Why not use the time out of the air to plan for the day when the weather, your schedule, and the aircraft schedule reach cosmic alignment? (Yes, it does happen.) A great place to start is AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner.
This exclusive and free AOPA member benefit, developed in partnership with Jeppesen, allows you to point, click, and drag to your heart's content without scribbling routes over charts. You can see what it would take to get from your home airport to AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, when we open our doors in June for our annual Fly-In; to Palm Springs, California, for AOPA Expo 2006; or to any of the thousands of wonderful regional and local fly-ins held each year. Plot a route, locate any active or imminent temporary flight restrictions, and "rubberband"--drag and drop--your route around those off-limits areas. You can store up to 10 active routes.
The program is integrated with both DUATS weather providers, so that when your trip date approaches you can access current radar and satellite images and overlay these on your route. And if you right-click airports on the flight planner's en route chart, you'll be able to retrieve the latest airport and FBO information, including airport diagrams, from AOPA's Airport Directory Online. As you plan your route, a flight plan and navigation log are created for you, and you can print them out in kneeboard format. You can also electronically transmit the flight plan to DUATS.
All you need to start is to download the 1.8-MB application file from AOPA Online. If you have questions about the program, call the Pilot Information Center at 800/USA-AOPA weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, or post a message on the "AOPA Software Support" forum at AOPA's Aviation Forums. You must be a registered user to post messages.
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