Flight Planning Apps/Sites These Days?

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Castle Rock, CO
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Everything Offends Me
What does everyone use to plan VFR flights online these days? Used to be that everyone used FlightPrep (before they decided to scrog up everything with their patent lawsuits). Then AOPA Flight Planner was a thing.

Any new stuff I should be using? Looking to find something that will plan a route, allow rubber banding, give headings, deviation, winds aloft, etc.

Looking forward to seeing what's new.
 
I use ForeFlight on my iPad or iPhone for any planning. ForeFlight does offer a web version as well which I hear works decently but I've never bothered to use it.

I typically plan a flight at the airport right before I walk out to the airplane.
 
I use a combination of SkyVector for an initial look-see and to plan out the route and then the Lockheed-Martin planner.
 
+1 And the web version is pretty solid as well.
 
jesse said:
I use ForeFlight on my iPad or iPhone for any planning. ForeFlight does offer a web version as well which I hear works decently but I've never bothered to use it.

I typically plan a flight at the airport right before I walk out to the airplane.
Click to expand...

The web planner for foreflight looks pretty awesome, but it costs $99/yr to get the maps. I use Avare in flight and it works great. I'm just looking for some flight planning stuff. I found NavLog, but its pretty dated.
 
SkyHog said:
The web planner for foreflight looks pretty awesome, but it costs $99/yr to get the maps. I use Avare in flight and it works great. I'm just looking for some flight planning stuff. I found NavLog, but its pretty dated.
Click to expand...
Fltplan go is free and is available on iOS or android. Of course the web version is available too.
 
Depends on how far in advance I'm working. Skynav for a first look a few days before, Foreflight evening before and prior to wheels up.
 
Skyvector, fltplan go, and 1800wxbrief.com to verify times.
 
ForeFlight... Either on iPad, iPhone, or plan.foreflight.com.

The only drawback to the proliferation of ForeFlight and other EFB apps is that there's not really that much good on the web for free any more.

Skyvector was gone for a while there, glad to see it's back. That was always my go-to until it disappeared.
 
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Looks like Avare has a pretty nifty planning feature - its just a bit less "UI Friendly." But I'm getting the hang of it in sim mode right now.

I should be go for my first cross county in a long time tomorrow!
 
Garmin Pilot! Even tells you if you need an alternate. One time, changing the ETD by 5 minutes was the difference between legally needing an alternate and not. Also tells you which alternates are legal.

But you asked about VFR. I prefer Foreflight for VFR, and Garmin Pilot for IFR. Mainly because I find the weather planning tools in Garmin Pilot to be superior.
 
I use the cheapest version of ForeFlight on an iPad since I'm only VFR. I use a Bad Elf GPS since the iPad is wifi only. I also use a Stratux that I built. The Stratux has some value, but I'm glad I didn't shell out for the Stratus.
 
I use WingX on my iPad. Online I do use airnav's fuel planning feature and for basic airport info.
 
I'm a VFR pilot. For initial 'look see' I typically go to skyvector. During the flight I use my Nexus 7 tablet running Avare and also have paper charts/flight plan printed out (of course built in equipment in the plane as well). During training, I used to do the planning by hand on paper and from time to time still like to go over that, but most of my flights are local where I don't get up very high so I don't have much need to for 'complex' route planning. Are there any tools (apps/websites) out there that allow you to plan a 'step climb' to your final cruising altitude?

Say I want to plan a fairly straightforward route from KSGR (Sugar Land) to KLCH (Lake Charles). Since that requires going across town without knowing in advance if I'd be cleared into Bravo, i would PLAN to take off from KSGR and climb to 1500 as I fly northeast-ish until I get to the VFR corridor, and stay at 1500 until I get all the way across to the east side of Houston. I would then want to climb up to a higher cruising altitude once I'm past the Bravo boundary. Then of course plan a proper descent to final destination. Is there a way to plan these different altitudes and climbs/descents into any software? The plan page in Avare allows me to select an altitude but not for separate legs... it seems to assign that as my cruise altitude throughout. Any suggestions?
 
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