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No information - business opportunity?

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No information - business opportunity?

Old 1st Nov 2012, 23:14
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No information - business opportunity?

I've had internet since 1994 and consider myself a pretty savvy user of the medium and pride myself in my abilities to get to information. But when it comes to GA stuff, I can't seem to get much useful info. It's as if there's a genuine lack of information available. Specifically in regards to flight planning crossing borders.

Just as simple as task as finding GA airports in the vicinity of cities etc, turns out to be almost impossible using regular tools unless you physically buy the VFR charts (if such are available - most countries don't even have them). My Google-Fu is severely hampered when it comes to GA. For instance, I might be planning a trip from LA to Mexico and wanted to find out what airports are near Mexico City. If you Google it, it will only give the big international airports. Any GA permutation I can think of brings up very little. Same goes for border procedures, VFR flight plans etc etc. AIP's at a glance? Forget it. I'm sure it's similar in Europe. Sure one can trawl through each countries AIP and make a flowchart of differences (night flight allowed, VFR flight plans mandatory, mode C allowed?) but one would very quickly go bonkers planning a simple trip. I use Foreflight here in the US. Great application, but it has no support for either Mexico, Canada or Europe in VFR. Surely, a most rudimentary VFR map of the world with known airports marked out should be a dead easy app to develop, no? Even if it isn't updated regularly, or even ever, it beats having no information.

Is there no reliable website, app etc that can give a brief overview of all the main AIP's, procedures, locations of airports etc? Like a worldwide Pooley's app or website? If not, isn't there a business opportunity here?

Sick of having to play Sherlock Holmes for days on end just to gather the most basic information of a most basic trip...

Last edited by AdamFrisch; 1st Nov 2012 at 23:30.
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Old 1st Nov 2012, 23:28
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Well said though I very much doubt enough pilots do that type of flying to make it a viable business.
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Old 1st Nov 2012, 23:52
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Skydemon has a lot of that stuff. They have a 30 day free trial.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 00:08
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I don't know if it does quite what you're looking for, but I have used a variety of "planning charts" (probably 1 mill or 2 mill scale) with airfields marked. I bought them from the usual shops in Europe and the USA.

I rarely use them nowadays, since the internet and iDevice apps work for me. Skyvector.com provides a quick way to look at most parts of the world to see what airfields there are. Doesn't that work for you? Effectively, it provides a zoomable set of sectionals or equivalent for pretty much the whole world.

For Mexico City, for example, it shows MMMX (Mexico City International), Santa Lucia MMSM, Atizapan MMJC, Toluca MMTO all within striking distance. There are more, but a fair way away.

AIPs and procedures for Europe can be looked up on the EASA website (but it's horribly dry reading).
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 05:38
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Keef,

Thank you so much for pointing me to skyvector.com. I am really impressed.

Drag-and-drop route planning anywhere in the world.

A nice touch is that the initial map is centred on the location of your IP address, which in my case happens to be Kuala Lumpur, even though I am in Vietnam.

I'm now busy planning some flights for the end of the month in NZ, where I will be flying solo for the first time, with my newly-minted NZ PPL.

Is there an iPad interface? I haven't had time to play with it much, since I'm at work.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 06:20
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also download the app "Can i fly there"

just say to which place you want to go.

very usefull app when you are not aware of which fields are available..
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 08:37
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Thanks.

Skyvector is very useful for planning and is constantly improving, but it does lack a lot of airfields still. It would be great if they released it as a simple app so one could use it when flying. I emailed them and suggested this, which I'm sure many others have done..

I'll try that other app.

Last edited by AdamFrisch; 2nd Nov 2012 at 08:38.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 09:40
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Surely, a most rudimentary VFR map of the world with known airports marked out should be a dead easy app to develop, no?
Well, it's not quite an app, but The Pilots Free Flight Atlas does pretty much that. Two volumes cover the whole world. Well, most of it. Central Afrika and the Siberia/Mongolia/China region are missing from the "Eastern Hemisphere" edition. But if you're planning a trip from, say, Iceland to Tokyo you are pretty much covered all the way.

So far I've only used it for dreaming though...

pilots atlas - The Pilots' Free Flight Atlas :: taking navigation a step further: Home

Taken from this tread, there is supposed going to be an app too.

http://www.pprune.org/questions/4928...ots-atlas.html

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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 10:50
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I got the Pilots Free Flight Atalas when I first started flying around 10 years ago. It only really had the major airports on it (ie international airports plus some regional ones).

Has it improved since then?
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 14:38
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I can only comment on the Dutch part of the atlas. All the regular airfields, even the smallish grass ones are there. The only fields that seem to be missing are the dedicated glider and microlight strips.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 16:27
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That sounds good. Must have improved since I bought it so.

I often thought that I'd like a "Lonley Planet" guide for GA pilots. A tourist guide to places to visit, all you need to know about the place, the nearest GA airport an how to get from that airport to the tourist places. Good places to stay etc.

The French seem to have something loosely based on that the Stop Over guide. And I think the new guide for Italy & Germany is loosely based on such an idea too.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 16:45
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Great idea, Dublin. It would also be nice to have a classification of each country and airport about their GA friendliness - Avgas, parking fee's, landing fee's etc. How GA friendly a certain country is, etc.

What I've found flying mainly in the US is that the smaller an airport you go to, the less hassle and mind numbing stuff one has to deal with.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 17:20
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I'm now busy planning some flights for the end of the month in NZ, where I will be flying solo for the first time, with my newly-minted NZ PPL.
I used Skydemon for planning, and executing a number of flights in NZ a few months ago. It was the only way to get VFR charts in UK and worked very well.

I put a report in the 'Trip reports' section of Flyer.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 18:09
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Another vote for SkyDemon in the UK and Europe. In the UK you can enter a six digit postcode and it gives you a list of adjacent airfields and a spot on the map.

They currently have charts for Europe, big bits of Africa, USA and NZ. I understand more are on the way.

Once you use SkyDemon in anger you realise that it is simply a generation ahead of anything else out there (and I have tried most of them). Game-changer.
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 20:13
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Nipper 2 how do you use a post code in Skydemon please. I use it but that is new to me
Thanks
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Old 2nd Nov 2012, 21:49
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Does Skydemon cover every European country?

Last edited by AdamFrisch; 2nd Nov 2012 at 21:49.
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Old 3rd Nov 2012, 00:40
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See SkyDemon Chart Availability
It depends what you mean by Europe, but the real answer is "no" (I don't see Romania for example).
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Old 3rd Nov 2012, 00:43
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Originally Posted by WorkingHard
Nipper 2 how do you use a post code in Skydemon please. I use it but that is new to me
Thanks
Their website says you enter it in the same place as you would an ICAO identifier or airfield name (SkyDemon Plan Documentation)
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