Flight planning software

[Danb]

I've been using flight soft for my flight planning for over 15 years, I then load it into my Jepps and print out the necessary items for my flight, it has been the easiest and most user friendly product I have ever used. Of course they went out of business. What do you guys recommend for ease of use flight planning....

[The-sky-captain]

I've been using fltplan.com since 2008. It's free, easy to use and very accurate on winds aloft/ enroute times. I have the foreflight app that I use for plates, maps, airport info etc but I've never used their flight planning. Ive heard its good as well.

[Mooneymite]

With fltplan.com out there, I can't understand how anyone competes.

The company I work for has full-time dispatchers planning our flights, but I think fltplan.com is just as good as what they put out....plus it doesn't complain when changes are made!

Takes a little effort to know all the features, but it's pretty simple.

I also use the Android app on my tablet...also good. Charts, approach plates, wt & balance. All free, free, free!

[DAVIDWH]

Following the Magenta line seems to work for me.

[Hank]

Following the Magenta line seems to work for me.

That's all well and good, but I like to know how far I'm going, the course and how long it will take. Keeps me from accidentally over-filling the tanks with air, and permits arranging to meet people at the destination before I start the engine, which can make it difficult.

[laytonl]

Fltplan.com for me. ETA's are incredibly accurate, usually within a minute or so on a 2 hour flight. Lee

[fluffysheap]

For me:

Avilution AviationMaps on my Android tablet.  Has all sectionals, TACs, IFR enroutes, AFD entries, approach plates, and arrival/departure procedures.  Also gets TFRs, airmets, winds aloft, etc. but requires an internet connection to get them.  It is not free, but it isn't very expensive either.  It has other features too but I tend to not use them.

 

For planning:

skyvector.com to plan routes and see fuel prices.

aviationweather.gov to get winds aloft and view TAF/METAR/FA/airmets

duats.com for filing flight plans and formal briefings

avnwx.com for visualizing pireps and weather

 

While having all these separate pieces means having to switch among various browser tabs, IMO they're all better at their specific strengths than fltplan.  I have nothing against fltplan, I just rarely find that I need it.

 

I have a spreadsheet for weight & balance that I keep in Google Docs, but I rarely need it.

 

The one thing that isn't available on any of these sites is a route planner that takes aircraft performance data and winds aloft and calculates the optimal route/altitude and ETE.  I don't think fltplan can do that either.  So I usually end up eyeballing it based on the wind speeds and streamlines on aviationweather.gov, then I adjust my groundspeed on skyvector based on wind estimates.  I'm usually accurate within 10 minutes on a 5-6 hour flight, which is close enough for me.

 

If you tell duats.com that you want emailed updates to your flight plan, it will tell you what departure and routing you are likely to get.  It's not a substitute for clearance delivery, but it's nice to know.

 

One thing that has been upsetting lately is that I am seeing some discrepancies in the visualized airmets between what is on avnwx/skyvector and what is on aviationweather.gov.  Of course the formal text description in the text briefing is the authority, but that's so difficult to understand that it doesn't usually help resolve the inconsistency.

[The-sky-captain]

I like using this site for predicting ceilings up to 60 hours in advance. In the past it's been fairly accurate and helps get the big picture for a couple days before a trip.

http://weather.unisys.com/mos/mos_depict.php?inv=0&t=24h

[FlyDave]

I have used fltplan.com for flight planning since 2007. It's incredibly accurate on fuel and time and I just found out that if I file on fltplan.com, Garmin Pilot on the iPad gets the proposed routing and any changes before I leave the ground. It's an excellent value for, um, FREE !

Also, I can share my Bravo profiles with you so you don't have to set them up from scratch. I have one for 29"/2400 @ 18.5 gph and another for 27"/2200 (economy) @ 15.5 gph. Let me know if you want them.

[fluffysheap]

I like using this site for predicting ceilings up to 60 hours in advance. In the past it's been fairly accurate and helps get the big picture for a couple days before a trip.

http://weather.unisys.com/mos/mos_depict.php?inv=0&t=24h

 

That reminds me, I forgot to mention this:

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/rt/viewdata.php?product=ct_sfov&time=latest&imageType=image

 

Great for seeing cloud tops.  The downside is that it measures any cloud tops, including cirrus, so sometimes it's misleading.  But it's nevertheless very useful.

[midlifeflyer]

With fltplan.com out there, I can't understand how anyone competes.

The company I work for has full-time dispatchers planning our flights, but I think fltplan.com is just as good as what they put out....plus it doesn't complain when changes are made!

Takes a little effort to know all the features, but it's pretty simple.

I also use the Android app on my tablet...also good. Charts, approach plates, wt & balance. All free, free, free!

 

FltPlan.com seems to be the choice for Part 91 corporate and 135. Walk into an FBO that sees a lot of them and that's what you will see up on the computers most of the time by far. Accuracy is quite amazing.

 

Two extra nice features are the suggested routes - based on actual recent ATC clearance between airport pairs - and advance notice of your expected clearance.