Cool tools: goFLYING

by Matthew Stibbe on March 13, 2009

Sliderule Trip Computer

goFLYING has a couple of useful features.  The first is a mashup that lets you plan flights using Google maps and then input wind direction and speed, fuel burn and so on to generate a navigation log.  It will save these out in A4 or kneeboard format for use in-flight.  Thanks to Google’s satellite maps, it’s very easy to pick out waypoints and the database seems to have all the airports in it, so you can just search for, say, Denham, and it’ll make it a waypoint.

This is likely to be most useful for VFR pilots, helicopter pilots trying to find landing spots and for familiarising yourself before a flight.  However, it is very easy to use and could be a good substitute for commercial VFR flight planning software. It is, after all, free.

You can also import your GPS track file and see your actual flight track superimposed on the map.

The second is a tool that calculates sunset and sunrise in different places at different times of year.  This is very handy for working out official night.

Related posts:

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  2. Three top PC flight planning tools
  3. The Firebird OVP: One cool aircraft
  4. Cool time lapsed video of clouds over the Pacific
  5. Cool Paths of Flight video

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