VFR flight planning and navigation software I've written
 

Hi guys,

I've been hanging around here a while now, rarely posting but all the time secretly developing a suite of software just for VFR pilots like you fine folks. It comprises flight-planning software for your home PC and in-flight GPS navigation software for your mobile phone. This software has recently reached the beta stage and if any of you would like to try it, you'd be most welcome to do so.

It's loaded with data for the UK and Ireland, and you can download data for the USA or France also if you'd rather (or if you're curious). There's a fully interactive moving map, plotting a route is as easy as clicking on consecutive waypoints and it will download and plot NOTAMs, TAFs and METARs for you automatically. You can then simply print off a PLOG with all the calculations/frequencies you need to take with you, and go.

My background: I run a successful software company and I'm also a PPL, so I did this as a "side project". It will probably become commercial software at some point, to compete with the other VFR flight-planning software out there, but for the moment while I consider it unfinished, everyone can use it for free. It certainly makes the jobs of planning and even flying easier (though I do say so myself). Naturally I'm after your feedback, so please post here giving your thoughts, or contact me through the website if you'd rather.

It's called SkyAngel and you can read more about it, and download it, here. I hope you find it useful. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'll try and attach a few screenshots.

http://fly.styli.sh/plan/screenshot_500.png
http://fly.styli.sh/inflight/screenshot_400.png
http://fly.styli.sh/plan/feature_map_400.png

What costs are involved, as this type of program would not be on the free market!!

is it s trial download?
monthly payment?

VFR

any chance of creating the software to run on symbian devices not just windows mobile?

Im a fan of online/computer planning tools. I tend to use Jepp Flitestar and Skybook GA. Also occassionally the Notam plot feature on UKGA. Ive tried Navbox and the other Notam tools but didnt take to them.

Ive just installed your package and had a quick initial 'play'. However this is no toy - I'm absolutely speechless at what you have created.

I'll try and provide some feedback soon.

140k

I am hoping this is free............ :)

This looks pretty flash! I'm downloading it as I type and will give feedback. Any chance of an Android version ;)

Excellent, keep up the good work!

Cheers

Yep that is SLICK! Great program, now if you make this do ALL preflight functions, weather, Notams etc., then I reckon you could clear up the preflight planning market.

PS you are not based at EGHS are you? I see your demo routes start from there ;)

Nice. Very nice indeed. Quite often with flight planning software one thinks, I wish it would do x, y or z... All those things seem to be quickly and intuitively accessible.

I'd certainly consider paying for it when released commercially. I'd also love to give it a try on my phone, but I'd take an educated guess there's no chance of a Cocoa port on the horizon.

At first glance this looks absolutely brilliant!
It took me a couple of minutes to work out how to change the default cruise speed and I haven't yet worked out of the live weather will automatically enter the wind speed/direction into the plog but will have a longer look over the weekend.
Well done you Sir!:D

i cant work out the live wx either

This looks very impressive. Very quick and intuitive. Well done. :D
Is it possible to overide the leg altitude below the MSA? It seems that at the moment it's possible to increase the intended cruise altitude by simply dragging the pink line on the elevation, but not decrease it. If not, then even if the MSA is the default, I think an overide would be very useful for VFR.

Er ...

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.
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Very nice with some innovative features.

The Enroute Features is a blast! I also like the way the Notams load in the background.

It needs fine tuning and feedback from users. I would suggest calling it a Beta and not a Trial Version at this stage (you'll be in trouble with the mods if you asking for money for a non Trial Version).

Needs a help file - not really professional without one. A lot of it is intuitive and should make a lot of the cheaper commercially available planning software cringe with embarrassment.

How do you change the default TAS, for example. This is quite a basic requirement.

Well done - but it needs polishing.

Thanks everyone for trying it and giving your feedback. I'll try and answer your questions as best I can.

VFR Transit, the software will probably cost money at some point in the future but for the moment it's free, while it's "unfinished".

The software will only run on Windows Mobile devices because those devices are the only ones I know about writing software for.

englishal, I consider both Henstridge and Compton Abbas to be "home" airfields, though I don't keep a plane at either. Are you local?

stickandrudderman, the live weather is METAR and TAF data, neither of which is suitable to be applied as wind for route calculations, hence the box at the top for you to enter such data (from the met 215). Unfortunately I don't yet have a feed of enroute wind information at altitude. If anyone knows of one, do let me know!

liam548, as you plot a route the TAF and METAR data for airfields near the route will appear on the graphical route depiction at the bottom. You can also switch to the TAF and METAR windows at the bottom for a more detailed view. Additionally you can right-click any airfield and request weather data for it, but of course not all provide it.

Black Prince, it is not currently possible to plan a route altitude at less than what the software considers "safe". If people think this should be overridable, then I'll make it overridable. I know nobody likes software to boss them around ;)

Gertrude, thanks for reporting that error, I'll take a look into it. It would help to know what station produced the TAF that caused it to choke, if you can remember (or what your route was), but I'll ensure that in the next version you'll see a much friendlier response than that.

