Reviewed 4-28-2004 by Matthew Justice
After working with various flight planning programs over the years, I can't count the number of times that I have had to install software (and database updates). FlightPrepTM has solved this problem by creating a simple to use, yet powerful on-line flight planner.
Once you login to FlightPrepTM you can start planning your flight in a few simple steps. First, enter your Departure and Destination airports (if you don't know the codes it can locate them by name). Second, choose a planning method: Direct, GPS->Direct or Low Airway routing. Next, choose your flight Options such as aircraft, altitude (default is 10,000 ft), alternate airport, plus several other options. Aircraft can be imported, shared (on-line) with others or you can create your own aircraft profile based on the POH for the aircraft you are using. Once you have done this, the planner will then build the flight plan (see below). FlightPrepTM will show any TFR's (graphical), SUA (Special Use Airspace), airports, NAVAIDS, and cities along the route-line. The bottom of the planning screen shows your route and the terrain along the flight. FlightPrepTM has the ability to plan VFR and IFR (requires Premium or higher subscription) flight plans.
After you have your plan configured as you like, you can then create a Trip Kit. The Trip Kit is basically a stand-alone PDF (Adobe - Portable Document Format) file that can be viewed on any device that supports PDF files. There are options for what to include in the trip kit, but basically it contains all information that you will need for the flight, including weather, weather charts, frequencies, sectional maps (with route line), and basic airport information. Since various devices have support for PDF files these Trip Kits can be viewed on Pocket PC's, Tablet PC's, etc (see our review Pocket PC review - http://www.palmflying.com/flightpr.html).
There are several (buttons) options on the tool bar that allow you to change your viewing preferences. You can scroll the chart, zoom in and out or automatically zoom to show your entire route. The method we were most impressed with is the ability to overlay NEXRAD; this will show your route and the view of sky conditions along your route. If you see bad weather you would like to avoid, you can click on your route line and drag. This is known as rubber band-routing and it a great feature found in many planning programs. FlightPrepTM will also connect to DUATS to download weather, winds and file flight plans. Included on their site is a very useful weather graphics page that shows current weather from around the country.
The Demo version of FlightPrepTM will allow you to do 15 flight planning sessions per month, but it will not allow you to save information or view approach charts. Currently there are four registration options for FlightPrepTM. Each has different features so make sure you pick the one that works best for you (if you're a VFR only pilot the basic version should meet your needs).
Pros: No software to install - so you can access it at the airport, work or home, 100% web-based, connects to DUATS to get additional weather and flight plan filing.
Cons: No GPS or moving map support, no enroute updates on PDA, setup fee, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, internet access and full-featured web browser.
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