Did you use primer?;) Suggest you use the search feature; tons of opinions already there.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
49clipper said:
whats the best flight planner to use. Quickest, least cumbersone, most complete, etc.
Jim
RV-6
Click to expand...

I'm going to opine that this is a very personal choice and somewhat hardware dependent. I've used a bunch of flight planners over the years- a sectional and a pen/highlighter, Flight Soft (a gift), Seattle Avionics, EAA's flight planner, and ForeFlight to name a few. I like ForeFlight the best. It's easy, intuitive, and gives me the information I want. Your needs may be different. I fly VFR, lots of 200nm stuff and less, and once a month or so, longer routes. Foreflight has helped with long, short and Canadian flights, updates are affordable and it is the best I've used. As much as I've enjoyed it, I'll be dropping it for WingX shortly because FF refuses to support SkyRadar's ADS-b hardware, which I own. They swear they're not married to Stratus but it sure looks monogamous to me!

If you don't have an iPad, I think I'd get one. The gestures make it a really great flight planning tool, no matter what software you get. Its better than any laptop or desktop to use - again, in my opinion (Mac or PC).

But you know, I'll bet you get at least a half dozen folks on here that disagree, and they're just as correct as me. Its a bit about how you think, and a bit about what you're familiar with, and whole lot about your opinion.

If you can find friends with Wing-X and ForeFlight, try them out and see what they have to offer. Try out the other recommendations you get. Then spend your $$ and buy the best one....for you.
 
They all have good or bad things about them.

I like AOPAs FlyQweb. Why?
1) Always available when an internet is available
2) Stores lots of routes
3) Links to DUATS for briefings and filing
4) Weather, terrain, TFR, sectionals, etc overlays
5) Easy to use.

But then again, for long routes, I always spin the winds and draw the route manually (E6B and a plotter). Why? I want route familiarity (terrain, airports, prepare for dead reckoning). Flying the route before I fly the route. Then I fly with charts and GPS.

I know; but, with 2,000 hours as a KC135 navigator (pre-INS and pre-GPS days) I prefer no surprises.

In other words, pick one, learn it, cross check it, then trust it (but verify).
 
I plan and file with Fltplan.com.
I like Weathermeister best for "more than you'd ever want to know about weather" and you can actually read/understand it.
I fly with Foreflight on iPad. Lot's of reasons presented in forum already.
 
Fltplan.com is good for online planning.
CoPilot is *excellent* for the iPhone (has been ever since it was first written for the Palm Pilot).
Skyvector.com is great for visualizing the route.
I fly with AirNavPro on my iPad and Android phone.

As someone pointed out... The choice is very personal, and (so far) I haven't found one app that does it all in a way I like.
 
Foreflight on my iPhone5 is all I use, it has everything I need. I have filed while paying for fuel before blasting off and picking up my IFR flight plan. I love it.
 
+1 for foreflight and weathermeister. I use weathermeister.com to get a good idea of winds split up over the flight, mainly on long flights. I use foreflight to file every time. I can file a simple or complicated route, pick any plane that I fly, it fills in my default speeds, burns and altitudes and I adjust in the filing screen. I can file in the FBO and by the time I get the plane started, the tower has my clearance on first call. Get a demo of what your friends have and go with the one that works best for the way you think. For me, it's foreflight.
 
One thing that varies a lot between the various applications is the size if their databases dur to hiw the data is stored. This affects how long it takes to uodate the data every month, when new charts come out. I currebtly fly with WingX Pro and also have a Fireflight subscription. I also have a 30 day trial if AIPA's FlyQ EFB. I trued Garmin Pilit but prefer WXP and FF.

I went back to look at the database sizes. I deleted the databases of all three programs and looked at the storage each one took up:

WingX Pro: 12MB
Foreflight: 122MB
FlyQ EFB: 325 MB

I then added the databases I use more often, which includes 7 states: AZ, CA, FL, HI, IL, NV, TX. I downloaded all data for each app, except for IFR Hi databases. For WingX Pro I downloaded all 50 states, since it didn't offer a way to select several individual states. The results were:

WingX Pro 2.6GB (for all 50 states!)
Foreflight 4.3 GB
FlyQ EFB 5.1GB

FlyQ took by far the longest to download the databases from scratch, but there might have been something wrong with the connection. When it updated the database earlier, it didn't take longer than any of the others. On the other hand, maybe they do download something big the first time, but only grab the same data as the other apps when doing the monthly update.