Has anyone tried the USA data?

Molesworth, it certainly is a beta. I don't think I've referred to it as a trial version, and it's not even possible to pay for it. Getting the kind of feedback you just gave is the goal at the moment.

Double-click any route segment (in the map or in the route plan window) to bring up its properties, where you can change the planned speed, altitude and wind for that segment. Not at all obvious, you're completely right.

Rest assured a help file will be forthcoming.

What a lovely piece of software - coming from someone who also writes it! Well done. :D

With a couple of minor tweaks, and possibly a few extra features which may require purchase / licencing, it will be my preferred choice easily - which I would happily pay for!

Couple of thoughts:

1. Really like the way Generate plan picks up relevant freq's for your route - although it does appear to miss out Farnborough Radar (I planned EGBE - EGLL, and although it picked up Brize Radar no F'borough - presumably because it isn't a nearby airfield?).

2. The ability to "schedule" a plan for the future would be nice. For instance if I wanted to fly to Sywell tomorrow, could I see NOTAMS that are relevant (and for tomorrow for instance there is RA(T) at Sywell), but I don't appear to be able to do this.

3. The software which comes with my FlyMap allows me to "drag" the course line, and thus create a way point. For instance to the edge of CAS in order to avoid it.

4. The ability to add a user defined way point is very helpful, especially for us heli-pilots for things like hotels and private sites. Is this what the "Insert Pin" function does on a right click? I can't see how.

5. Be really nice to double click on a airfield to see basic information (runways, freqs, etc) - even nicer if you could buy an electronic pooleys / afe subscription and see the plate; or maybe a link to the PDF on the NAT AIS / AIP site?

6. Maybe also the ability to purchase the CAA digital charts and use those - although the data used to generate the "map" does seem excellent.

7. Some way of permanently acknowledging the initial msg box re: don't rely on this - it could get annoying after a while.

8. Ability to print a zoomed in section of map; even nicer if linked with number 6!

None of this is meant as a criticism, obviously, but I do seem to have gone on a bit. Really really like it, excellent work - if you need any help / advice / ideas just PM me!


C.

Germany & benelux
 

I must say it is a very nice and admirable what you have done.
Will you at a later stage include Germany & Benelux?

Tim, will there be a way for users to add their own maps - and/or maybe to contribute maps to a publicly downloadable common library?

Looks good but it doesn't work on real computers - Apple:bored:

OK I'll get my coat ;)

Oh, go on then - I'll bite. I'm running it on my Mac! :ok:

Just been playing with it a bit more - it really is a superb depiction of airspace - the clearest I've seen I reckon. The weather and Notam data is brilliant - nice to see graphical notams again. I hope you get it finished soon as I'd certainly buy a copy.

A few notes (constructive criticism!):
The default airspace filter is <2500 I think. Maybe set this to FL100-125 as this is a realistic maximum that most simple SEPs VFR will transit at?
Make airways default to ON.
Another nice feature would be right click > Insert Way-point here.
It would be good if you could click an airspace item (like a DA) and it brings up the info on it?

:ok:

(I'm based at EGHS)

HeliCraig you have a PM.

Problems with InFlight
 

Congratulations this is a very accomplished piece of software with excellent clear graphics and some really useful features.

Is there a help file available (I am having trouble working out exactly how to enter and modify waypoints using the map).

When trying this out on my smartphone (Eten X500 running WM6.1) there is a long pause when starting (with the usual windows rotating circle) and then I get the following error displayed:

The TAF "AMD EGUL 230804 28015G25KT 9999 SCT030 BKN050 QNH3000INS" is causing an error due to the "QNH3000INS" item.

I am looking forward to trying this out for real when it's a bit more developed.

Simon

Exxcellent stuff and very clear "mapping". However being a complete computer numpty I'm not sure how to add my home airfield. Bedford Castle Mill is also on there and has long since been disused. Great work though.

HeliCraig, thanks for the detailed feedback. Embarrassingly, the radar services data was missing the new-style Farnborough polygons. Now fixed, and you'll see correct output in the next release. Incidentally, how on earth are you running this on a mac? Installed Windows on it?

Regarding scheduling, are you looking for a means of filtering the NOTAM window so that you could say, for example, "only NOTAMS relevant to tomorrow"? I note that the RA(T) is showing for Sywell already. Bonus: If you click on a NOTAM containing a Red Arrows formation transit, it's plotted on the map so you can see exactly where they're going.

To create a user-defined waypoint, ctrl-click on the map. A window then pops up allowing you to define is as a literal coordinate or by reference to an existing waypoint (VOR etc). Also, you can shift-click anywhere on the map and a different window will pop up showing you a distance-sorted list of waypoints close to that position, including minor towns that might not be plotted on the map. I clearly need to add a right-click option for this too, so I'll put that on the list. Also user waypoints are not currently persisted, so that will need to be addressed.

I agree that double-clicking on an airfield should show some kind of approach-plate-like presentation of all the data we have for it. Linking to the one on AIS is a great idea. Bonus: even now, if you zoom right in on an airfield, all its runways will appear (including dimensions) in their correct positions (where available).

