air space checks for long xc's

eman1200

eman1200

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Bro do you even lift
what tools do you use to check airspace on long xc's, especially if you know there is a bunch of 'complicated' airspace? garmin pilot's flight profile seems to work well, does FF have something similar? I guess you could technically follow your entire route on GP or FF (formerly done on "sectionals") and check for airspace that way, but I could see missing something. anything else?
 
I don't understand the question. What do you mean by checking for airspace?
 
AOPA's flight planner shows airspaces along the profile view, I think FF only does terrain. I just do it by hand since I look at the whole route when planning anyway.
 
Oh I plot my route on skyvector before I leave the house. But then also I'm always on flight following so barely comes up
 
I use www.weathermeister.com for this. It's a subscription service but I like it.

Stores the planes profiles and simplifies the planning process for me.

As Bryan said, flight following avoids much of the hassle.
 
eman1200 said:
what tools do you use to check airspace on long xc's, especially if you know there is a bunch of 'complicated' airspace? garmin pilot's flight profile seems to work well, does FF have something similar? I guess you could technically follow your entire route on GP or FF (formerly done on "sectionals") and check for airspace that way, but I could see missing something. anything else?
Click to expand...
On the Foreflite you can touch the screen within a SUA and it will give you the altitudes, the using Agency and the hours it's in use. You can enter a flight plan (you don't have to file it) and then get a ForeFlight briefing. That will get you Airspace Notams
 
When flying IFR its of little concern, but when doing the planning, reviewing the route sectionals on my favorite EFB for all those various gotchas along the way. Hopefully ancillary data, like fuel prices and accommodations, are supplied by your app or others.
 
Ravioli said:
......As Bryan said, flight following avoids much of the hassle.
Click to expand...

Which is fine on most short flights around here because there’s not a lot going on, but fly down the east coast of FLA and sht gets real real quick. Not going to just “hope everything works out with flight following”.
 
This is the flight profile, gives you all potential airspace along your route. I’m less likely to miss something compared to just clicking on things I see on the sectional.

9604b6804faf861160d50ce839fe36f7.jpg
 
eman1200 said:
This is the flight profile, gives you all potential airspace along your route. I’m less likely to miss something compared to just clicking on things I see on the sectional.

9604b6804faf861160d50ce839fe36f7.jpg
Click to expand...
That gives a pretty good 'picture.' What app is that?
 
For long cross-country or extended cross-country flights and trips, you might get a paper chart called "U.S. IFR/VFR ENROUTE LOW ALTITUDE PLANNING CHART". It is published in March annually and comes with East on one side and West on the other. With 2, you can pin them to a wall and plan the entire country. It depicts:
  • VOR/VORTAC/VOR-DME
  • NDB
  • Airways
  • Cities
  • Airports with Approach Procedure or 3000+ hard runway
  • Airspace
    • Prohibited
    • Restricted
    • Alert
    • Warning
    • MOA, etc
 
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eman1200 said:
This is the flight profile, gives you all potential airspace along your route. I’m less likely to miss something compared to just clicking on things I see on the sectional.

9604b6804faf861160d50ce839fe36f7.jpg
Click to expand...


I just plot the course on FF and check out everything it crosses. I do like the flight profile you put up on GP though. Not sure if FF has that or not. If it does I haven't discovered it yet. :)

As @luvflyin said you can tap on any SUA and it gives you the info on it.
 
BrianNC said:
I just plot the course on FF and check out everything it crosses. ....As @luvflyin said you can tap on any SUA and it gives you the info on it.
Click to expand...

yep, that's what I normally do for 'typical' trips. in this case I'm looking to make sure I don't miss anything flying thru lots of different airspaces, and also trying to plan accordingly if say flight following says one of them is active or denies me thru whatever....want to make sure I got everything covered.
 
I’ll just plug it into Skyvector and analyze the airspace that my route traverses through during pre-flight planning.
 
I just look at the line on my sectional in foreflight, doesn't take but a second, if you're just worried about B and restricted and prohibited and stuff like that check out a low altitude IFR, it's a much leaner view.
 
