LauraE51
Pre-takeoff checklist
On Wednesday, i took my longest flight since returning to flying after 42 years, flying from Tracy (KTCY) to Palm Springs (KPSP) for a conference. I'd prepared several different routes, depending on the weather and my last minute preferences and i listened to LiveATC for many hours to understand the Palm Springs airspace.
The flight down was terrific, although i did feel some anxiety because this was a route and destination i'd never traveled to before. It was fun and relatively uneventful, unless you call my 40 minute adventure at KMIT where the gas pumps wouldn't work, a problem.
To my surprise, when i woke this morning and sent one of my FF routes to DUATS for a briefing, i was told that my route was invalid. Yes, FF (or probably DUATS) hated my route. (The exact language was, "Invalid route: Some parts not recognizable.") Now, i'd taken this route south, so i began experimenting with some of the other routes i'd saved. Some came back successfully with a briefing but most didn't. In between experimenting with routes, i emailed FF with the problem. They quickly replied asking for my exact route, with waypoints, so they could replicate the problem. On my end, i began modifying my route by eliminating one waypoint at a time and sending that route to DUATS. Eventually i found the exact waypoint that was the culprit, got the briefing, and went on my way.
Only when i returned home did i see an email from FF saying they couldn't replicate the problem, but asking to call me to talk through it. As it turns out, DUATS was probably the problem. Jeb, from FF, explained that FF had just scaled back their DUATS support, and had arranged for all briefings to go through Lockheed Martin instead. However, for me to take advantage of it, i'd need to sign out of DUATS within FF. He walked me through it and sent me the link to their blog post (dated yesterday) where they explained their reasoning.
The best part is that you don't have to have a Lockheed Martin account. Ask for a briefing. Get a briefing. Problem solved
Well, not before a whole lot of grief.
Here's their post: http://blog.foreflight.com/2015/03/19/faster-auto-router-now-available-duats-services-deprecated/
The flight down was terrific, although i did feel some anxiety because this was a route and destination i'd never traveled to before. It was fun and relatively uneventful, unless you call my 40 minute adventure at KMIT where the gas pumps wouldn't work, a problem.
To my surprise, when i woke this morning and sent one of my FF routes to DUATS for a briefing, i was told that my route was invalid. Yes, FF (or probably DUATS) hated my route. (The exact language was, "Invalid route: Some parts not recognizable.") Now, i'd taken this route south, so i began experimenting with some of the other routes i'd saved. Some came back successfully with a briefing but most didn't. In between experimenting with routes, i emailed FF with the problem. They quickly replied asking for my exact route, with waypoints, so they could replicate the problem. On my end, i began modifying my route by eliminating one waypoint at a time and sending that route to DUATS. Eventually i found the exact waypoint that was the culprit, got the briefing, and went on my way.
Only when i returned home did i see an email from FF saying they couldn't replicate the problem, but asking to call me to talk through it. As it turns out, DUATS was probably the problem. Jeb, from FF, explained that FF had just scaled back their DUATS support, and had arranged for all briefings to go through Lockheed Martin instead. However, for me to take advantage of it, i'd need to sign out of DUATS within FF. He walked me through it and sent me the link to their blog post (dated yesterday) where they explained their reasoning.
The best part is that you don't have to have a Lockheed Martin account. Ask for a briefing. Get a briefing. Problem solved
Well, not before a whole lot of grief.
Here's their post: http://blog.foreflight.com/2015/03/19/faster-auto-router-now-available-duats-services-deprecated/
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I hope they're wealthy and can work for free forever, but not sure that's very realistic.
