ZBW VFR Challenge - Overwater

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

 

The first VFR Challenge in Boston Center has finally been scheduled!

This one will be different and more challenging than any VFR Challenge before. Past VFR Challenges have involved mostly pilotage (navigation by visual references), high altitude and short airfields. This challenge will test your dead reckoning, and ability to communicate with ATC. That's right there's actually going to be ATC online for this challenge. So your goal, using your headings, a stopwatch, and your sectional, is to navigate keeping your aircraft over water or runway for the entire event. You must also properly communicate your position when contacting the ATC Tower at MVY and ACK, then comply with their instructions for your touch-and-go or landing before continuing to the next field. Remember not to plan your flights direct, but to avoid flying over land unless you're on final or just after departure. Yes take a closer look, that means flying around islands and Cape Cod as well!

 

Sun Apr 14, 5-8pm

Boston VFR Challenge - Overwater Navigation

Difficulty - Hard (3/4)

Route: KPVD-KBID-KMVY-KACK-KPVC-KGHG-2B2

 

Special Event Rules:

• No aircraft may be operated over land except within 4NM of an event airport (listed in Route).

 

Standard VFR Challenge Rules:

• General aviation aircraft are preferred, and at no time may an aircraft exceed 150KIAS.
  
• Navigation is to be by pilotage and dead reckoning only. NO radio or GPS navigation is permitted.
  
• All published airspace boundaries and special use airspace must be avoided unless special permission has been received from ATC.
  
• Proper use of UNICOM is required for non-controlled airports. Communication with ATC is required at staffed airports.

 

Hopefully we'll have a pilot briefing session in Teamspeak to help explain dead reckoning and how to use it prior to the event! Hope to see you all there!

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

Don't forget that to make dead reckoning calculations you're going to need a flight computer aka "whiz wheel." These are used to compute wind triangles, ground speeds, along with many useful conversions and adjustments.

 

You can find a real one to hold in your hand and mark with pencil, an electronic calculator, or use a virtual calculator online, or via flight planning application. There are 3 types of flight computers: E6B, CR series, and Electronic/Virtual E6B. Below is a brief description of each, but most of you who don't already have one, or are just lazy will likely use a virtual one.

 

E6B

The standard E6B has been around for decades, and has even made appearances in a few original Star Trek episodes. It's a long thin metal bar, which has a center piece which slides up and down on the bar as well as rotates. These actually require two hands to operate and are difficult at best to use in a cockpit during flight. However, since they are the most prolific flight computer available the knowledge to operate them is typically handed down from instructor to student, along with several tips and tricks. This also means they are easy to obtain, even if somewhat cumbersome to use.

Ebay runs $10-30, Sporty's has them new for $13-50, other pilot shops and your local FBO's should have them for sale as well.

Instructions for E6B

 

CR Series (CR-3, CR-5, CR-6)

In 1955 Jeppesen came up with their own circular slide rule for flight computations and conversions. It works differently than the E6B but will produce the same results. Since this is multiple pieces of plastic held together by a center rivet it can be operated one handed in the cockpit during flight.

Most FBO's don't carry these, but they are available online at Amazon, Sporty's and other online pilot shops. $25+

This computer is my personal preference since it seems simpler than an E6B, and also what I learned on. If you want something to keep in your kneeboard, the CR series are more managable than an E6B. Read a few details about the E6B vs CR-3 here.

Instructions for CR Series

 

Electronic E6B

While this carries the E6B name, it's simply because that is the most easily identified acronym with flight or wind computer. These are very specialized calculators which have the required equations stored with preset buttons to complete calculations with out the need of spinning and marking. They are the easiest to use in flight, however have drawbacks as well. A physical dedicated Electronic E6B starts at $50 and goes up. It should be noted that Electronic E6B's run on batteries that tend to die when you need them the most, so make sure you carry spares. Electronic E6B calculators are permitted for the FAA written exam.

 

Virtual E6B

Most smart phones have free and payware apps to accomplish the same tasks without the need for a dedicated device creating a virtual E6B. Additionally many payware apps for charting such as Garmin Pilot, the AOPA FlyQ, and Foreflight should include the functions of an E6B. Dedicated E6B apps are also available as payware and freeware on both Droid and iPhone.

