Thanks Mike.

The abbreviated fields are explained in little pictures above the
table. I had the full description above each field at one point and
decided to cut them down because it just looked far too wide and ugly.

Good point about the interface. I decided to go with that one as I
wanted a simple program with a simple interface to encourage use. It is
a bit late in the project for me to change it now. After I submit it to
the department I will release the source code so people can change it
for themselves :-) I have to move on to the next stage now of writing a
program in c++ to visualize data from a gps handset and then writing a
small flight sim in flash. I went with windows over linux as I figured
most 'pilots' would be running windows...

Good luck with your program too! I have not seen any such software for
linux either. There is a good compromise between simple text files and
mysql called SQLite. It is open source too!

thanks,
Keith.