"Chris G." nospam@noemail wrote:

I still prefer to
do the final planning by hand on paper with the software as a
backup to make sure I didn't make a large error in my calculations.

The day I received my PPL I bought myself a gift of an Aeroplanner online
flight planning membership. After two years using the service, I grew very
tired of waiting for the new flight planning interface they kept promising
but not delivering (this was in 2002-3, the year that their new interface
beta went on forever). Perhaps things with their company have changed, but
I lost confidence in them and abandoned Aeroplanner for Jeppesen's IFR
FlightStar.

FlightStar really excelled when I took an across-the-US trip last Memorial
Day. On the return trip, I planned my flight from Denver to Syracuse, NY,
the night before and filed both of my IFR flight plans (one fuel stop).
When I awoke in the morning, there were thunderstorms over my entire route,
moving directly west to east.

I pulled out my charts and fired up my PC. Within a half an hour, I had
re-planned my entire route, or about 1,000 nm, about 200 miles south and
away from the thunderstorm train that had set up. I cannot imagine how
much longer it would have taken to re-plan that route by hand.

Using FlightStar with its automatic weather download, my fuel planning was
accurate across the US and back to no more than two to five gallons per
direction (east/west).

Now, that is not to say that there are several features and bugs I wish
Jeppesen would address. Additionally, the cost of the software and the
updates is more than Aeroplanner. But, the time savings and flight plan
accuracy for someone who flies a lot more than pays for the difference in
cost.

Obviously, using FlightStar or any automated flight planning service
doesn't stop with the preflight planning. I take the printed flight plan
with me on *every* flight to monitor planned versus actual fuel usage and
the accuracy is pretty comforting.

--
Peter


















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