Flight Planning Archives - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Flying in France – there’s an app for that

I’ve been checking out some iPhone and iPad flying apps recently. Flying In France is a great app for English-speaking pilots who want to fly to France. It gives you all the information you need right on your iPhone. It’s all in English too. It costs $5.99 from the iTunes store.

iPhone Screenshot 1

Quick look-up for NOTAMs, weather and air force activity is very helpful. You can also pull up AIP pages for airfields. There’s a useful listing of on-airport restaurants, with a searchable map and phone numbers for each restaurant. Perhaps the most useful feature is the ability to file VFR flight plans from your iPhone directly to the Olivia system.

Personally, I prefer RocketRoute for IFR flight plans and SkyDemon for VFR planning in the UK. However, if I flew in and around France more often, I would definitely use Flying In France.

“File a Flight Plan Day” ahead of next year’s London Olympics

Hat tip to Sylvia, the blogger behind the Fear of Landing blog, for pointing out the “File a Flight Plan Day” initiative launched by the Airspace & Safety Initiative (ASI) to get general aviation pilots in the UK ready for the Olympics.

Specifically, “File a Flight Plan Day” is a unique, one-day event that will take place between 10:00 and 15:00 on Saturday 12 November 2011. On this day, as many general aviation pilots as possible are encouraged to think about flight planning during next year’s London 2012 Olympics as there will be a Restricted Zone placed over the entire capital and surrounding areas during the Games and pilots will need to file an accepted flight plan with air traffic controllers before they can fly. If you have never filed a UK flight plan before, you are encouraged to file a test flight plan on this day so that you know the procedures for doing so should you plan to fly during the Olympics.

Moreover, Sylvia has enlisted the help of Kelly who works for RocketRoute to help explain how to file a UK flight plan. Otherwise, you can consult CAP 694 — the UK Flight Planning Guide as well as http://olympics.airspacesafety.com/downloads to find out the procedure for for File a Flight Plan Day.

Drawing a giant 747 flight plan in the sky

Randy Tinseth, the Vice President, Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the blogger behind Randy’s Journal, has written about the recent final day of flight testing for the 747-8 Freighter. One of the two airplanes that flew drew up a giant 747 across the continental USA sky in a 17 hour endurance flight over some 15 states. Below is the actual 8,119nm flight plan from FlightAware:

SEA J70 MLP J36 GTF HLN DLN TWF PARZZ MVA MQO MVA PARZZ Q121 TOUGH DIK RAP J157 BFF HGO TCC VANSS TCC HGO BFF J157 RAP DIK J36 FAR J140 DLH J21 ICT SPS ICT J21 DLH J140 FAR DIK BFF PARZZ TWF DLN HLN GTF J36 MLP J136 GEG GANGS KPAE

Randy has pointed out that the 747-8 Freighter has already flown more than 1,200 flights and 3,400 hours since its maiden flight back in February of 2010.

What’s the best way to learn cross country flight planning?

John Ewing has recently written a lengthy post about cross country flight planning where he noted that the introduction and use of new technologies or techniques in flying will raise interesting new questions, such as the following:

Should student pilots be taught to use paper charts, plotter, pencil, and a slide rule E6B or encouraged to switch entirely to electronic charts, calculators, GPS and computer-based weather briefings?

In reply to his question, John wrote that the best way to learn the complicated process of cross country flight planning is to combine “old school” methods with “waay cool” new technologies. He then proceeds to go into considerable detail about how to do this.

However, one interesting point that John brought up was that so-called “old school” pilots and instructors are correct to claim that a student who has never drawn a course line on a paper chart will be robbed of an important lesson about Magnetic declination. On the other hand, John also noted that with the right data, a computer will probably do a much faster and more accurate job than a human would.

John also pointed out that while old school paper chart adherents may claim that paper charts are foolproof because they will not require batteries, can be handled or folded and can be used by less tech savvy pilots, they also have serious disadvantages. After all, paper charts can get torn, lost or too marked up from previous flight planning efforts to be read. More importantly, all paper charts will eventually become obsolete as they do not update by themselves.

John’s lengthy post about cross country flight planning is well worth reading and it should be noted that this particular post is the first installment of a multi-part series of posts about the revolutionary changes occurring in VFR cross-country flight planning. In future posts, John will discuss how technology is already changing calculators, navigation log preparation tools and in-flight diversions.

