Real-time Flight Planner

AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting

If you need immediate assistance regarding AOPA’s Real-Time Flight Planner, please contact AOPA at 800/872-2672 (800/USA-AOPA) or by e-mail.

If you experience technical problems with the installation that are not addressed below, please include following information in your e-mail:

• PC or Mac operating system (e.g. Windows 98, Mac OS 10.2.6);
• browser version and type (e.g. Microsoft Explore 5.0);
• processor type (e.g. Pentium III) and speed (e.g. 400 MHz);
• how much RAM your computer has (e.g. 384MB); and if possible
•  a screenshot of the error message.

Note: Windows 2000 and Windows NT users may need to have Full Administrative privileges to install the RTFP.

Users of the Real-Time Flight Planner behind corporate or personal firewalls will need to have access through the following ports.

Flight Planner Program: port 1986
CSC DUATS access: port 80
CSC DUATS access: port 23
DTC DUATS access: port 8096

The best indication that there is a firewall involved is when you start the program and it tries to connect to the three possible servers, and then fails to connect. When the program does connect to a server it will return a box asking for the AOPA username and password.

If you are using a Proxy Server, then CSC DUATS may not be going through. Firewalls commonly block port 80, and require web traffic to use a proxy server. Unfortunately, CSC DUATS connections are not HTTP protocol based, and cannot be transmitted by a proxy server. This will be shown by the following behavior: after choosing the weather information and pressing connect, you will see a connecting box, and then a connected box, but no other text. You can now choose the CSC :23 option from the Edit, Pilot menu to take advantage of this port.

To set up your firewall settings, please contact your IT department or the manufacturer of your firewall. We do not have any of the settings information due to the large number of possible hardware and software firewalls.

Note: Mac users, click here for MAC FAQs pertaining specifically to Virtual PC for the Mac.

Frequently Asked Questions (updated 11/6/03):

• Why do I need my AOPA User ID and Password?
• Where can I obtain a DUATS access code?
• Is there a Help file that I can download for the RTFP?
• Where can I find information on How to setup my profile in the RTFP?
• During download, I received a Security Authentication Warning
• Would it be possible to add extra features?
• When I close the weather thumbnail list I can’t get it to reappear.
• Is there a way to delete waypoints once they have been entered?
• Does the planner consider winds in calculating ground speed?
• Does the program generate IFR flight plans?
• Is there a way to incorporate Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) and Departure Procedures (DPs) in the route?
• The weather overlay dropdown list on the toolbar reads “No DTC/CSC Weather Graphics” even when I have downloaded weather information.
• Why do I not see NDBs for some airports that have one?
• When attempting to download a weather briefing or weather map, I got the message “session was terminated prematurely”.
• I entered data for a flight from SBY to FRG for a Grumman twin. The flight plan I got was for a single-engine-only route (SBY V1 JFK direct FRG).
• Can the AOPA Flight Planner or flight plans be downloaded to my PDA?
• When I launch the Flight Planner the screen is a uniform color and shows no information.
• Does the flight planner include or come with any default aircraft?
• Are airspeeds in the RTFP True or Indicated?
• When I download CSC weather maps my thumbnail screens are black.
• Correction for AOPA’s Airport Directory.

MAC FAQs:

• Where can I purchase or review the Virtual PC program for Mac?
• Virtual PC for Mac seems quite expensive.
• I purchased a copy of Virtual PC for Mac, but I am having trouble running the program.
• When running Virtual PC on my Mac, performance of the RTFP seems slow.
• I am having trouble printing a flight plan and navigation log from my Mac running Virtual PC.
• I cannot access my saved profiles (route, aircraft, and pilot profile) on my Mac running Virtual PC.

