AOPA Flight Planner - I preferred the earlier one

AOPA's flight planner was introduced to give users better ability to plot
TFRs than what the old DUATS flight planner had. It was written by Jeppesen
and is the same software that the FAA uses to plot TFRs. It is based on
Jeppesen's FliteStar software and had the TFR plotting ability even before
FliteStar had it.

However, like all freeware, I suspect it is deliberately crippled so as to
not affect FliteStar's sales.

8NC8 is in the database for both FliteStar and the AOPA flight planner. For
some reason the AOPA flight planner will not let you use it, although you
can see it plotted on the chart if you zoom in enough. You can click on it
and get the information about it.

7 NM NE of Durham, NC (Durham County)

N 36° 03.6' W 78° 47.0' Magnetic Variation: 9.1°W

Elevation: 309'

Cincinnati Sectional

Owner: Private, Permitted Use: Private

Position Estimated, Elevation Surveyed


It looks like a bug (in the software -- the airport does not look like a
bug). There is no problem including it in FlightStar flight plans, so this
is a peculiarity of the crippled AOPA version. I kind of wonder if the AOPA
software treats all private airports like this? It will not allow WA96 (Port
Orchard, WA), either. Maybe the lawyers got hold of it and worried about
liability.

Several people have mentioned Cirrus flight planning software. Cirrus is
going away. A free standalone replacement called "Golden Eagle FlightPrep"
has been developed by the same people who developed Cirrus, but I could not
find on their web site what the operating requirements will be. It will be
formally introduced in April at Sun n Fun. Cirrus was not developed by
DUATS, but both Cirrus and Golden Eagle FlightPrep are promoted on the DUATS
web site.

An online version of FlightPrep is available by paid subscription. It will
run on either Mac or Windows environments. The Mac notice has a disclaimer
that says "check computer requirements," but they don't seem to have posted
anywhere what those computer requirements are. It looks like the online
version compares favorably with Aeroplanner. They give a discount to AOPA
members.

www.flightprep.com