Fltplan go app

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DDDowney

Filing Flight Plan
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DDD
I have this on my iphone and a glo 2 thing. I have not flown with this yet but have used it in the truck. It has my plane on there moving around as I drive and works really well doing that. I have also made a route and it shows on the screen. But suppose I want to start a flight. I know the plane would fly down the line but is there such a thing as it actually knowing where I am and how far it is to the nest fix or airport? I have been away from this for a while and I know things change and maybe this is all it does which I can live with. But the manual shows it showing distance and eta's and such when on a route.

Does this do that?
The manual as far as I can find does not tell me how to, say start a route that it really knows where I am wanting to go and gives me distance?
I had used a gps years back that would do this and you would know how far you were from the destination airport.

Thanks David
 
Think of this with gps only as the planning mode. When you attach to an ADS-B, it goes into navigate mode.
 
So the garmin glo does not navigate?
 
DDDowney said:
I have this on my iphone and a glo 2 thing. I have not flown with this yet but have used it in the truck. It has my plane on there moving around as I drive and works really well doing that. I have also made a route and it shows on the screen. But suppose I want to start a flight. I know the plane would fly down the line but is there such a thing as it actually knowing where I am and how far it is to the nest fix or airport? I have been away from this for a while and I know things change and maybe this is all it does which I can live with. But the manual shows it showing distance and eta's and such when on a route.

Does this do that?
The manual as far as I can find does not tell me how to, say start a route that it really knows where I am wanting to go and gives me distance?
I had used a gps years back that would do this and you would know how far you were from the destination airport.

Thanks David
Click to expand...
Yes it does those things. And more. It's a fully capable VFR and IFR EFB, although it can be funky compared to the paid options like Foreflight or Garmin Pilot or Fly Q or.... (which it's why it's a backup EFB for me).

But, like the others, you have to learn how to use it. Very little is obvious to the uninitiated.
 
So I have fltplan on my iphone and the garmin glo. So do I understand that it will not run a route as in giving me distance to an airport type information as I fly? I can use it as is but thought that it would show me distance to my destination, thinking I could use that feature for radio calls and such. The manual is a bit misleading in that reqard I guess.
What components would I need to make the iphone work like a real GPS. I used one in years past that you put in a route and pressed activate and it recognized where I was and where I was going.
 
DDDowney said:
The manual as far as I can find does not tell me how to, say start a route that it really knows where I am wanting to go and gives me distance?
Click to expand...

I don’t see a way to do this in that app, but the app is a bit clunky. Other EFBs have options that will display bearings and distance. I use iFly and my screen is set up to provide bearing, distance, and time to the next waypoint and to the final destination.
 
The manual for some reason has the "direct to" option in it. That is the reason I thought it would do some of these things. That is real misleading. But that is advertising I guess, so I get that, but seemed to have mis understood fltplan's capability's. It ain't the first time.
 
Well, don’t forget that it’s a free app. It’s not too bad but it doesn’t have things you get in an app with a paid subscription, like iFly or ForeFlight.
 
I forgot about the info on the bottom of the screen. I usually have that turned off to declutter. FltPlan Go isn’t my primary so I keep it just for approach plate backups
 
Matthew said:
I forgot about the info on the bottom of the screen. I usually have that turned off to declutter. FltPlan Go isn’t my primary so I keep it just for approach plate backups
Click to expand...
That’s pretty much my in-flight use too. But since it might be called on to do more, I try to keep up with basic functionality, even if it amounts to mostly using it with x-Plane. No need to use my primary EFB for that.

Cool thing is that it has Canadian charts too.
 
OK, those are helpful. Mine only has 3 boxes at the bottom and yours has more info. How do you get that?
Your direct pic has your house as a starting point. I fly out of a private airport that does not come up in fltplan. 80ky is supposed to be the identifier, its just east of the old Central City CCT vor. Can I make a fix like the numbers of your house as an airport?

Thanks for taking time to do the pics for me.
 
DDDowney said:
OK, those are helpful. Mine only has 3 boxes at the bottom and yours has more info. How do you get that?
Your direct pic has your house as a starting point. I fly out of a private airport that does not come up in fltplan. 80ky is supposed to be the identifier, its just east of the old Central City CCT vor. Can I make a fix like the numbers of your house as an airport?

Thanks for taking time to do the pics for me.
Click to expand...
My iPhone shows 3, my Android tablet shows 5.

On my phone I can select the info being displayed, but it doesn’t look like the Android version does.
 
DDDowney said:
OK, those are helpful. Mine only has 3 boxes at the bottom and yours has more info. How do you get that?
Your direct pic has your house as a starting point. I fly out of a private airport that does not come up in fltplan. 80ky is supposed to be the identifier, its just east of the old Central City CCT vor. Can I make a fix like the numbers of your house as an airport?

Thanks for taking time to do the pics for me.
Click to expand...
I didn’t “make” that. Remember geometry 101 - it takes two points to draw a straight line. As with most apps of this type, when you do a “Direct,” to something, it starts wherever you are and creates a temporary waypoint at that location so it can draw a course line.

But yes, even without the temporary created by “Direct,” you can long tap on any location on the map and create a permanent user waypoint there. Is this what you are talking about?
1717636715230.png
 
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Yes that is the place. Most time that is where I will take off from. I didn't know if I could start a route from it somehow. If I search in skyvector it will find it but fltplan will not.
 