FlyQ and FF are nice in that they let you select which individual states you want. WingX lets you select All of the US, Eastern, Central or Western Regions, or one state at a time. I would have preferred to get some states in each region. However, at the end of the day, the data storage of WingX Pro is so much more efficient compared to the others, that even downloading all of the US, it took much less storage for all 50 states than either of the other two took for just the seven states listed above. Time-wise, all 3 apps take a similarly annoying long time to download a new cycle of charts.

Foreflight claims it can download databases in the background. You can close the app, and go do other things with your iPad while the databases are downloading. This mostly works. However, I've never gotten a full download because after a while, at least a couple of the databases fail to download completely and you have to come back into the app to make sure everything you want came down. It is still a huge improvement over the others. Usually, the couple of databases that time out don't take that long to download, compared to a full update.

For my use, I don't fly IFR much, so I don't need geo-referenced charts. However, I do use the geo-referenced taxi diagrams. I also find the obstacle database and warnings useful. We have some very tall towers where I fly, that are hard to see when the weather is hazy. WingX Pro comes with the geo-referenced taxi diagrams and obstacle warnings in the basic subscription. For the other two programs, you have to buy the IFR package.

I also like to use the split screen. WingX Pro and FlyQ EFB both offer that.

To my way of working, I like the Foreflight Interface to move between subsections the best. WingX Pro looks the least up-to-date. However, in actual flight, WingX Pro is the easiest for me to use. Once I'm in the moving map, I don't usually have to go anywhere else. Everything I need is on that screen so I don't have to go back to the main screen with all the different options. I haven't given FlyQ enough of a workout to give it a fair evaluation. I'm probably too used to the other two to be completely impartial.

I fly mostly VFR and away from any real weather. I haven't exercised weather functions much, but it seems like both Foreflight and FlyQ are better at getting and displaying current weather over the the moving map. You have to overtly go and download current weather on WingX Pro, and it doesn't overlay on a sectional. This relates to Internet weather. I have not used ADS-B, which does show on a sectional in Wing X Pro.

WingX Pro supports the most external hardware for ADS-B and AHRS artificial reference system. We'll see how long it takes FlyQ to start supporting the iLevil and Sagetech Clarity devices.

WingX Pro and Foreflight both have iPhone versions of the app. FlyQ EFB is only for the iPad. This is a big disadvantage for me, since I like having a full backup device, hardware and software, should something happen in flight.

Bottom line: all three programs (and also Garmin Pilot) are very capable. The moving map capabilities are almost identical, with little idiosyncrasies for each company. To me, there is not one that is clearly the frontrunner in this race. If you are used to Garmin instruments, you will probably like Garmin Pilot and its abridged moving maps. FlyQ is promising a lot with Synthetic Vision included in the basic price. Splut screen support is nice. Foreflight is know for very good preflight planning capabilities. WingX is very easy to use once flying, and supports the most external hardware.

I'm somewhat of a geek and like to play around with these systems. If I were just starting out, I'd get the 30 day trial versions of each program and would check them all out at my own pace. I would probably get maybe two at a time and fly with them. I would then get a basic subscription for the one I liked best, and would try out the other two for 30 days. Then I'd get a 1 yr subscription for the one of those that fit my style best.

Finally, I'd fly for a year with the two front runners. I have both Foreflight and WingX Pro subscriptions right now. I bought a 3 year plan for WingX Pro, which provides a substantial discount. When my Foreflight subscription expires, I will decide whether to renew or switch to FlyQ. As of today, I would still stay with both WingX Pro and FF, though FlyQ looks promising.

All these programs are so inexpensive, compared with a Garmin unit with database updates, that even if you buy all of them, you are still ahead cost wise. The iPad has almost replaced my laptop, so its cost hardly figures into the equation for me. I'd get an iPad even if I didn't use it for navigation. The only extra cost for moving map functionality is the cost of the subscriptions for less than $100/yr each, including full 28 day updates of all databases.

There was a question about an iPad 1: I've run both WingX Pro and ForeFlight on it. The hardware is somewhat limited, and the apps can't run in track up mode. I don't use that much, and pretty much everything else works. However, you can tell it is older hardware.
 
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