On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 11:41:26 -0700, Peter Duniho wrote:

I'm sitting wondering if the reason it takes you so long to plan a 1000 NM
XC without a computer is because you are so dependent on your flight
planning software.

You don't understand it do you? There is no way you can call every
airport within 30 miles of your planned fuel stop and get prices quickly.
There is no way you can call each FSS along the path and get a briefing
quickly. Do them both and you'll spend more time on the phone than it
takes to plan the flight.

To obey the FAR's requires you to become familar with your route of
flight. You can't do it by calling only your local FSS and consulting the
charts in front of you. You require more information than that, and you
are not obtaining it according to your statements of not calling FSS's
along the way. You're lucky you haven't been shot down in some TFR so far
based on your lack of calls to FSS's.

Maybe you're wealthy and don't care about fuel pricing, maybe you feel
lucky and don't think you'll ever get caught in a TFR. Well, I'm not
rich, and I don't want to be caught in a TFR so I take extra long to
VERIFY ALL the information pertaining to my flight, like the FAR's require
for each flight.

That is why I take a little longer than you, I FOLLOW WHAT THE FAR's
REQUIRE A PILOT TO DO. I don't take half a day to plan a long cross
country, that was an example given. I suppose you've never planned a
flight and then called FSS and discovered you can't fly it as planned?
Thus requiring more planning? How lucky of you. I suppose you've never
planned a flight only to have a TFR get in the way causing a replan.

You just don't seem to get it. Flight planning is not as simple as it
used to be if you care about things. There are more steps to it now. If
you don't think TFR's are an issue, then why does AOPA send out emails to
pilots in states with them to help them stay out of trouble? I suppose
those emails are to members on the Internet.

What I have said, and will say again, software speeds up the process of
discovering problems with your flight plan. WHY CAN'T YOU GET THAT
THROUGH YOUR HEAD?