DDDowney said:
Yes that is the place. Most time that is where I will take off from. I didn't know if I could start a route from it somehow. If I search in skyvector it will find it but fltplan will not.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I think it's about the data source used. if you look at the chart, there is no longer an identifier associated with it. The result is that it no longer appears in the current databases used by many EFBs or GPS units. Skyvector (and AiNav among others) pull their information from a different source which apparently retains the old identifiers. I'm not sure how that works, but I've seen this type of thing before, not only with respect to airport identifiers.
 
DDDowney said:
Yes that is the place. Most time that is where I will take off from. I didn't know if I could start a route from it somehow. If I search in skyvector it will find it but fltplan will not.
Click to expand...
In the app you might try tap and hold on your desired spot on the map and then it will give you an "Add to Route" option window with that point as a lat/long position. If you click on the "down arrow" on the right side of the position there is a "save" function. If you click on "save" it gives you further options including naming that might go into a user waypoint data base. Worth playing with. Also, I've found inquiries to their help desk useful.
 
While I have the experts here:

When I put in a course, I can see it draw the line, it will also add some marks along the route. I still haven’t figured out what they represent. They don’t seem to be a rubber-band point, and wouldn’t be a top-of-climb or start-of-descent.

Here’s a screenshot, you can see there are two of them bewteen IXD and EOK.

IMG_7479.png
 
No expert, and you may have seen these, but the first video below seems to indicate they are rubber band points, but if they aren't working for you, then I'm not sure. Check it around the 1 minute mark.
The link below that is their video support page, with most of their videos in one place, plus no youtube ads if you watch it on their page.


FltPlan Video Support

flttrack.fltplan.com flttrack.fltplan.com
 
So, if you tap EDIT the route only contains those two points? Created within Go! or downloaded from FltPlan.com?

I probably won't be able to help much. My knowledge of Go! is pretty rudimentary. But those are the first things I would check.
 
Skyrys62 said:
No expert, and you may have seen these, but the first video below seems to indicate they are rubber band points, but if they aren't working for you, then I'm not sure. Check it around the 1 minute mark.
The link below that is their video support page, with most of their videos in one place, plus no youtube ads if you watch it on their page.


FltPlan Video Support

flttrack.fltplan.com flttrack.fltplan.com
Click to expand...

midlifeflyer said:
So, if you tap EDIT the route only contains those two points? Created within Go! or downloaded from FltPlan.com?

I probably won't be able to help much. My knowledge of Go! is pretty rudimentary. But those are the first things I would check.
Click to expand...
I’m guessing they are rubber band points but they don’t seem to work that way. Maybe I have rubber banding turned off somewhere.

They do not show up in the route.

Edit: course was created in the Go app, not the website.
 
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I sent a question to their tech support last night and got this response a few minutes ago:

>>>
Thank you for writing and sharing a very helpful image. You planned a long direct route. And the performance planning program computes several points on the route so to enhance performance estimates. The lat/longs for each of point are displayed on your NavLog and look like this:

bb1128a7-da39-434f-8363-09a80b4a758e.png

These points represent distance to the next fix.

These points are not used for ATC purposes, and cannot be removed from your view since they help provide for more accurate data.

Have a great day.
<<<
 
Matthew said:
I’m guessing they are rubber band points but they don’t seem to work that way. Maybe I have rubber banding turned off somewhere.

They do not show up in the route.
Click to expand...
Dunno. I would expect rubber band waypoints to (a) appear in the route box and (b) have a notation next to them on the map.
 
Matthew said:
I sent a question to their tech support last night and got this response a few minutes ago:

>>>
Thank you for writing and sharing a very helpful image. You planned a long direct route. And the performance planning program computes several points on the route so to enhance performance estimates. The lat/longs for each of point are displayed on your NavLog and look like this:

View attachment 129703

These points represent distance to the next fix.

These points are not used for ATC purposes, and cannot be removed from your view since they help provide for more accurate data.

Have a great day.
<<<
Click to expand...
Aha! That's why I asked
midlifeflyer said:
Created within Go! or downloaded from FltPlan.com?
Click to expand...
That's a familiar FltPlan.com function. Pulled into Go! I wouldn't be surprised to see the markers
 
midlifeflyer said:
Aha! That's why I asked

That's a familiar FltPlan.com function. Pulled into Go! I wouldn't be surprised to see the markers
Click to expand...
This route was created in Go!

I’ve created complex plans in the website and downloaded them into the app. But I don’t remember how these intermediate points were handled.

I do know they will appear in the app simply by creating a long enough leg. At first I thought they just marked the midpoint but sometimes I would see more than one.

I might make some time today to try to generate the same route using the app and the website and see how these points match up.
 
Matthew said:
This route was created in Go!

I’ve created complex plans in the website and downloaded them into the app. But I don’t remember how these intermediate points were handled.

I do know they will appear in the app simply by creating a long enough leg. At first I thought they just marked the midpoint but sometimes I would see more than one.

I might make some time today to try to generate the same route using the app and the website and see how these points match up.
Click to expand...
Interesting I have never seen this with a flight plan created entirely within Go!
 
midlifeflyer said:
Interesting I have never seen this with a flight plan created entirely within Go!
Click to expand...
All I did was edit a route and add a start and end. I don’t know if it requires a minimum distance or not. The example the tech support guy did was IXD -> LLU.

I will try that one right now in the app.
…
And it does NOT do it.
…
So, back to IXD -> EOK.
…
And it DOES do it.
 
Interestinger:

When I play around with it on the app vs the website, I get different results...I think. It's hard to tell because of the way the app will pull down flightplans built on the website. The maps on the website do not show those intermediate fixes, even though they show on the nav log. But the maps on the app will show those fixes.

But now I know what they are.

And yes, the rubber band feature does work on my app, I wasn't pressing and holding long enough.
 
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