Flight Planning

In partnership with Alaska Airlines, NASA is testing cockpit-based flight planning software that is designed to save time and fuel using real-time flight data. Developed by NASA, the Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software optimizes routes using factors like real-time weather, winds, air traffic and aircraft fuel burn, including associated weight and performance changes. The tablet-based […]

I was working field operations at a major airport and got this call: Ground: Ops 1, Ground. Me:Go ahead. Ground: We just got a report of a dead animal about the thousand‑foot markers on Runway 13. Me: Is that the previously reported dog that we cleared? Ground: Negative. I’m seeing feathers. From an unidentified aircraft: […]

With the advent of computer graphics and easy access to a variety of weather information on new forms of avionics and handheld devices, there is no need for an extensive textual forecast—the FA. While there are several excellent weather sources on the internet, we’ll use the NOAA suite (www.aviationweather.gov) for our illustrations. It may be […]

Garmin announced that it has acquired Flight Plan LLC (FltPlan), an electronic flight planning, scheduling and trip support service provider that includes the FltPlan.com website and FltPlan Go mobile app. According to the company, FltPlan has more than 165,000 registered users and its services are used to create approximately 6.3 million flight plans annually, making […]

I’m not sure I know where to look when seeking wisdom about things aeronautical, but I know two places not to look: the YouTube comments section and the dreary carnage of the NTSB database. But wisdom is different than inspiration and the latter can be found in both those sources. Scrolling through the comment field […]

It was a Tuesday and, while stopped at a traffic light, I watched an average man step off the curb, unaware that Karma was about strike. The light was in his favor but entering the crosswalk he froze. “That average man has a problem,” my wife of 35 years, who understands men with problems, said. […]

As soon as Hurricane Irma had moved inland north of Florida, there was a lot of traffic heading east back into the Florida panhandle from the Gulf Coast; you could see the line of traffic on ADS‑B stretching for miles. ATC called each aircraft in sequence: ATC: Cessna 123, you get a reroute. Advise ready […]