There are also virtual E6B computers online for free. Free E6B Emulator Java E6B E6B Simulator

Due the the storage capacity of tablets and smart phones, neither are permitted for use in the FAA written tests! Better have a real flight computer or Electronic E6B you know how to use for that one!

 

 

 

Keep in mind you likely won't use all the functions of any flight computer, but they all should be able to complete the same functions. Please take some time to read through the instructions on how to use real flight computers if you choose to get a real one, or watch some YouTube videos. We will not cover how to use a flight computer in the pilot briefing session, though we will cover the basic cause for you to need one. Welcome to the world of flight planning! If you know how to use a flight computer before your first cross country flight comes around you'll be well ahead of the game! If you have any questions please feel free to ask members, especially those who are in flight training. Sadly I can't help you with an E6B, but if you get the CR series I can take you through about anything you like!

 

 

Standard metal E6B:

 

 

 

Plastic CR series

 

 

 

Electronic E6B

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

I'm out of town starting tomorrow until Sunday for Sun'n'Fun in Lakeland, FL. I will be available in FlightDesk most of the day Sunday before the event if anyone has any questions or wants some help with their flight plan.

 

 

A Lesson in Flight Planning

I use a basic Excel spreadsheet for my real world and sim flight plans, available in the attachments.

The spreadsheet reads a little odd, starting with the departure point, and then data to navigate to the next checkpoint. Since my home airport is O38 it's always the departure and arrival point, typically followed by TOC (Top of Climb). You don't have to compute climbs in your flight plans if you don't want, but usually the airspeed on small aircraft differs enough between climb and cruise to create improper times for your checkpoints. Since the data for the leg to TOC is different than all the others we'll come back to it later. Now since I'm a really big computer geek I use Excel formulas to do lots of the calculations for me, even though I have to input the variables and the equations.

 

 

Checkpoint

This is a fix, be it from a NAVAID, DME, GPS, or visual cue. For the VFR Challenge you'd better only be using a visual fix! Visual fixes are a little different from the precision of a radio/gps nav fix. The best way to computer a visual fix is to pass directly over, or very near to something of distinguished prominence. Basically pick something that sticks out on a map. Don't pick an island in a group of islands unless is has a unique and easily identifiable shape. You can pick things like towers, race tracks, mountain peaks, interstates, lakes, bridges, etc. This is why those things are depicted on VFR sectionals! Reporting points like the Jamestown Bridge, and Pt Judith will make great checkpoints for the PVD-BID leg, as seen on Skyvector. See the distance area for more information on how far apart to plan checkpoints.

We usually have plenty of visual checkpoints to use, even in a VFR Challenge, but this time is different. To encourage practice of flight planning we tried to pick legs that spend most of their time over water, so you're stuck holding a heading and looking at your watch to determine progress. Don't forget this event's special rule: Aircraft are to remain over water unless within 4NM (the class D) of an event airport.

 

True Course (TC)

This is the bearing given in Skyvector, or plotted on a sectional from one point to another. For instance if you were to fly from PVC-GHG the TC would be 275 degrees. If you add these airports to Skyvector it will tell you the TC, and mileage which we'll need later.

 

Magnetic Heading (MH)

This is the TC corrected for magnetic variation and compass deviation. Magnetic variation is the idea that a compass will always point to magnetic north and not true north. Since we set our directional gyro or just use the compass to navigate corrections are required. In the center of the US the magnetic deviation is very little, so you won't see much change in the MH for my flight plan. Near BOS it is actually much greater and from a different direction. To find the magnetic variation you can look at the airport data at the very top of the Skyvector page. The variation can also be found on the sectional itself by locating the lines of equal variance (isogonic lines). The 15 degree line passes nearly directly through TAN, and the 16 degree line is offshore and east of PVC. At PVC the variation is 16 degrees West. To correct for the variation remember "East is Least, West is Best." Subtract East variation from your TC, Add West variation. So our MH from PVC-GHG should be 291 degrees.