I'm curious, do many people want to be able to print the map from SkyAngel? I don't want to get into a situation where somebody is trying to use it as a proper chart; as good as our data is, I can't make those sorts of guarantees.

Freightops, I'd love to include other countries. Compiling the data is a very laborious process, though. If anyone knows of anyone who would be willing to help us "support" a country by getting this data together, I'm sure arrangements could be made.

Anton, I'd love to enable the importing of raw data by those people who have a mind to create it. Would you be looking to import airfields, or some other entities?

englishal, thanks for the comments on airspace depiction, it's an area I've spent a huge amount of time tweaking to be as clear as possible. I disagree with setting the default airspace filter to FL100 but I'm happy to be proved wrong if the prevailing opinion is that this should be visible by default. Also note that although airways are turned off on the main map for clarity, they will appear in enroute features if you attempted a route that went through one.

All the info we have on DAs is shown in the tooltip that appears when you hover over them. If there were any more data I would agree with a separate window, but can't justify it right now.

Aha, so you're at EGHS, eh? Let's go for a pint at the pub and discuss further...

srayne, no help file for the moment I'm afraid. By the time of the next release, I will try to write one. In the meantime reading my replies in this thread should address the common how-tos.

Regarding your smartphone, it sounds like you need to install the .net compact framework 3.5 from Microsoft which is a requirement of SkyAngel.

You're quite correct that our TAF parser doesn't yet understand QNH forecasts; I'll get this fixed.

VictorGolf you can't actually add airfields in this version so you haven't missed anything! You can, however, ctrl-click on the map to create a user-defined waypoint that you can treat as an airfield. Unfortunately this won't be saved next time you open the software. This is an issue that'll be addressed for the next release.

Thanks all!

First thing I did was set FL100 and turn airways on. Not all of us creep around in the hedges! - a default to show all airspace for which you don't need oxygen would seem reasonable to me.

airspace
 

Tim, see your pm's. Chris N.

Excellent piece of kit. Well done.

Suggest that you speak to the Flightnav.co.uk boys who have been working on airfield information cards. Their aim is to keep the site free for use presumably by selling advertising.

The only obvious improvement would be if CAA were to publish air navigation data electronically - but then .....

Not just airfields, but everything, layer by layer, time permitting. There are various mapping data freely available.
By the way, are you using just the digital 3D terrain for terrain presentation or graphic images as well? In the latter case, different users may prefer different styles, so allowing people to scan their favourite maps (or convert existing digital charts) and insert them into the program may be a good idea.

Cracking bit of software.

Would it be possible to search for Nav aids by there idents eg ADN,NGL etc.

I know its only meant for VFR but with a few changes it would be very usefull for sub FL100 IFR the vertical profile with airspace is superb

Tim,

I think that it would be worth your while putting this on the Flyer forums as well.

Brooklands

Amazing software, got both applications working fine.

Not sure if it's already been mentioned, but it might be useful if when hovering the pointer over a VOR that it's details pop up ??

Tim

Sounds and looks a lot like Home of the PocketFMS Foundation.
Great bit of software that also runs on the majority of car-navigators. That way you get a 7 inch screen moving-map for as little as 230 pounds.

I have no interest in either one of these programs, I just think that it`s great to see these developments.

As I fly from a farm strip how do I enter its details so every time I open Skyangel Plan it is still shown on the map?

Doglegging a route is messy as entering a user defined waypoint, then re-planning to use it finds you crossing an airspace, means guessing another waypoint and re-planning. It would be better if you could drag and drop the route.

Otherwise the basics of a good planner.

Anton, I'm going to make sure that in the next release it'll be possible to add your own data to it quite easily. Maybe not all types of data to start with, but certainly important bits (airfields, runways). Terrain drawing is done dynamically, there are no images. There's a page up on the SkyAngel site about the terrain data we use if you're interested.

mad_jock, searching for a waypoint by its ident is as easy as typing in uppercase in the waypoint finder window. Ctrl-F, EGHA, takes you to Compton Abbas. Radio aids and reporting points work the same way.
tlowther, we should definitely include waypoint details in the tooltip; good idea.

To dog-leg a route: just click on an existing route segment to select it, then click a waypoint to insert that waypoint in the route segment. You can ctrl-click to create a new one and select that. Is this too difficult? Are you expecting to be able to just drag a route on to a new waypoint rather than clicking twice?

yakker, the next release (which will be next week) will keep your user waypoints from one session to the next, and it'll also allow you to have your own personal database so you can add to the airfield database included with it. See above re doglegging a route, I'm interested in this because a lot of people seem to be having problems with it.

Yes it is, when there's no obvious indication, until you posted it here, that ctrl-click does anything useful. It's not a standard Windows operation so it needs documenting clearly and obviously otherwise people won't find it.

Great stuff..
 

Like it - would buy it.

I prefer the "drag route to where you need it " method as used on Navbox and my 296..... if you are doing a poll Tim !

But your product is good...

Cheers