"Aviation software for the Palm Pilot"
  MicroWings magazine 1998, Vol 5, No 5

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Flying Pilot GPS

But for airborne travel, the Flying Pilot GPS is great. The primary screen shows all your vital numbers: Latitude, Longitude, UTC date and time, Altitude, Speed, True Course, and Magnetic Variation (see figure PP3). A preferences screen (figure PP4) allows you to select what unit of measures to use (meters/feet, nautical/statute, liters/gallons), what items to show on the map display, and what databases you have loaded.

You can enter a flight plan by selecting airports and or cities (for VFR or land based use for the software) that will constitute the legs of your flight. For each airport you select, a diagram of the airport's runway will appear including the identifier, full name, runway numbers, altitude, magnetic variation, lat./lon., and the ATIS, Approach Control Tower, and Flight Service Frequencies (see figure PP5) - a great feature for when you get close to your destination so you know all the vitals about the airport, runways, etc. Note that the frequencies are not always present, as it depends on what it is in the database. The databases can be edited to allow the user to add any missing information and to also add notes that he/she may think are relevant such as airspace classification, NOTAM's, ILS frequencies, etc. You can even add your own waypoints, cities, landmarks, or airports including the ability to sketch a diagram or picture of what the item looks like!

The flight plan will look like the screen figure PP6. Its shows the aircraft, the winds (if you entered them), the legs, and (for each leg) the magnetic heading to fly/drive, the distance, and the estimated time enroute to get there based on the speed you entered for your aircraft. To get the exact heading needed, distance remaining, and ETE just click on a particular leg. A new window will pop open showing you these values based on your current position and speed as detected by the GPS unit! The top of the screen will also show your current heading, speed, and altitude.

Setting winds could not be easier. All you do is point (on a compass rose style display) at what direction the wind is blowing from and then write in (or tap on an UP/Down arrow) the wind speed (see figure PP7). The effects of the wind are then immediately computed and the results on your Flight Plan headings and ETE's are displayed.

The map display mode will continuously update, keeping your aircraft in the center of the map. If you have a flight plan entered, the route of the flight will be delineated with a line connected legs of your flight. Through the preferences screen, you can have the mapshow or not-show other airports, cities and/or landmarks in the area. You can also zoom in or out as much as you like (see figure PP8). You can also switch from zoom mode to 'move' mode so you can scroll around the map area. The map will work even if you not have a GPS hooked up. These features make it a great add-on for your flight simulation based trips. Enter your flight plan and you have wind corrected headings, time estimated times enroute, a map of your flight, graphical depictions of where alternate airports are, what cities/landmarks you will be passing, etc..

In addition to all these great factors, you can also store several flight plans at once, quickly compute a reverse flight plan by the jaunt back to your point of origin, and there is also online help. There are planned upgrades in the future to add navaids to the databases (should be ready by the time you read this!) and a database editor so you can even create your own databases of waypoints, etc. Airport databases for all the USA and most of the world are already available for free by download.

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