Flight Planning Software

Chris G. wrote:
Thank you for the comprehensive review. Before you chose Flitestar, did
you try any other software or evaluate any other software?

Do you or anyone else have much experience with the Golden Eagle
software from the DUAT/DUATS (can't keep 'em straight)? I've not yet
tried that program. Hopefully it is better than the AOPA Planner.

Has anyone tried the RMS program?

Chris


Jimbob wrote:

My experience is with FliteStar and while it has some neat features,
there are a few nits.

#1) It doesn't have the ability to print a NavLog without wind info.
Example would be if you got to your destination and the route back had
different winds, you have to scribble through it's calculations to put
in your new ones. I would like it if you could print a blank one with
your waypoints and fill the wind info in later. If you had it on a
laptop and could reprint, it would be ok. For those of us that have a
computer at home, it's annoying.

#2) It took me a while to figure out that you had to download winds
aloft to get the wind info updated in the navlog. (DUH) I think it
should warn you if you forget to select the right DUATS download
options. You winds would be out of date and you wouldn't know it.
Maybe a note in the remarks section about when the wind info was
updated.

#3) The reverse route function sucks. It does wierd things like
insert new climb and descent profiles. I don't know why.

#4) I wish is was smarter about inserting mandatory waypoints, It
just puts then in at fixed intervals vs. setting them close to VFR
features. Might be OK for the IFR guys, but I can't speak for that
myself.
Beyond that, It's pretty nice. I like the profile view that lets you
see your flight path relative to the airpsaces. The printouts at 2
per page make nice booklets for a kneeboard. A lot of cool routing
features. The graphical representation of sigmet and airmet
boundaries is very nice.



Jim
http://www.unconventional-wisdom.org
I have used RMS Flightsoft (and Flightsoft express) for many years. Very
stable and easy to use. Excellent user support.