at Oshkosh. The ForeFlight forum was full of enthusiastic people with lots of questions about new features. The FlyQ forum was depressing, with hardly anyone there and a bunch of complaints about people being screwed on their lifetime subscription.
motongo@reddit (OP)
“FlyQ could never keep that kind of a promise”.
They were very clear that they could, and would. I think there is a name for promising something that one doesn’t intend to actually deliver on.
xia03@reddit
all of this sounds scammy
motongo@reddit (OP)
Duh!
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I was doing some investigation to determine what was going on with FlyQ / FlyQ+. Over a year ago there was a big fiasco in which Aircraft Performance Group notified ”Lifetime FlyQ” Subscribers that they were going to terminate the Lifetime subscriptions and force users to start paying an annual subscription again. Apple received a lot of complaints (because this violated Apple’s App Store terms) and Aircraft Performance Group backed off, creating a product fork called FlyQ+, allowing the ‘Lifetime Subscription’ users to continue to use FlyQ without new features.
Now, more than a year later, there have been no updates to the app, and at least one feature has been broken for months; AirMets displaying on the map. I’ve not received a response from support concerning this issue when I last inquired.
The founder of the original company that produced FlyQ, Seattle Avionics, is Steve Podradchik. I looked up his LinkIn info and since March of 2025 (around the time of the last FlyQ+ update) his job title is ‘Head of PILOT ONE platform’. So I looked up Pilot One, and there is a new app from APG that appears to be a duplicate of FlyQ. The first version was released on the App Store a month ago, and since that time it has received 13 updates! The feature set sounds a lot like FlyQ EFB, including FlyQ’s claim to fame, “Important features are always within two taps”.
It’s obvious to me that this is a new strategy to drop the responsibility of the company to continue to support those that purchased the high dollar ‘Lifetime subscription’ from Steve Podradchik before APG bought the company.
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