Compass deviation is usually very slight (not more than 3 degrees) and I don't believe FSX actually simulates it. However, if you were to correct for it, you find the amounts on the compass deviation card which should be on or very near the compass. Depending on which direction you are heading (N, E, S, W) each lists a plus or minus value to adjust your MH.

 

Wind Correction Angle (WCA)

I'm not going to cover or explain wind triangles or corrections in this post, however, the previous post on flight computers, and the links to instructions on how to use them will result in your wind correction angle. Remember Left crosswinds result in a negative correction (subtract from MH), Right crosswinds mean positive correction (add to MH). Don't forget if your WCA is greater than 10 degrees it will affect your TAS!

 

Heading (HDG)

You now have the corrected heading to fly from one fix to the next. This is the heading you should aim to fly on your directional gyro or compass during flight.

 

Distance (Dist)

This is simply the distance from one checkpoint to the next. Since you can place the checkpoints anywhere on your route you decide how close or far apart they are. Just remember the closer the checkpoints the more math you have to do to figure time to the next checkpoint. The fewer checkpoints you have the less chance you have to correct any heading errors. Heading errors can be the result of a mismatch in ground speed, or wind direction. The distance from PVC-GHG is 20.2nm.

 

True Airspeed- TAS

This is your airspeed corrected for temperature and altitude. To find your TAS there's a rule of thumb, TAS is IAS plus 2% of IAS for every 1000ft of altitude. It gets more complicated when dealing with Mach numbers, but for flights under 10kft it works pretty well. These don't have to be exact numbers, but once you figure them out for your aircraft they generally don't change unless you're correcting for a WCA of more than 10 degrees.

Ex. 105 KIAS @ 5500FT, 105 +(105 x .02 x 5.5) = 116.55KTAS

Ex. 140 KIAS @ 8500FT, 140 +(140 x .02 x 8.5) = 163.8KTAS

 

Headwind/Tailwind (HW/TW)

This is the amount of speed you will lose or gain across the ground due to the wind at altitude. It is part of the wind triangle, and found using a flight computer, so I won't be explaining it. Please see the previous post. Always subtract headwind, Add tailwind.

 

Ground Speed (GS)

Simply the aircraft's speed across the ground. Also the result of your TAS minus headwind or plus tailwind.

 

Time (Leg)

This is the time from one checkpoint to another. A simple calculation of distance divided by speed, but be mindful of your units. 20.2nm / 120KGS = .1683 hours, but when I'm flying along I do better with adding hours and minutes instead of long decimals and fractions. To get minutes multiply the result by 60 (60 min per 1 hour) and voila PVC-GHG should take 10.1 minutes if you have a 120kt ground speed.

 

Time (Total)

Basically the total time from your point of departure (origin) to the checkpoint. So if you have checkpoints A, B, C, and D, the total time to B should be the time from Dept to A and from A to B. Total time to checkpoint C should be (Origin to A)+(A to B)+(B to C). And so on. I've found it easier in long flight plans to add this number to your departure time instead of trying to add leg times together.

 

Estimated Time (EST)

This is the estimated time to cross a checkpoint. There are 2 ways to estimate a fix, the first is more accurate, but the second is often easier to determine how far off your flight plan was.

#1 - Add Time (Leg) to the time you actually crossed the last fix

#2 - Add Time (Total) to your Origin/Dept Time

 

Actual Time (Actual)

The time you actually crossed your checkpoint.

 

Other Thoughts

Pattern Time

In the last flight plan you'll notice a KJLN (ARR), and KJLN (DEP), this was to account in the flight plan for time in the pattern and the stop and go that we planned to do there. It's not a bad idea to add in 5 minutes for an airport with a control tower, more for one with an approach that has to sequence you with other aircraft, and just a few minutes at an uncontrolled field that isn't very busy. For the VFR Challenge event I'll probably keep 5 minutes in the pattern just for the amount of traffic that I expect.

