Call for opinions on new XC planning tool

[Matt Herron Jr.]

I recently finished writing a program for beginner and intermediate
cross-country glider pilots called GlidePlan. The program can create
all the distance ring markups around landing sites that are
traditionally done by hand on sectionals for XC planning. It also
utilizes a new method for visualizing glideslopes called altitude
contours. These contours represent lines of equal elevation (MSL)
required to make it back to the airport at the selected arrival
altitude and L/D. I feel it's more intuitive, and it also allows the
effects of wind to be visualized.

Additionally, it can check tasks for FAI badge compatibility and give
suggestions as to how to make them compliant. It uses FAA supplied
scans of actual current sectionals, so maps are always up to date, and
can be printed and used in the cockpit if desired.

Since it is a new program, I was hoping that some folks here might be
willing to try out a demo and share their opinions on it. As I am a
relatively new XC pilot myself, my goal is to create a genuinely useful
tool for this group of folks, so please be honest and open about your
criticisms (as I know you will ;-). If you are interested, or just
want to take a look, a demo can be downloaded at
http://www.glideplan.com/download/download.html There is no
documentation yet, but the QuickStart file contains a short tutorial
that covers most of the features.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to give it a go. I am happy to get
feedback here, or privately at .

Cheers,

Matt Herron Jr.

[Mike[_8_]]

The new version is excellent Matt.

Mike


Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> I recently finished writing a program for beginner and intermediate
> cross-country glider pilots called GlidePlan. The program can create
> all the distance ring markups around landing sites that are
> traditionally done by hand on sectionals for XC planning. It also
> utilizes a new method for visualizing glideslopes called altitude
> contours. These contours represent lines of equal elevation (MSL)
> required to make it back to the airport at the selected arrival
> altitude and L/D. I feel it's more intuitive, and it also allows the
> effects of wind to be visualized.
>
> Additionally, it can check tasks for FAI badge compatibility and give
> suggestions as to how to make them compliant. It uses FAA supplied
> scans of actual current sectionals, so maps are always up to date, and
> can be printed and used in the cockpit if desired.
>
> Since it is a new program, I was hoping that some folks here might be
> willing to try out a demo and share their opinions on it. As I am a
> relatively new XC pilot myself, my goal is to create a genuinely useful
> tool for this group of folks, so please be honest and open about your
> criticisms (as I know you will ;-). If you are interested, or just
> want to take a look, a demo can be downloaded at
> http://www.glideplan.com/download/download.html There is no
> documentation yet, but the QuickStart file contains a short tutorial
> that covers most of the features.
>
> Thanks in advance to anyone willing to give it a go. I am happy to get
> feedback here, or privately at .
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matt Herron Jr.

[flying_monkey]

Matt,

I bought the original version of GlidePlan just after the article was
printed in Soaring several months ago. I loved it then. I mentioned a
few areas where I thought it could be improved, and you have addressed
most of those in this new version. It is a thoroughly professional
piece of software (and I'm a software professional, I should know).
I'm also just getting into cross country, and I find these altitude
contours quite useful for figuring out high I have to be to get home
from a given point. I like being able to customize the planned
performance to allow me to be as chicken or bold as I want. I love
being able to see the effect of wind on my range. This is a great
product! I hope you're making some money from this.

Thanks,
Ed

[[email protected]]

I have been playing around with it and can easily say it is the best
tool for planning XC flights. This is specially true for those of us
that haven't had years of XC time...

Great job!