Anyone use Aeroplanner?

I am a current user of Destination Direct and it is a great program.
I also purchased some Maptech CD's for charts and the moving map
feature using a GPS is awsome. The only downside is you cannot print
out the sectionals along your route with DD. The printing feature of
the sectionals using DD is pretty lame acutally. So I am now
considering getting a subscription to Aeroplanner as they have a
triptick feature that will print out current charts along your route.
Does anyone use Aeroplanner and have and good comments about it? Is
it worth the $119/year for the subscription? Also, does anyone use a
Pocet PC utilizing the charts that can be downloaded from Aeroplanner.
I was looking at either Oziexplorer CE or Memory Map Pocket Navigator
to view the charts and get moving map functionality with my GPS.

Thanks for any comments....


Glenn

I use Aeroplanner. I have found the Basic level to be good enough.

I fly a fairly speedy light twin at turbo altitudes. The main use of
Aeroplanner is to find out how far I am going and how long it will take.
From that I decide if and where to stop along the way for fuel and passenger
comfort. I usually have AirNav going in another browser window to check
fuel prices and airport data for potential stops, plugging them into and out
of Aeroplanner until I have my final plan.

You can also plug in different altitudes to see what the forecast winds
aloft are going to do to you, if it is less than a day before planned
departure.

Aeroplanner is also nice because you can see graphically where the TFRs and
restricted areas are, and plan your avoidance strategy from the comfort of
your desk chair.

I don't bother with the TripTicks. It takes way too many of them to print
out an entire flight. Flying high and fast, it is really too much
information. Plus if you deviate from the printed out plan, your Tripticks
are essentially useless. My Garmin 530 dishes out pretty much the same info
and is adaptable to changes in plans.

But depending on what you are flying you might want to. I used to also fly
a small piston helicopter as well as my fixed wing. In the helo, we flew
low, 500 AGL, routinely. 85 knots cruise speed. Regular charts are almost
impossible to use in a helo, particularly in the summer when the doors are
off. In case you don't know, helos are unstable in flight and you cannot
take your hand off the stick for even a second. So that leaves one hand
available for unfolding and positioning a chart. This hand is supposed to
be on the other stick (collective) at all times, in case of an engine
failure. Then you have to slam the collective down within 1-2 seconds or
you die. (Getting a sense of why I got rid of the helo?) Several times I
just landed in a field to check the chart when I got surprised by something.
Then I got smart and would print out Aeroplanner tripticks for the entire
route. Mainly so I would know where the towers and overflown airports were.
At the speeds we used it did not take too long to print out the Tripticks,
then I stapled them together like a book for the knee board.


"Glenn Westfall" wrote in message
...
I am a current user of Destination Direct and it is a great program.
I also purchased some Maptech CD's for charts and the moving map
feature using a GPS is awsome. The only downside is you cannot print
out the sectionals along your route with DD. The printing feature of
the sectionals using DD is pretty lame acutally. So I am now
considering getting a subscription to Aeroplanner as they have a
triptick feature that will print out current charts along your route.
Does anyone use Aeroplanner and have and good comments about it? Is
it worth the $119/year for the subscription? Also, does anyone use a
Pocet PC utilizing the charts that can be downloaded from Aeroplanner.
I was looking at either Oziexplorer CE or Memory Map Pocket Navigator
to view the charts and get moving map functionality with my GPS.

Thanks for any comments....


Glenn

Glenn Westfall ) wrote:

snip
Does anyone use Aeroplanner and have and good comments about it? Is
it worth the $119/year for the subscription?

Glenn, you may want to ask this question over in rec.aviation.piloting, or
take a look at this thread from that group, dated last April:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?N3BD62DB5

There are a few VFR-only pilots who have publicly praised it.

I am going on my second year of using Aeroplanner and for the most part I
have been very happy with it. I do not, however, print the en route maps
or approach plates as I do not want to blow through my printer cartridges
like potato chips!

Actually, in a few instances I have printed off their charts, but always
for very specific needs: The NY terminal chart specifically over the
Hudson River, NY, VFR corridor and a small section of the Montreal
sectional chart containing Lake Placid airport, as this airport is right
off the edge of the lower NY sectional chart, are two that come to mind.

For me, the advantages of using Aeroplanner is that it saves me a lot of
time in planning either VFR or IFR flights. Fuel estimates, time en route,
and routing are all easier (IMO) using Aeroplanner.

Also, I do create Trip Ticks specifically for the LEG table that is
produced and the relevant NOTAMS, both of which I print off and take with
me to the cockpit.

Another advantage is the graphical representation of TFRs and special
airspace overlaid on the route planning map.

Some negatives I have discovered over the last year or so:

Often their weather seems way behind. For example, winds aloft typically
are only available out 12-18 hours or so (at least in the several times I
use AeroPlanner). Many times they are not even available that far out,
which makes preplanning via AP a multiple step process (Log in the day
before to create the route, then log in the day of the flight to get a more
accurate forecast of en route speeds, times, etc).

In addition to this, their METARs and TAFS also seem to be behind by
several hours. I have confirmed this several times by going to DUATS first
to browse current METARS and TAFS, then built a trip tick in Aeroplanner.

Aeroplanner is in the process of replacing their current planning interface
with one that has a lot of potentially nice features. However, there are
also some crucial pieces missing. I had reported several of these in their
BETA forum, only to watch my post go unanswered for several weeks now.
This discouraged me from providing any additional feedback of their beta.


--
Peter

Tarver Engineering ) wrote:

"Peter R." wrote in message
ds.com...
Glenn Westfall ) wrote:

snip
Does anyone use Aeroplanner and have and good comments about it? Is
it worth the $119/year for the subscription?

Glenn, you may want to ask this question over in rec.aviation.piloting, or
take a look at this thread from that group, dated last April:

I don't think so, rap is an idiot newsgroup, with many false concensuses.

Knowing a bit of your reputation, I am not surprised that you feel this
way.


--
Peter

"Peter R." wrote in message
ds.com...
Tarver Engineering ) wrote:

"Peter R." wrote in message
ds.com...

snip
Glenn, you may want to ask this question over in
rec.aviation.piloting, or
take a look at this thread from that group, dated last April:

I don't think so, rap is an idiot newsgroup, with many false
concensuses.

Knowing a bit of your reputation, I am not surprised that you feel this
way.

The bunyip is a rap creation; there are few on usenet, knowing that, who
would not label rap a gathering place for idiots. Rap's little puppet has
about finished off sci.space.shuttle now.

"Tarver Engineering" wrote in message ...

The bunyip is a rap creation; there are few on usenet, knowing that, who
would not label rap a gathering place for idiots. Rap's little puppet has
about finished off sci.space.shuttle now.

Care to translate to English? What the heck does this mean?

-Nathan