Flight planning with altitude

[azpilot]

Does anyone know of a free flight planning service that does a good job of taking into account altitude and elevation of the terrain? I am planning a flight from KCHD (Chandler, AZ) to KCDC (Cedar City, UT). There is quite a bit of terrain. There are some 12k+ mountains to deal with and I'll be crossing the grand canyon. I use Garmin Pilot (but not the terrain feature), and Skyvector for the planning. It would be a really nice feature to be able to enter an altitude and then have a plot showing me what my AGL will be throughout the flight. So, two questions.

1) Does anyone use the garmin pilot terrain feature? Is it worth $50 a year for a weekend warrior pilot that just flies two times a month?

2) Are there any other free (or inexpensive) services that do a good job of this?

 

[James331]

Not sure if it factors it, but fltplan.com recommendations have yet to default me into dirt, you can also have it overlay on a sectional for a quickie double check, all free.

 

[mondtster]

Bear in mind that while the terrain profile can be a useful tool there are some instances where it might not be as helpful as you really think. Sometimes you may find yourself perfectly safe flying below the minimum safe altitude for an area because there is one tall obstacle but it is not in your flight path.

Looking at a direct path between the two airports you mentioned, it appears that there is only one or two areas of real concern to me and both should be relatively easy to avoid.

 

[azpilot]

Thanks for the great responses. This will be the longest cross country I've ever flown, so I want to make sure I've got everything planned out and don't run into any 'surprises'.

 

[paflyer]

Thanks for the great responses. This will be the longest cross country I've ever flown, so I want to make sure I've got everything planned out and don't run into any 'surprises'.

Spend the $50.

 

[azpilot]

Spend the $50.

I just did yesterday. My garmin subscription was up and I renewed it and bought the VFR ad on package. It includes the terrain awareness and safe taxi. I'll come back here after the flight on Saturday and let everyone know how it works out.

 

[evapilotaz]

What airplane are you flying.

 

[azpilot]

What airplane are you flying.

I did the flight today and flew 6366D. I ended up not using the terrain feature in garmin pilot at all. It was VFR with visibility at a bazillion miles.

I did use the altitude profile at the AOPA flight planning website. I also tried out the fltplan.com feature.

 

[flyingron]

The problem with some of these planners for IFR is they are not (and can not be) overly congnizant of the minimum IFR altitudes. While they can possibly compute the book minimum altitude for the route when off-airways, for practical matters, ATC may have a higher altitude necessary for radar coverage which in most cases is a prerequisite for off-airway routing.

 

[ircphoenix]

I wish they added the ability to tweak to account for step climbs. Leaving the home 'drome I have to get up to 2,500 for the LAX transition... but I stay there till on the north side, then climb up to 4500 until clear of the bravo, then up to my cruise altitude from there. If Skyvector did vertical profile and altitude planning for various waypoints, I'd never use anything else.

 

[azpilot]

If Skyvector did vertical profile and altitude planning for various waypoints, I'd never use anything else.

I really like Skyvector, I would definitely like to see them add this as a feature as well.