"Paul Folbrecht wrote:
Being newly licenced (yesterday), I've started thinking about the type
of VFR flight-planning I'll do in the real, post-student world, and what
tools I'll use.
[zip]
So, I think I have two questions: 1) Does this make sense? and 2) What's
the best flight-planning software out there? I've used AOPA's tool and
I like it, but I don't really know what's out there (and yeah I can do a
google search but then you don't know if you're hearing about the latest
& greatest). I do have a Palm 5 device so PC software that has a Palm
component too would be a plus.

Paul,

WingX from http://www.hiltonsoftware.com runs on a Pocket PC and let's you
quickly do route planning with wind calculations, it'll do W&B and a whole
lot more including having Parts 1, 61, 91, 119, and 141 of the FARs right on
your PDA. It's pretty cool if I say so myself (ahem...) Disclaimer:
Should be obvious.

Try it, you'll like it - it's free to download and try.

Hilton