Decimal places

I don't like to computer partial minutes, since flight plans never get that close I round to whole minutes. Mileage I keep 1 or 2 places, but headings, and speeds are always rounded for simplicity. If you really can fly a heading of 035.621 then please be my guest, but I'm lucky to keep the HSI centered between 030 and 040! You can keep decimal places in you calculations for better accuracy but be sure to round to results you can use.

On my form, the line that comes after a checkpoint is the data for the next checkpoint, not the one you just passed. Make sure your EST and Actual times are written on the line that starts with the previous checkpoint. Since there are no checkpoint times for your departure/origin point. You can arrange your spreadsheet anyway you like, I'm planning on changing mine with my next flight plan, still finding one that works best for me. I've tried some of the pre-made, official, or other online flight plan forms and found I spend more time looking for where to put what I need instead of doing the math.

 

 

Computing TOC (Top of Climb)

TOC is different than any other checkpoint because it's more easily figured as a time computation than distance. For instance if climbing at 85KTAS and 500 feet per minute, with cruising altitude 5500 ft. You also need to know field elevation for the airport you departed. Subtract field elevation from cruising altitude, this is the change in altitude you require. 5500 - 1200 = 4300 ft to climb. 4300 ft divided by the climb rate 500fpm is 8.6 minutes to TOC. Here's where it gets tricky. To figure the distance, take GS multiple by Time (Leg) and divide by 60 (because time is in minutes, and GS is in nm/hr). 85 x 8.6 /60 = 12.183nm from origin to TOC. It is very unlikely any field in our challenge has an elevation of 1200ft, but you get the idea.

 

Ex. BID FE is 108ft, cruise altitude 5500, TAS(Climb) is 110kts, climb rate 700fpm find distance to TOC with a 15kt tailwind.

Altitude - Field elevation = climb altitude / climb rate = climb time x (Climb TAS + Tailwind) / 60 = Climb distance

5500ft - 108ft = 5392ft / 700fpm = 7.7min x (110kts + 15kt) / 60 = 16.05nm

[Larry Coleman]

Shyflyguy,

 

This post took me back to my private pilot training 35 years ago! I hope I have time to try this challenge. With a litte review, I can probably still bang out a paper plan and try my hand at some time/distance/heading dead-reckoning flying. It should be fun. Thanks for posting a nice summary on VFR flight planning! Although I'm new here, I find that many people here are knowledgeable and more than willing to help others learn--you are certainly part of that group. It is appreciated!

[Guest Dana Atwood]

Hi, shyfly. Thanks for the refresher course on dead reckoning -- it has been a while. And, I loved the spreadsheet. I modified it (hope you don't mind) and attached a copy of the completed spreadsheet for you to see. I did find that my WCA calculations from my good, old E6B were different (but not by a ton) than the online one I tried. Also, I got the winds aloft from Foreflight (nope, didn't use it during the flight) for the correct time early in the day (probably too early). I maybe should have used winds aloft figures from Active Sky as the numbers I got in the air were off by a fair amount from the Foreflight numbers. In any case, I found that flying my planned heading during the event took me off course on the KBID - KMVY leg. I did correct when I got a visual on Martha's Vineyard, but I'm concerned that the sim didn't respond like it should to the winds aloft -- even considering that the winds aloft were from a more northerly heading than in my forecast. So, I'll take any and all advice on the following. How can I more realistically model winds aloft? I'm using Active Sky Evolution with Wind Smoothing turned on in FSUIPC. What source do you recommend for detailed winds aloft forecasts and information for your simulated flights? Okay, thanks again for the great lesson on DR flight planning. And, thanks for your part in creating the event last night. I survived my remote instrument panel software not working and a computer crash (just outbound from MVY) to finish the challenge. It was great stuff. Regards -- Dana

 

p.s. I will incorporate your "pattern time" entries in my next flight plan, and your TOC suggestion was cool (think I did it correctly using your formula).

p.p.s. I also attached a scan of one of my old RW cross-country flight plans just for fun (1992 vintage).

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

Thanks to everyone for their participation in the VFR Challenge. While we didn't have the large group of previous challenges, it was because it was much more spread out from beginning to end. We even had aircraft leaving PVD after the controller's end time of 90 minutes into the event! I'm glad my posts here about flight planning and dead reckoning were helpful to some, they took some effort to write up. Special thanks to those who took the time to fly the event as it was intended, I know there's a few out there who were using GPS to cheat!