Three top PC flight planning tools

I have been using Jeppesen FliteStar for about ten years for my VFR and, later, IFR flight planning. It takes a bit of learning but it is a powerful tool for flight planning and viewing instrument approach plates.

However, there are two big problems with it. First, it is hellaciously expensive. For VFR and IFR planning with digital IFR and VFR plates for Europe, it was costing me around €1,800 a year. Even in the context of an expensive hobby, that’s a lot of money. Bill Gates thinks that’s a lot of money.

Second, their billing is so obscure and their accounts department so incredibly unhelpful that it is impossible to change plans or figure out what, exactly, you are paying for. Or at least, that was my experience. For example, when I changed plans last year (it took three months to do this), they kept sending me an invoice even though they actually owed me money.

As a side issue, I was using Homebriefing.com to actually file my flight plans. I can’t get my head around AFPEx (even though I work with computers all day). Also, it doesn’t work on my iPhone which makes it useless if I’m abroad. Homebriefing is great and they have helpful people at the end of the phone to sort out problems but for an infrequent user, it feels like you have to hand over money every time you log on. Either my annual subscription has expired or I have run out of coupons for flight plans. Arghh.

So what am I using now? I looked at a few things but here is my plan from now on:

VFR Flight Planning

I’m going to use SkyDemon. It’s easier to use than Jeppesen, integrates NOTAMs and weather to produce a lovely trip kit and really attractive maps that filter out information you don’t need (e.g. airspace above your planned cruising altitude). It includes charts for most of Europe and they look very clean and easy to use.

Map view from SkyDemon

It feels like a simple, quick, efficient way to pull together everything you need for a VFR flight without wasting time or hopping between programs. It costs £119. You can (optionally) renew your subscription to charts etc. for £59 a year after the first year.

IFR Flight Planning

I’m going to check out RocketRoute. It combines IFR route planning with plates and online filing for flight plans. It is like a combination of the functional bits of Flitestar, Jeppview and Homebriefing.

Jeppesen’s tool for automatically planning an IFR airways trip never really worked very well and I often ended up refining them manually. This is why I really like RocketRoute’s AutoRouter. It produces valid routes between airfields quickly and then automatically validates them with Eurocontrol (which Jeppesen did not do). I think I’ll need to buy Jeppesen paper airways charts in case it generates routes that don’t work for my circumstances but that’s not a big expense – £10 a year or something. Once you have set up your aircraft, you can reuse them in flight plans cutting down on the amount of time it takes to file plans in future.

RocketRoute

RocketRoute supplies two types of plates: Pooleys iPlates which are the familiar VFR plates in electronic form. It also grabs the latest IFR plates from the various European AIPs. This is less satisfactory than using Jeppesen plates because they do not share a standard format from one country to the next. However, they are free, in English and usable. Since the planes I fly have glass cockpits with Jepp plates onboard, these printed plates are belt-and-braces (and a legal requirement).

Once you have filed your plan, you can download or fax a briefing pack with a plog, ICAO flight plan, METAR/TAFs, NOTAMs and plates. Print it out and away you go. It really couldn’t be much easier. I can also access it via my iPhone to send delay notices and change flight plan details overseas.

It costs €144 a year for up to 50 filed flight plans plus €35 for online access to Pooleys VFR plates. Trip support (e.g. telephone filing of flight plans, slot booking etc. costs €5-€35 depending on what you ask them to do. It would be useful to have this to fall back like a personal flight department.

Easier, faster, cheaper

So, I’ve ditched Jeppesen, saving €1800 a year and picked up a VFR and an IFR flight planning system that costs me about €300-ish this year and a bit less next year. That’s a big saving and I think the end result is, actually, a better, more flexible system.

What’s your preflight routine?

For pilots, state of mind is as important as engine health or electrical power. Accident reports are full of stories about pilot error: fatigue, inattention, distraction and, yes, chatting about crew rosters and missing their destination altogether.

When it comes to single-pilot GA flights, your mental state is even more important. There is no ‘spare pilot’ to catch your mistakes.

It’s a big topic but I’d like to focus on one area where we have the greatest level of control. It’s often overlooked but I think it is very important. It is the time between leaving the house to go flying and the time you start up the engine and begin taxiing.

