As most pilots know, flight planning can be somewhat of a chore. It is all too easy to measure a bearing or distance inaccurately or get a nonsensical result through simple arithmetic error. Even worse, if you're trying to evaluate alternative routes, working out all the numbers over and over for different winds or altitudes can be real drudgery. To help out, there are several personal computer programs available in Australia to assist in drafting plans. UltraNav is an inexpensive program designed for the average GA VFR pilot or ultralight pilot, without the frills that commercial IFR operators require. The interface has been deliberately kept simple and familiar, and UltraNav works on pretty much all versions of Window, from Win 3.1 to NT.
UltraNav offers the ability to select waypoints from a list that includes the Australian En-Route Supplement of licensed, unlicensed airports and navigation aids. You can also add an unlimited number of your own waypoints to the databases.
For registered users, UltraNav includes a comprehensive database of 40,000 towns and surface features for the whole of Australia!
UltraNav allows definition of multiple aircraft and their performance characteristics to be used in the plan in a simple and straightforward manner.
Building a flight plan in UltraNav is a matter of just a few mouse clicks to select waypoints, land, refuel, set winds and so on. For registered users, the plan can be printed in Flight Notification format, suitable for direct submission to ATS manually or by fax. The plan can also be printed with additional spacing to allow use as an in-flight worksheet, complete with airport information and frequencies.
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