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.

First of all, it seems that everyone here has forgotten their manners --
CONGRATULATIONS, Paul! Welcome to the .0005% of the world that gets to fly!

As far as flight-planning goes, I'd recommend checking these out:

1. www.Aeroplanner.com has some really great on-line flight planning
stuff -- including the ability to print out sectionals with your course line
and 10-mile-ticks superimposed. They are fabulous on long trips, cuz
they're on notebook-sized paper and you just "flip" from one map to the
next. No "octopus arms" in the cockpit, fighting to fold a sectional!

2. Destination Direct ( www.destdirect.com/ ) is (IMHO) the best stand-alone
PC flight planner. I've used it for years, and was able to flight plan your
trip from Timmerman to Appleton in about five seconds, with fuel burn, ETA,
waypoints, etc.

As time goes on and you garner more flight experience, you'll find that you
really can't get lost, as long as you know just a very few basic landmarks
along your route. For example, to fly from Iowa City, IA to Janesville, WI,
do I *really* need a flight log that ticks off every railroad track and
power line from here to there?

Nah. So long as I know where (a) I-80 is, (b) the Mississippi River is, and
(c) the nuclear power plant in Rockford, IL is (it emits a tower of steam
visible for 50 miles), and have a rough idea of the necessary heading and
winds aloft, it's almost impossible NOT to find Janesville. Overlay this
knowledge with your VORs, a clock, and a moving map GPS, and, shoot, you'd
have to be pretty unlucky to really get "lost."

By the way, where did you train -- Timmerman? I trained in East Troy ten
years ago, and lived in Racine until '97.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"