Q. Why do I need my AOPA User ID and Password to run AOPA’s Real-Time Flight Planner?
A. The RTFP is an exclusive free AOPA member benefit. It also accesses the “members-only” section of AOPA’s Web site to look up airport and FBO information and instrument approach charts from AOPA’s Airport Directory Online.
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Q. Where can I obtain a DUATS access code?
A. Pilots with a U.S. medical certificate may obtain a free DUATS access code and password from either or both providers:
DTC: http://www.duat.com/form/getaccess.frm, phone: 800/243-3828
CSC: http://www.duats.com/duats.cgi, phone: 800/345-3828
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Q. Is there a Help file that I can download for the RTFP?
A. The RTFP has an Online Help file available from within the program. Go to the Flight Planner Menu and click on Help, then click on Table of Contents. This will bring up the Help file. You may also click here to download a 38-page PDF version of the Help file. File size is 604.7 KB. You will need Adobe Reader to view the file.
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Q. Where can I find information on How to setup my profile in the RTFP?
A. The RTFP has an Online Help file available from within the program. Or click here to go to “How to setup your profile in RTFP”. This will explain in detail how to setup your Pilot Profile, Aircraft Profile, Flight Plan, Route, and User-defined Waypoints.
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Q. During download, I received a Security Authentication Warning message “Authenticode Signature Not Found”.
A. This happens if during download you selected “Run this program from its current location”. Ignore the message and click “Yes” in order to continue installation. We recommend that you select “Save this program to disk”, which will allow you to save the program .exe file on your computer so you can reinstall the application at any time.
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Q. Would it be possible to add extra features? I’d really like for the planner to allow me to………..
A. The flight planner was developed as a FREE member benefit for AOPA members. We deliberately designed the planner to perform within the current framework and included the features that we felt would be of greatest value to the majority of our members while keeping this a free service.
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Q. When I close the weather thumbnail list I can’t get it to reappear. How do I get it back?
A. The View Menu contains a selection called “Weather Thumbnails”. Use this to hide or show the list of weather image thumbnails.
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Q. Is there a way to delete waypoints once they have been entered?
A. Right click on the waypoint. It will change color and you will see “delete” on the right click menu. Or, you can left click the waypoint and hit the delete key on the keyboard. Either method will delete the waypoint.
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Q. Does the planner consider winds in calculating ground speed?
A. Yes, the effects of winds are included in the ground speed values shown on the NavLog.
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Q. Does the program generate IFR flight plans?
A. The flight plans generated by RTFP are IFR by default. You can change this to VFR by using the check marks in the FAA flight plan form.
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Q. Is there a way to incorporate Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) and Departure Procedures (DPs) in the route and automatically have the fixes included in the flight plan?
A. There is no automatic way to incorporate STARs and DPs in the route. The flight planner calculates and displays the shortest distance between two points on either a direct route or an airways-based route. You can manually add waypoints (including user-defined waypoints) to the route using the drag and drop (rubber-band) feature. This will automatically insert the waypoints on the NavLog and Flight Plan. Click here to go to "How to setup your profile in RTFP" for a detailed explanation on how to setup user-defined waypoints.
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Q. The weather overlay dropdown list on the toolbar reads “No DTC/CSC Weather Graphics” even when I have downloaded weather information. What’s going on?
A. Not all weather graphic types are supported for chart overlay. In general, only NexRad, radar and satellite maps will overlay on the enroute chart.
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Q. Why do I not see NDBs for some airports that have one?
A. Currently, the chart shows “enroute” NDBs only—those NDBs that are part of the airway network. NDBs that are “terminal use only” are not displayed.
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Q. When attempting to download a weather briefing or weather map, I got the message “session was terminated prematurely”. Why does this happen?
A. Most likely there was a network problem of some sort—the connection was dropped or DUATS was too busy. A firewall between your computer and the Internet could also cause this problem.
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Q. I entered data for a flight from SBY to FRG for a Grumman twin. The flight plan I got was for a single-engine-only route (SBY V1 JFK direct FRG). What’s going on?
