Flight planning in Canada

[java]

Now that I've got a flying plane, and am "stretching my legs" and wanting to go places, and after reading a lot of the debate around runwayfinder.com et al, I find myself searching for a good online flight planning tool. There seems to be several choices, but often there are limited services North of the 49th parallel.

Any Canadians (or American friends who fly North at times) out there who have found a good flight planning tool that works well up here?

[Tom Martin]

Foreflight for ipad and iphone work well, Weathermeister is a good program and I am just checking out iflightplanner and it looks promising. They do not have all the Canadian data yet but they are working towards that goal.

[CPSONE]

Jeppesen's Flight Star works real well.
If you join AOPA they have an on-line flight planner that also works well.

[Snowflake]

I use an app called CoPilot, by Laurie Davis. I now have an iPhone version, but the program started out on Palm organizers and is still used there by some. If you have an old Palm sitting around, it might be a good place to start.

For the iPhone/iTouch version, airport databases are available that cover Canada. Once you buy the program, the data updates are free. And with the latest version, weather and wind info is downloaded automatically for each flight from the 'net.

[hevansrv7a]

Whatever tool you choose, if you are flying in Canadian airspace you need to have Canadian charts and Canadian facility directory, plus some additional record-keeping requirements that we Yanks don't have. At least this is what I was told when I was flying in and out of Canada on a regular basis.

Around here (Detroit) the sectional covers Canada. In fact, most of the Canadian airspace around here is controlled by Cleveland Center (up to where London Center takes it). Even so, you need Canadian charts to be legal. I never bothered.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by hevansrv7a

[font=Franklin Gothic Medium]Whatever tool you choose, if you are flying in Canadian airspace you need to have Canadian charts and Canadian facility directory, plus some additional record-keeping requirements that we Yanks don't have. At least this is what I was told when I was flying in and out of Canada on a regular basis.

This is incorrect. The CARs only require that a pilot be aware of all information necessary for his/her flight. They do not require that you have all of the papers with you. You can legally fly with an expired CFS, expired GPS data, no charts, etc. As long as you know that the information you have is correct, or you know what's changed between your copy and what's current.

Oddly enough, I thought that in the US it was a requirement that you have on board the aircraft all of the current charts you need for your flight. Is that not the case?

[hevansrv7a]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

This is incorrect. The CARs only require that a pilot be aware of all information necessary for his/her flight. They do not require that you have all of the papers with you. You can legally fly with an expired CFS, expired GPS data, no charts, etc. As long as you know that the information you have is correct, or you know what's changed between your copy and what's current.

Oddly enough, I thought that in the US it was a requirement that you have on board the aircraft all of the current charts you need for your flight. Is that not the case?

Both countries, to my best information, have the technical "out" that if you "know" the information you are OK. I don't know if they do ramp checks in Canada, but I would not want to "prove" that I "know" all the relevant information for an intended flight. So, legal, yes, but can you defend it if you are challenged? That would be a good question.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by hevansrv7a

Can you defend it if you are challenged? That would be a good question.

For local flights around my home airport, I wouldn't have any problems defending not carrying charts. I know the airspace in my GPS matches the current airspace in my area (even though the GPS database in general is not current). My charts and Flight Supplement aren't current either, but I know what's changed that affects me, and that's what matters.

If I were travelling, i'd buy current charts and update the GPS database. I would want the GPS current as a primary reference, and the charts both as a backup and as a planning aid.

[Dean_aeroleds]

While you may need to add some airport data to it, AirPlan is free, runs on your PC, and has a fair number of Canadian airports: www.razorsedgesoft.com

[ScottSchmidt]

I have heard that Voyager and WingX both have Canadian data. Not the printing sectionals like Foreflight but digital maps and airport data.