AOPA Online, the association's Web site (www.aopa.org), is three years old this month, and activity continues to grow steadily. The month of July saw more than 2 million pages of content served, a number growing at a rate of more than 45 percent per quarter, on average. By midsummer, almost 40 percent of AOPA's 350,000 members were enjoying the benefits of the special content in the site's members-only section. And that section saw the launch of a major new service in mid-July, with the introduction of the AOPA Online Flight Planning Service, an easy-to-use Web-based interface that integrates online route planning, AOPA's Airport Directory, GTE DUATS weather briefings, graphic weather charts from DTN Aviation Center, and flight-plan filing.
Personal computer-based flight planners have been with us for some time, constantly adding new features and capabilities. But most of us don't take our PCs to the airport, much less along for the flight as we travel around the country via general aviation. Because the AOPA Online Flight Planning Service requires nothing more than access to a computer connected to the Internet, users can receive a detailed plain-language weather briefing, construct an aircraft-specific flight plan, or file an FAA flight plan from virtually anywhere their travels might take them.
Unlike any other web-based DUATS interface, the AOPA Online Flight Planning Service is fully integrated with AOPA's Airport Directory Online and the weather graphics provided to AOPA Online by DTN Aviation Center.
Initial response to the new service has been strongly positive. Here's what one member told us via e-mail:
"I've used DUATS flight planning software since it first became available and would consider myself an Internet and computer expert. I worked for three years in a weather-related job, so I'm probably more weather-wise than the average pilot. I normally search and use at least three sources for flight-planning data — sometimes five or six for longer trips of more than a day or two. Now you've gone and spoiled all the fun I had chasing down tidbits of knowledge by placing all of that information on the AOPA site. You even decoded and put the weather in a format that's easy to read even if I decide to print it (notams, too). Great work!"
The lion's share of the credit must go to Geoff Peck, AOPA 908256, the owner of Enflight Corporation ( www.enflight.com). Peck, who is also an active flight instructor, wrote the first DUATS plain-language and flight planner programs almost a decade ago as a personal challenge. Peck's technology has been an integral part of the GTE DUATS system since 1991, when its plain-language weather technology was licensed by GTE and integrated as a part of the system. The flight planner was made available as part of GTE DUATS beginning in 1992.
The AOPA Online Flight Planning Service's plain-language weather system produces easy-to-read English and tabular translations of the cryptic coded weather reports provided by the National Weather Service and the FAA. Making it easier for the pilot to concentrate on understanding the weather briefing rather than decoding the abbreviations contributes to aviation safety.
The service's flight planning system accommodates the needs of pilots of aircraft ranging from single-engine piston models to jets. The system is designed to get a flight into the air rapidly, using advanced technology including highly optimized automatic route selection; simple-to-use aircraft performance profiles; modeling of the effect of airborne winds on flight performance; and a customizable, pilot-friendly flight-log format.
To best understand how the Flight Planning Service can make flying safer, easier, and more enjoyable, let's look at a sample flight. We asked Warren Morningstar, AOPA's director of media relations, to use the service for a flight he was planning with a friend from AOPA's Frederick, Maryland, headquarters to Horace Williams Airport in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and report on his experience:
"We began with a weather outlook two days before our trip. From the 'Weather Graphics' section of the AOPA Online Flight Planning Service home page, we selected the 48-hour surface forecast. The graphic map from DTN Aviation Center predicted a stationary front across lower North Carolina with areas of rain and thunderstorms.
"As we got closer to our departure, we pulled up satellite and Nexrad radar images, composite surface analysis/radar charts, and graphic winds aloft maps.
"To plan our route, we used the flight planner, which rapidly calculated routes, times, and distances, and printed an easy-to-use flight log." The flight planning module uses sophisticated algorithms to rapidly compute a true shortest-path route. It uses the full FAA database of airways, airports, and navigation aids and automatically calculates groundspeed using up-to-date winds aloft information from DUATS.
"We entered our departure airport, FDK, but we were not sure about the airport identifier for Chapel Hill. A click on the 'destination' line brought up the 'Facility Search' help box, which told us the identifier for Horace Williams Airport is IGX. We selected our aircraft profile, in this case a Bonanza. You can store performance information on up to 10 different airplanes in the planner's online database.
"The flight planner has many routing options, including direct routes for GPS, automatic low-altitude airway or jet-route routing, direct routing between VORs, user-selected routing, or any combination of the above.
"We told the flight planner to select a low-altitude airway route. In less than a second, the planner suggested direct to Martinsburg, then Victor 39 to South Boston, V136 to BILLA intersection, then direct to IGX. It listed the route, winds and temperature aloft, magnetic course and heading, airspeed and groundspeed, fuel consumed, and time and distance. Based on the winds aloft forecast, the flight planner predicted this trip would take 1 hour, 37 minutes and use 26 gallons of fuel.
"What about fuel at IGX? A click on our destination linked us to AOPA's Airport Directory Online, which told us that Air BP 100LL is available at $2.21 per gallon. There is also an overnight fee, a noise-abatement procedure, and right-hand traffic to Runway 27. [Note: Fuel price information is not yet available for all airports.]
"Time to check the weather. A click on the 'Route Briefing' button sent our planned route, times, and altitude to GTE DUATS, which after a few moments returned a complete, route-based, plain-English weather briefing, including decoded area forecasts [FAs], surface observations [METARs], terminal forecasts [TAFs], winds aloft, and notams. [Each portion of the report that refers to an airport includes a clickable link to AOPA's Airport Directory Online, so the pilot can check airport information along the route of flight.]
"Our route briefing suggested that a VFR flight was possible, so now we clicked on the 'File Flight Plan' button at the bottom of the DUATS briefing. The flight planner automatically filled in most of the flight-plan form, so we only needed to add figures for fuel on board and number aboard. A click on the 'File This Flight Plan' button sent it to the FAA, and we were done."
Meticulous pilot that he is, Morningstar followed up with a telephone briefing from flight service shortly before departure to check for any last-minute changes in en route weather or notams, and he was off to Chapel Hill.
GTE DUATS provides weather for the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The flight planning databases contain only U.S. airports, navigational aids, and airways. Flight-plan filing can only be done for plans that would be filed with U.S. FAA facilities.
Because the AOPA Online Flight Planning Service is offered exclusively through the members-only section of AOPA's Web site, new users must complete a one-time registration for access to the members section. In addition, because the service interacts with GTE DUATS, users must have a GTE DUATS access code and password. Free access to GTE DUATS is available to U.S. pilots and student pilots who hold current medical certificates, flight instructors without current medicals, aviation ground instructors, glider/balloon pilots, and other approved users in the U.S. aviation community.
A new user can register for a GTE DUATS access code on the home page of the flight planner. The database that DUATS uses to validate initial registrations comes from the FAA, however, and may be as many as nine months behind actual events. If you recently obtained a medical certificate, or a medical certificate and student pilot certificate, or if your medical certificate lapsed even for a short period of time, the system may not find you in the database. Instructions for what to do then can be found on the "frequently asked questions" page — click on the link on the home page of the flight planner or call GTE DUATS at 800/345-3828.
In its first month in service, the AOPA Online Flight Planning Service was providing more than a thousand weather briefings and flight plans a day for AOPA members around the nation. The service is representative of AOPA Online's goal of providing a "one-stop shop" for all the aviation information that members need to make the most of their personal and business travel. In this, as in every other area of AOPA Online, member suggestions for new and improved services are greatly appreciated. Please e-mail your comments to [email protected].
Seth B. Golbey is the managing editor of AOPA Internet Services.
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