Improve flight plan

[apps4av]

On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 4:16 PM, Tal Reichert tal.re...@gmail.com wrote:

The flight plan interface is bothering me a bit, i.e. that the only way to enter it textually is to replace the entire plan with a new one. I wanted to make couple of possible suggestions that hopefully will not be too hard to implement but I believe would make things much more usable (esp. in IFR).
All of those below refer to the Plan tab.
1. In addition to the "Plan" button (which might be renamed to be "Overwrite Plan"), put an "Add to Plan" button, which will add a list of fixes to the existing plan.
2. Add a "Get Plan Text" button, which will load the existing plan to the text box on top, so you could then edit it and overwrite the existing plan with the new, edited plan.
3. Controllers tend to alternate using VOR letters and name. I would suggest adding a VOR name to each VOR (e.g. FJC/Allenstown(Navaid) - some of these names are not exactly obvious from the letters...).
4. Someone probably asked it already, so I'm just double-asking - use Victor airways nomenclature as well.
5. I don't know how hard it is or whether it is even possible (i.e. whether they make the API public), but connecting to duats to import flight plans would be wonderful.

[avcomware]

Hi Zubair. Everything you mentioned sounds like nice things to have and if you have the time and want to take the extra effort to get it done I see no reason, other than additional load on the CPUs, not implement them. That said except for the Overwrite, and Duats, all are minimally useful. If one gets in the plane, especially IFR, and does not have the Names, Charts, etc. they should not be out there. They are not likely be around very long if they wait for someone to spoon feed them. What I see a lot of frustration with, in the Flight Plan area, is the inability to generate a plan that does not allow to plan all the waypoints, skips from 1 to 3 and sometime more depending on the flight path chosen.

I sent you a couple of messages with information before. The Flight path gets drawn properly but the 2 top lines with information, and the Text Flight plan,  are not showing the proper waypoints. If there is way to reduce the CPU load by turning some of the latest additions, points of interest Google data would help some devices. I am at the point where much of the useful data, including moving the airplane icon, Distance updates, etc., develop a lag where the app becomes unusable.

I mostly use it for static Chart and Direct to, next destination on long press, an maybe a flight path loaded in the text mode, but I test it with other options on, for the Group, and with all the latest add ons, from 548 forward, updates have gotten much slower. I've had times where no distance / movement was observed for over 30 sec., and I do not have any of the Wx turned on, with a clean, no other apps running. TV

On Monday, August 18, 2014 7:50 PM, Zubair Khan notifications@github.com wrote:

On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 4:16 PM, Tal Reichert tal.re...@gmail.com wrote: The flight plan interface is bothering me a bit, i.e. that the only way to enter it textually is to replace the entire plan with a new one. I wanted to make couple of possible suggestions that hopefully will not be too hard to implement but I believe would make things much more usable (esp. in IFR). All of those below refer to the Plan tab.

1. In addition to the "Plan" button (which might be renamed to be "Overwrite Plan"), put an "Add to Plan" button, which will add a list of fixes to the existing plan.
2. Add a "Get Plan Text" button, which will load the existing plan to the text box on top, so you could then edit it and overwrite the existing plan with the new, edited plan.
3. Controllers tend to alternate using VOR letters and name. I would suggest adding a VOR name to each VOR (e.g. FJC/Allenstown(Navaid) - some of these names are not exactly obvious from the letters...).
4. Someone probably asked it already, so I'm just double-asking - use Victor airways nomenclature as well.
5. I don't know how hard it is or whether it is even possible (i.e. whether they make the API public), but connecting to duats to import flight plans would be wonderful. — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[apps4av]

More comments from users:

Another question about flight planning: when you're in an active plan, how do you add waypoints between your current location and the destination other than via long-tap on the map? For instance, I was flying to Galveston, TX (KGLS) and was cleared about an hour out to LEYGI, the IAF for the GPS 36 (they did this to keep me out of Class B) but approach waypoints are not on a map, so I had to reload the plan entirely, adding LEYGI and OYALE. Is there a way to insert waypoints on the Plan page, for example, by touching the following waypoint, let it become "highlighted", then inserting a point preceding it? That would also be very useful for rerouting by ATC.

Similarly, is there a way of loading SIDs and STARs simply? For example, although I filed for a more direct route, the cleared me home via the Industry 5, Centex transition, so I needed to load the waypoints by hand. Is there a way of having it automatically generate the waypoints if we were to type in, for example, IDU5.IDU (the name on the plate), maybe with the transition in parentheses (e.g. "IDU5.IDU(CWK)")?

But my main question/ask is how to insert waypoints in a plan from the plan page rather than via the map. That would be a reasonable work-around, since the approach, SID, and STAR waypoints can be more easily loaded by hand, especially "on the fly".

[reddn]

I find it difficult to use the flight plan too. I used it while flying last month and it was very difficult. I'm not sure what happen but I just tried it again and it worked this time. I might have been confused by the destination selector.

Can anyone get their hands on the Coded Instrument Flight Procedures? We will need that to implement airways/stars SIDS. Its 213$/yr from the FAA. http://faacharts.faa.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=CIFP

Thomas

More comments from users:

Another question about flight planning: when you're in an active plan, how do you add waypoints between your current location and the destination other than via long-tap on the map? For instance, I was flying to Galveston, TX (KGLS) and was cleared about an hour out to LEYGI, the IAF for the GPS 36 (they did this to keep me out of Class B) but approach waypoints are not on a map, so I had to reload the plan entirely, adding LEYGI and OYALE. Is there a way to insert waypoints on the Plan page, for example, by touching the following waypoint, let it become "highlighted", then inserting a point preceding it? That would also be very useful for rerouting by ATC.

Similarly, is there a way of loading SIDs and STARs simply? For example, although I filed for a more direct route, the cleared me home via the Industry 5, Centex transition, so I needed to load the waypoints by hand. Is there a way of having it automatically generate the waypoints if we were to type in, for example, IDU5.IDU (the name on the plate), maybe with the transition in parentheses (e.g. "IDU5.IDU(CWK)")?

But my main question/ask is how to insert waypoints in a plan from the plan page rather than via the map. That would be a reasonable work-around, since the approach, SID, and STAR waypoints can be more easily loaded by hand, especially "on the fly".

— Reply to this email directly or view it on https://github.com/apps4av/avare/issues/91#issuecomment-68070375GitHub https://github.com/apps4av/avare/issues/91#issuecomment-68070375.

[apps4av]

Thomas We already have the CIFP data for last six months but we do not have resources to work on it. Peter did parse the CIFP data (we also have bought the document) and its available in the database for instrument approaches but not SID/STARs. If you are interetsed, we can provide you the data.

[reddn]

I just finished altering the approach plate script to download approach plates for another project at work (for the controllers).

I don't promise anything, but I would like to look at the data. Improving the flight plan part of avare is something I consider a top priority.

Thomas On Dec 24, 2014 6:13 PM, "Zubair Khan" notifications@github.com wrote:

Thomas We already have the CIFP data for last six months but we do not have resources to work on it. Peter did parse the CIFP data (we also have bought the document) and its available in the database for instrument approaches but not SID/STARs. If you are interetsed, we can provide you the data.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/apps4av/avare/issues/91#issuecomment-68078100.

[apps4av]

New FP in place.