Skyvector update, flight plans

[stealthbob]

They added some new features which includes filing a flight plan.

Kinda neat for us simmers but is this also used RW?

Saw this when I went to register and it was asking for a phone #:

FSS will call this number to contact you if you forget to close your flight plan. If you have a mobile phone, enter it here. This field is used for Flight Plan Filing only. It will never be shown to other users.

[zerofay32]

Be careful with the File button. They are connected with Lockeed Martian Flight Service and clicking File you file a REAL flight plan with FSS. That's why they require your personal info when you register.

[stealthbob]

Be careful with the File button. They are connected with Lockeed Martian Flight Service and clicking File with file a REAL flight plan with FSS. That's why they require your personal info when you register.

I am surprised that there is not an obvious warning about this?

...unless I missed the obvious which would not surprise me

[zerofay32]

If you just click on the file and brief button on the main flight planner, it will require you to create a log in. So most casual users or simmers won't need to worry.

Even if you are logged in, Clicking file and brief will take you to a new page that shows your flight plan auto-filled so you can review it before filling. Then you have to click a second button to actually send the plan to LMFS but only if all the required data fields are filled out. So even then it would be hard to accidentally send out a flight plan.

I was looking over the skyvector forums after noticing the update and there are a lot of unhappy campers over there. LOL.

I can't say that I enjoy the changes myself but I use skyvector only occasionally nowadays. I have a Foreflight subscription that I use for both real world flying and on PE.

[stealthbob]

I just got a FF sub and then signed up for the beta version for web based flight planning which will sync to the iPad. I don't have it yet but If this works as I expect it to, my Skyvector use may greatly diminish.

Thanks for the walk through, sounds like the avg simmer would not go through all that trouble but I am betting it will happen at some point

[flyingdrill]

A perfect example of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

What have they done?

There are a lot of established routes for filing RW flight plans. I can't believe that Skyvector is used for that purpose by many pilots - although I suppose I could be wrong......

It was a very useful tool to look at charts, construct and juggle a flight plan, and see what difference it made to times, distance flown, etc. Most of that functionality has disappeared.

I've emailed them at info@skyvector.com. Look at their own forum to see some displeasure already appearing. A simple radio button enabling the use of the old or new format would suffice. After all, the old code is still there. It's hardly a problem to enable it.

[stevekirks]

I would have to agree with the posters in the SV forums. At first, I thought it was OK, then I realize that it's super broken. I tried to manually build a route from KLAS to KLAX using a direct line first, then added Daggett by dragging. That went fine. Then I added Boulder City to CLARR to get a radial to cross reference and locate CLARR while flying (Daggett from one side, BLD from the other. The magic magenta line didn't give me any distance info from BLD to CLARR or DAG to CLARR, just the total NM between to two radials. If you build the route in the new interface and then pull the nav log doc, you'll get it.

I can sort of see this from both sides. If you know what you're doing and use if for flight planning where the route is known, it works. As a sandbox, it sucks.

[chevyrules]

I would have to agree with the posters in the SV forums. At first, I thought it was OK, then I realize that it's super broken. I tried to manually build a route from KLAS to KLAX using a direct line first, then added Daggett by dragging. That went fine. Then I added Boulder City to CLARR to get a radial to cross reference and locate CLARR while flying (Daggett from one side, BLD from the other. The magic magenta line didn't give me any distance info from BLD to CLARR or DAG to CLARR, just the total NM between to two radials. If you build the route in the new interface and then pull the nav log doc, you'll get it.

I can sort of see this from both sides. If you know what you're doing and use if for flight planning where the route is known, it works. As a sandbox, it sucks.

To identify CLARR, you could use the 126 radial from the BTY VOR as depicted on the CLARR2 arrival chart and 35 miles DME from the LAS VOR.

[stevekirks]

To identify CLARR, you could use the 126 radial from the BTY VOR as depicted on the CLARR2 arrival chart and 35 miles DME from the LAS VOR.

I'm aware that you can use the chart. I was attempting to point out that you can't use SkyVector any longer to do the same thing. The redesign seems to shift the burden back to the idea that you need to have your route generally defined before you hit the site. Basically, if you're a real world pilot, you have very little value out of SkyVector now compared to:

1. Go to Flightaware and pull recent IFR filed routes between city pairs.
2. Compare to rules/NOTAMs and finalize the route.
3. Pull the charts (paper or ForeFlight) and establish the route
4. File online using your typical website.

[asad112]

I can only wonder if Skyvector is trying to beef up its game considering Foreflight is suppose to be releasing a browser client in the near future.