what flight planning software do you use?

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 23:55:02 -0700, Peter Duniho wrote:

"ALL"? Come on. No pilot ever takes advantage of literally all information
relating to their flight. You have to draw the line somewhere. You are

The ALL that I refer to is what the FAA refers to. To be specific I want
to know details about my route of flight, notams, tfr's, weather, and of
course the airports, including starting and ending, and the ones in
between. Software makes that easy and relatively painfree compared to
plotting it by hand. I've tried that. Called FSS got a briefing and a
TFR. They told me it was by such and such a road at this speedway. I'm
not from that area, I had no idea where it was, it sure wasn't on my
charts I'll tell you that. So, I had to drag out a street atlas, locate
it and transfer it to my chart. My software can do that in one click. I
still call and get briefings even after my software has done it's job
because I don't trust it when it comes to TFR's. And with the President
campaigning all over the country you better know where you're at because
my plane can't fly over those...

should look at disdain at you? For the record, I do not look at disdain
upon you, but I also feel it's hypocritical for you to look with disdain at

I believe a pilot who does not get a briefing before flying is asking for
trouble and they need to be weeded out. Explain to me why it's that hard
to call FSS and ask for a briefing. Tell me why recently we had a posting
from a person who said they flew to their destination only to find it
closed? I wonder what they forgot to do? I'm not saying I look with
disdain upon you, I look with disdain upon those pilots who could have got
a briefing via software, telephone, or in person and chose not to because
it wasn't comfortable.

I maintain that if they got the pertinent info for their flight they would
not have arrived to find the airport closed. In the case here locally the
pilot called their son to have him meet her at our airport, he arrived and
asked us if we had seen so and so cub. We told him the airport was closed
and had been for quite some time, but we saw a cub fly past and assumed it
went to another nearby airport. When she got there she was a nervous
wreck according to the FBO there because she hadn't planned on this
happening and couldn't catch her son on the phone. He showed up and all
was well due to help from others, but I maintain this pilot is a menace
and should learn to call FSS for a briefing. The key is, they didn't plan
and that's going to bite the rest of us in the ass some day. It's our
responsibility to insure fellow pilots do things the right way, not just
turn our head and mutter that SOB's going to kill somebody someday.

I don't like it myself, but I deal with it because I don't want to be the
cause of problems. Our airport closed early for work due to this, a pilot
didn't get a briefing and wasn't aware of construction going on, I don't
know how he missed all the torn up ground and X's on one of the runways,
but anyhow he managed to get spooked when he saw equipment on the runway
and called the FAA to report an incursion. Wouldn't have happened had he
known what was going on, so the city closed the airport altogether
because one pilot didn't get a briefing and the city was protecting it's
assets.

That's how important briefings can be, and I maintain that for those who
are scared of calling FSS or don't want the hassle, software is suitable
for it and should be used.