A. The flight planner has no support for standard routes. It simply returns the shortest route through the airway network at the specified altitude.
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Q. Can the AOPA Flight Planner or flight plans be downloaded to my PDA?
A. No, the RTFP application does not run on Windows CE or Palm OS. There is no export function.
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Q. When I launch the Flight Planner the screen is a uniform color and shows no information. Why is this and what can I do to correct it?
A. The RTPF does not support 256k (8 bit color) displays. Your display settings must be at least 16 or 24 bit color. To change the color resolution of your screen, please use the following steps:
1. click on Start
2. scroll up to Settings
3. choose Control Panel
4. double click on Display
5. choose the tab at the top that says "Settings"
6. on the left side, under "colors", choose an option on the list higher than 256 colors, either 16 bit or 24 bit (it depends on the video card hardware installed on your computer).
If you have difficulties with changing this setting, please contact your computer's manufacturer for more information.
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Q. Does the flight planner include or come with any default aircraft?
A. No, there are no default aircraft, but default values are used when no aircraft profiles exist. In order to get accurate values in your flight plans, you will need to create an aircraft profile.
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Q. Are airspeeds in the RTFP True or Indicated?
A. In the aircraft profile, cruise speed is TAS, climb and decent airspeeds are IAS. The airspeed on the NavLog is estimated ground speed. (TAS with any applicable wind adjustment.)
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Q. When I download CSC weather maps my thumbnail screens are black. Why is this?
A. This is related to a CSC output format that the RTFP does not support. It occurs occasionally and only with certain types of graphics. It is not a problem with DTC DUATS.
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Q. I have a correction for AOPA’s Airport Directory. Who do I contact?
A. Please e-mail airportdirectory@aopa.org.
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Q. Where can I purchase or review the Virtual PC program for Mac?
A. Virtual PC was originally produced by Connectix. It was later purchased by Microsoft and is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx?pid=virtualpc
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Q. Virtual PC for Mac seems quite expensive.
A. The cost of the Vitual PC program is rather high ($200+) because you also pay for a copy of the Windows operating system software license.
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Q. I purchased a copy of Virtual PC for Mac, but I am having trouble running the program.
A. You will need to increase the physical memory in the Mac before it will run. Virtual PC uses an incredible amount of memory because you are basically running two operating systems (Mac software runs the Mac, and then Windows is run within the Mac environment). Both operating systems have to be able to satisfy their memory requirements at the same time, and they do not share. If the program that you want to run under Windows requires a lot of memory, you will need to take this into account when upgrading the physical memory of the box.
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Q. When running Virtual PC on my Mac, performance of the RTFP seems slow.
A. We have tested the program on a 400 MHz PowerPC G4 with 384 MB of memory. Performance indeed was slow, but this would be true for any application running under Virtual PC on that machine. The most noticeable delay was in drawing the Enroute Chart screen, especially if a weather overlay was included. We also tested RTFP performance on a Dual 800 MHz Power PC G4 with 640 MB of memory and performance improved remarkably. Also, see: I purchased a copy of Virtual PC, but I am having trouble running the program. Also, see: "I purchased a copy of Virtual PC, but I am having trouble running the program."

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Q. I am having trouble printing a flight plan and navigation log from my Mac running Virtual PC.
A. The default print option results in cropped printouts of these reports. You will need to set up ‘Advanced’ printing. To do this you will need to get printer drivers for the version of Windows that you are running under Virtual PC and install them on your Mac. You can obtain drivers at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en
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Q. I cannot access my saved profiles (route, aircraft, and pilot profile) on my Mac running Virtual PC.
A. Make sure you are not logged in more than once from different machines—testing RTFP on Macs running Virtual PC showed this to be the cause of the problem.
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You may send comments about AOPA's Real-time Flight Planner to our help department.

If you know of any information that needs to be corrected for your home base or for an airport you frequently visit, please e-mail AOPA's Airport Directory.