Your preflight routine can make a big difference to the safety and success of a flight and yet it is almost completely overlooked as a critical stage of flight. So, what can go wrong?

Stress. Traffic delays, passengers who don’t show up on time, planes that have been left in a bad state by previous pilots etc. I read one accident report about a British student pilot who was a doctor. At the airport before a solo cross-country flight, he was called over to help with someone who had fallen ill. The poor chap died and yet our doctor continued with his flight despite having experienced a very stressful event.
Forgetfulness. On my second flight into Amsterdam Schiphol, I arrived at the airport without the approach plates. Ouch! Luckily, TAA UK were able to print out the basic plates in time for my flight. But this kind of thing is best avoided.
Plane problems. I fly a shared group aircraft. This means that I often find it low on fuel, strewn with garbage or with small tech problems that require a check in the MEL or POH to be sure I’m legal and safe to fly. Just taking the wing and body covers off can take a while.
Passengers. Nervous or first-time passengers need extra time and help. I’ve also taken some friends flying who thought that they could arrive any time they liked since it was a ‘private plane’. They were nearly two hours late and I had to repeatedly refile my flight plan etc. for the Isle of Man.
Weather. I occasionally find myself sitting in a crew lounge or the flying school at Denham waiting for fog to lift or rain to stop. My home base is VFR-only and just inside the Heathrow control zone which puts special restrictions on my ability to fly there, even with an instrument rating.
Slot times. Eurocontrol and ATC can play havoc with a well-planned departure. I’ve been sat on the ground several times at French airports waiting for a delayed departure slot or for a controller to find a ‘missing’ flight plan. For VFR trips, fast-approaching night time can also be a restriction. Nobody enjoys night landings at Denham. I think carrier pilots could use it for night training.

How avoid the problems?

Leave earlier. Just as there are fuel margins for a possible diversion, I like to give myself a time buffer. I like to be at the airport an hour before my planned departure, especially if I have an airways flight and slot time booked.
Park passengers. I prefer doing my preflight inspection and cockpit preparation alone so that I don’t get distracted by questions or interruptions. Passengers prefer staying in the lounge until the flight is ready. Frequent flyers who can help or who know how to sit quietly can join me but generally, I like to park my passengers until I’m ready for them.
Leaving home checklist. I have a pre-flight planning checklist that I use to make sure I’ve done everything I need to do with the flight plan etc. But it also includes items such as: passport, Euros, camera, charts etc. so that I don’t leave home without them.
Go bag. I like to repack my flight bag after each trip so that it is ready for the next one. I also get my charts – I print them out from Jeppesen Flightstar – bundled up with all my other flight documents such as the weight and balance schedule and put them in the pocket of my flight bag the day before. That way, it’s very hard for me to forget them.
Risk analysis. I put together a risk analysis table that takes account of currency, weather, airport familiarity, type of approach etc. to give me a quasi-objective ‘read’ on whether the proposed flight is routine, requires extra care and planning or whether I should just go back to bed. Because I can easily get myself in an indecisive funk about the weather, this helps me take the stress out of the decision.
IMSAFE. This acronym – illness, medication, etc. – is built into the MFD on the Cirrus and it’s a useful reminder to check in with yourself before committing to a flight.
Remember, it’s just a hobby. My biggest problem comes from the feeling that I need to complete a flight once I have committed to it, especially if I have passengers. However, the flight must be safe, legal and FUN. It’s very important to remind yourself that you can always go flying another day.
iPhone. My lovely iPhone has changed the way I fly. With Homebriefing.com, I can amend flight plans or send delay notices. With Avbrief.com and meteox.com, I can get accurate, up-to-date weather and rainfall radar information. When I’m overseas, easy access to this information is invaluable especially in that short window before you take off when you really need to be up-to-date with the latest information.
Timetable. For each flight, I compile a single sheet with the timetable for the day with everything in Zulu, London and local time. This makes booking restaurants and taxis easier. In the past, I’ve been on too many trips where I haven’t planned carefully enough and found myself turning up at restaurants for lunch at 2.30pm or having to rush back. I also put the main phone numbers for the day on the sheet – passengers, handling companies, restaurants etc. This means that I have everything to hand when I need it.

By using checklists and procedures in the hour or two before the flight just as we all use them in the air, you can reduce stress and enhance safety.