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AviTab

AviTab is an open-source plugin for X-Plane 12 that displays a tablet in the cockpit — featuring a PDF viewer, moving map, and chart integration. It was primarily designed for VR but works equally well in 2D mode.

Background

  • Developer: Folke Will (fpw), contributors dave6502, mjh65
  • Repository: github.com/fpw/avitab (open source, AGPL-3.0)
  • Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux (native binaries)
  • Compatibility: X-Plane 11.20+ and X-Plane 12

Development activity is low — the last commit and the latest release (v0.7.1) date from September 2024. The repository is not archived, but there are no signs of upcoming updates.

Features

  • PDF viewer: Displays PDF charts and checklists from the charts/ subdirectory
  • Moving map: Online maps (OpenTopoMap, OpenStreetMap) and offline maps with configurable tile servers
  • Navigraph integration: IFR/VFR charts in the cockpit (requires Navigraph subscription, not available in self-compiled builds)
  • ChartFox integration: Free charts via Vatsim login
  • Airport app: Airport information, runway data, local charts
  • Route overlay: FMS files as overlay on the moving map
  • Aircraft integration: Some aircraft (e.g., Zibo 737) have a 3D tablet model with AviTab integration
  • Standalone mode: Can also run as a standalone application outside of X-Plane

AviTab Browser (Companion Plugin)

The AviTab Browser plugin by rswilem adds a full web browser to AviTab. It uses the Chromium Embedded Framework built into X-Plane 12.

  • License: GPL-3.0
  • Features: Configurable homepage, hotkey websites, SimBrief flight plan download
  • Download: forums.x-plane.org

Value in Flight Simulation

AviTab solves the problem of needing to look up charts, checklists, or manuals during flight — especially in VR, where you would otherwise need to remove the headset to read external screens. Via custom maps, you can integrate your own tile servers (e.g., a local TileServer-GL). Aircraft integration provides a tablet built directly into the 3D cockpit for supported aircraft.

Installation

Download: github.com/fpw/avitab/releases or forums.x-plane.org

Extract the ZIP file to Resources/plugins/. This creates the AviTab/ folder with the Linux binary at lin_x64/AviTab.xpl.

All dependencies are statically linked — no additional system packages are required.

Placing PDF charts:

cp my_charts/*.pdf /path/to/X-Plane\ 12/Resources/plugins/AviTab/charts/

Subdirectories are supported and displayed as a folder structure in the plugin.

Configuring Custom Maps

Custom map sources are defined in the online-maps/mapconfig.json file in the plugin directory:

[
    {
        "name": "OpenTopoMap",
        "servers": ["a.tile.opentopomap.org", "b.tile.opentopomap.org"],
        "protocol": "https",
        "url": "{z}/{x}/{y}.png",
        "min_zoom_level": 1,
        "max_zoom_level": 17,
        "tile_width_px": 256,
        "tile_height_px": 256,
        "enabled": true
    }
]

PDF Crash on Linux

PDF viewer unusable on certain distributions

AviTab crashes when opening PDF files on Linux systems with newer lcms2 library versions (SIGSEGV in cmsSignalError). The statically linked MuPDF library conflicts with the system-wide lcms2 version.

Affected distributions (confirmed):

  • Arch Linux / EndeavourOS
  • Ubuntu 24.04 / Kubuntu 24.10

Debian Bookworm (lcms2 2.14) is not affected. Distributions with lcms2 ≥ 2.16 may also be affected.

Workaround: A community member fixed the crash by recompiling AviTab with a newer MuPDF version (1.26.11). This requires self-compilation — an official update is pending. Moving map and other apps work normally regardless.

Sources