AuntPeggy said:
For long cross-country or extended cross-country flights and trips, you might get a paper chart called "U.S. IFR/VFR ENROUTE LOW ALTITUDE PLANNING CHART". It is published in March annually and comes with East on one side and West on the other. With 2, you can pin them to a wall and plan the entire country. It depicts:
  • VOR/VORTAC/VOR-DME
  • NDB
  • Airways
  • Cities
  • Airports with Approach Procedure or 3000+ hard runway
  • Airspace
    • Prohibited
    • Restricted
    • Alert
    • Warning
    • MOA, etc
Click to expand...

Also shows Bravo and Charly

xpRcVs4.jpg


When I do a long VFR flight I check my line on foreflight, first off the low IFR, than the VFR for better detail.
 
eman1200 said:
yep, that's what I normally do for 'typical' trips. in this case I'm looking to make sure I don't miss anything flying thru lots of different airspaces, and also trying to plan accordingly if say flight following says one of them is active or denies me thru whatever....want to make sure I got everything covered.
Click to expand...
There's the Gamecock 1, only goes to 6000 and it's intermittent. Go check Fishing Creek Reservoir for skinny dippers and you'll just go around it. Don't be messin around with P50, only goes to 3000 anyway. The Mayport MOA's probably won't cause you much grief. They only get to use the low one no more than 30 one hour blocks a month. The high one which starts at 3000 they can only use 8 times a month in one hour blocks. You'll probably b chattin with Jacksonville Approach and they'll say go on through. A294 is an interesting one, goes up to 4000 and it's there because of bug smasher traffic. Usually those Alert Areas are around Airforce Fighter bases. Now ya got R2935, just go under the bottom of it which is 11000. Hey, when did Gwinn get a Surface Area? Didn't that used to be one of those Class G airports with a Tower? Did all that in about 10 minutes with ForeFlight.
 
luvflyin said:
Probably. WARNING: DO NOT USE @luvflyin FOR NAVIGATION.
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lol exactly my point. anyways I think I answered my own question with GP flight profile. with all the gadgets we got today, I don't want to have to follow my magenta line on a sectional or GP (even though that's what I mostly do because of the info you can get by just clicking on the airspace) and click on each individual area in question, cross check it with my intended altitude, make notes, yadda yadda. I want the info to come to me, kind of like it does with the flight profile.

ok I'll just go back to waiting for the Redneck Pilots next video, carry on.
 
James331 said:
I just look at the line on my sectional in foreflight, doesn't take but a second, if you're just worried about B and restricted and prohibited and stuff like that check out a low altitude IFR, it's a much leaner view.
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This.

And we are supposed to be knowing what the graphics on that bit of papyrus is telling us anyway. And where to find additional info about controlling authority, what altitudes, times active, and more.

But operating around Texas with all of our active military bases, Flight Following and now IFR flying has always taken care of the concerns you mention in your original post.

And I’m still uncertain what problem or concern you’re trying to address.
 
I know this is lazy, but I do my research and then go IFR. Anything that I miss, gets picked up.

I was flying from Charleston to Denton, wanted to descend to 4,000 ft. I was worried about a restricted area and was cleared. The restricted area was cold. How is a pilot to know it is cold when I was vectored around until I was given direct? (The area was not part of my original flight plan as vectored WAY south of my original plan/path ....and yes, I asked ATC to verify it was cold before I went into the airspace.)
 
texasag93 said:
I know this is lazy, but I do my research and then go IFR. Anything that I miss, gets picked up.

I was flying from Charleston to Denton, wanted to descend to 4,000 ft. I was worried about a restricted area and was cleared. The restricted area was cold. How is a pilot to know it is cold when I was vectored around until I was given direct? (The area was not part of my original flight plan as vectored WAY south of my original plan/path ....and yes, I asked ATC to verify it was cold before I went into the airspace.)
Click to expand...

When the weather allows for VFR, IFR is just too slow and too limiting for my taste
 
Just motor along until the Gucci1000/500/3x pops an airspace alert. :)
 
FlyQ has a very similar profile page. Currently the exploring GP, that profile view is really cool. From my research FF doesn’t have that, they only show terrain .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think the airspace question has been answered by many, but after I do my coarse magenta line from departure to destination, I generally rubber band changes to fly the Victor airways that take me there. The actual time lost instead of going direct is mostly insignificant, but it gives you a path well travelled with plenty of mea, communication warnings and the like. It gives you a backup method to safely navigate if your gps becomes degraded, something I've heard occurs more often in the southwest.
 
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