VFR Flight Planner
To enter a route:
- Fill in the departure field using the four-letter ICAO code for your aerodrome of departure. At the moment it is not possible to use sites without an ICAO code.
- Fill in the speed field as in item 15 of a flight plan form. That is to say, kilometres per hour expressed a K followed by 4 figures (e.g., K0200), or knots expressed as N followed by four figures (e.g., N0120). Mach numbers are not supported.
- The altitude is also filled in as in a flight plan, use A for an altitude, F for a flight level in feet, or M and S for altitudes and flight levels in metres, respectively. E.g., enter F65 if you plan to fly at flight level 65, or A6500 if you plan to fly at 6500ft altitude.
- Fill in the route as in item 15 of a flight plan form. You may use airports identifiers (e.g., EGKK), navaids (e.g., STP), or designated points (e.g., ALBER). Geographical positions in degrees or degrees and minutes are also possible (e.g., 46N078W, 4620N07805W), as are radials and distances from VORs (e.g., STP21018).
Additionally, one may specify speed and altitude changes at any point in the route (e.g., LFMT/N0100FL085).
Note however, that airway identifiers are not currently supported. - Enter the ICAO code for your destination airfield in the Destination box. As for departures, it is not possible to use as destination a site without an ICAO code
- Optionally, enter the ICAO codes for one or more alternates (separated by spaces).
- If you wish the system to retrieve the most recent METAR and TAFs at or nearest to your waypoints, select the "Use METARs" checkbox.
- By selecting an epoch from the selection box, the system will calculate en-route wind corrections automatically for you from its winds database, which is updated every six hours from a global forecast model
What you get:
Navigation Plog
Having entered a route as described above, pressing the Submit button results in a VFR navigation plog being generated (view an example)
This plog contains all the usual details such as distance between points, heading, magnetic variation, and time. The corrected airspeed (KCAS) is calculated from the true airspeed and flight altitude entered in the planning form.
Additionally, if one has selected the Use METARs or the Use upper winds forecast options, wind corrections are automatically applied to the headings and groundspeeds, thus hopefully enabling more accurate navigation and leg and route time estimates. These wind corrections are calculated differently depending on which options are selected:
- METAR-based wind calculations: If the METAR option is checked and the upper winds option is unselected, the server will use the wind information from the most current METAR for the location nearest to each waypoint to calculate a wind correction for the leg starting on that waypoint. Note that surface winds are in general not a good predictor of winds at altitude.
If the METAR option is selected, placing the mouse over a wind value will show the most recent METAR nearest to the start point for that leg. - Calculations based on upper wind forecasts: If a selection is made from the upper winds epochs list (and regardless of whether you have elected to retrieve METARs or not), the server uses its forecast wind database to calculate an estimate of the wind halfway through each leg at your flying altitude for that leg at the selected epoch. This wind database is updated every six hours based on the NOAA's Global Forecast System atmospheric weather model. For most parts of the world, this gives a more accurate estimation of upper winds strength and direction. Epochs up to about two days in the future are currently available—please note that the further in the future your selection is, the lower its reliability; if necessary, refresh your plog closer to the time of your flight.
From the plog page, a row of links near the top of the page give you access to alternative display views or formats of your chosen route, those are described in detail below. Another row of links near the bottom of the page allow you to enter a new route, edit your current route, or reverse it (for the return flight).
If you wish to save a route for latter viewing, simply add it to your bookmarks (e.g., via Ctrl+D in Firefox). To share the route plog with someone else, copy the URL (e.g. Ctrl+L, Ctrl+C in Firefox) and send it via e-mail or any other means.
KML (Google Earth) View
By following the link named As KML in your plog, a KML file containing your route will be downloaded to your computer. Depending on your browser's configuration you will get the option to save this file or open it with Google Earth (if you have it installed).
Once loaded in Google Earth, the KML file shows your route, including origin, destination, and transit waypoints, as well as any alternates you may have indicated. Clicking on a waypoint shows the track and distance to the next point (view example), as well as the most current METAR and TAF nearest to that location, if the METARs option has been selected when creating the plog. If you have provided alternate (diversion) aerodromes, those are shown as yellow targets—clicking on them brings up a table of tracks and distances to it from every waypoint on the route (view example).
Google Maps View
The link named In Google Maps loads a graphical view of the route in Google Maps. This is an alternative to using Google Earth if you do not have that software installed, or simply want to have a quick overview of your route on a map. Same as for the KML option, waypoints show leg information and alternates show diversion track and distance.
GPX File Download
Even if you have a non-aviation GPS receiver, you can still load your route into it by selecting the As GPX link and opening the downloaded file in your GPS interface application. GPX is a widely used, vendor-independent exchange format for transferring data to and from most modern GPS units.
Route Weather Information
If you follow the Weather Chart link, a weather chart is generated specifically for your route (which is shown on the chart). Using the selection lists at the top of the page you can elect to show different types of chart with a variety of information on them, including: QFF, winds aloft, geopotential height, temperature aloft and on the surface, freezing level, precipitation types, accumulated precipitation on the ground, and convective action. Different epochs and pressure levels can be selected using the relevant option lists—by default the pressure level closest to your planned altitude and either the current epoch or the epoch selected on the route planning page are shown. It is also possible to use the relevant links to show earlier or latter epochs (access keys: 'P' and 'N' respectively).
Note that as the chart is generated on the fly, it may take a few seconds to load. Subsequent reloads should be faster as the images are cached in your brower, with an expiration date corresponding to the next weather forecast update (up to about six hours)—this means that a user should always see the most recent forecast available for a given epoch.
The weather charts are a work in progress, therefore presentation details can be a bit rough, most notably lacking a decode key for most of the elements shown. Feel free to use the contact form should you have any questions about their use.
Other Features
Some other features are planned or available in test mode, including text format output (for very low bandwidth connections), and short text output (for mobile devices with small screens). There is also a Beta-stage region-wide weather forecast chart generatorβ, and last but not least, a navigation points searchβ facility, which is at a very early stage.
Note: All the usual disclaimers apply. The navigation database does not follow the 28-day AIRAC cycle. Do not use for IFR planning.