 

There were stories of some confusion as BID and 2B2 had the same advisory frequency and pilots heard what they wanted to hear. As a result some pilots in BID held short while someone landed at 2B2. :lol: As I made my approach to 2B2 I made sure to be clear that it was Plum Island as there were still at least 3 planes at BID. We even had at least one pilot violate the Restricted area SW of MVY, remember you're supposed to avoid that airspace!

 

Since I'd flown most of the controller training session at PVD before the event I left after buzzing the trees on approach to 2B2, but certainly enjoyed the ride and scenery along the way (screenshots to follow). More than once I found my heading to be a little off, although I attribute that more to the rough ride I was having bounced around as a result of Active Sky. So I enjoyed the segments after ACK much more because of the smoother ride. I'd say that not being able to hold a heading because of turbulence isn't realistic but several weeks back I discovered similar conditions on a real cross country up to Kansas.

 

As for ActiveSky and the winds aloft, I've only once encountered the forecast winds aloft while flying real world or sim, and even then it was only for the legs between 2 airports. Believe it or not NOAA has always had difficulty with low level winds (as long as I've been planning flights) and has given government subsidies to regional and commuter airlines to install weather recording devices that transmit the data to them. Before I went to Sun 'n Fun last week I even worked a NOAA DHC6 that was flying point to point with some data collection along the way. Over time expect the winds aloft below 10kft to improve, but it will take time for them to analyze the data, and come up with new models.

 

Feel free to use and modify the spreadsheet as you like. I have been trying to keep it all to fit on one printed page that I can clip on the kneeboard, although in BVA you don't really have to print it out.

Remember distance to TOC is computed with GS not TAS. Teacher_Dad, I'm curious about the 9.56 minutes to TOC, and whether your computed time was just the same, or you didn't quite follow the TOC calculation. To get time to TOC take your change in altitude (cruise altitude minus field elevation) and divide by climb rate. So 4500 minus 55ft PVD is 4445 divided by (assuming) 500fpm comes to 8.89 minutes to TOC. Now take the 8.89min and multiply time GS (92kts from spreadsheet) then divide by 60, giving you 13.63nm to TOC. Meaning your distance worked out close enough to not notice in flight, because you used a longer time and slower GS for the calculation. I'm also curious why your TAS is changing so much. It should be the same for all climb legs and within 5kts for all cruise legs. You only need to adjust your TAS for WCA if your WCA is 10 degrees or greater. Everyone please feel free to contact me or any other members with questions. I just felt like it would be a good refresher in here since I'm a certificated aircraft dispatcher with plenty of flight plans done for a variety of aircraft. Don't forget a flight plan is just a plan to deviate from, not something set in stone!

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

The screenshots!

Carenado C185 Tundra on the legs ACK-PVC and GHG-2B2.

 

[Guest Dana Atwood]

Hi, shyfly. Thanks for your advice. Yup, my mistake on the TOC computation (checked the formula, but forgot to do the cruise minus FE computation and left the climb time from your spredsheet on my version...dumb mistake, but that's how I learn). Also, I used your rule-of-thumb TAS formula, but I changed a couple of the cruise altitudes from my first plan. So, the variations come from altitude changes that I had built into an earlier plan. In the end, it's just a plan, but I really enjoyed going through the excercise of the dead-reckoning computations (it has been ages, literally). Your instructions were clear, and I had fun playing with the spreadsheet. Actually, I'm interested in recreating my long, solo cross-country from Beverly to Bangor using the spreadsheet (and a correct TOC computation, and correct TAS numbers this time : ) Okay, thanks again for all your time and effort on this one. Regards -- Dana

 

p.s. Hey, fascinating stuff about the low-level winds aloft (and cool stuff about riding with the NOAA folks...although going to Sun 'n Fun sounds cooler). I'm going to keep playing with winds aloft data since it has got my curiousity up.

[Guest Dana Atwood]

Hi, again, shyfly. Hey, so you inspired me to try to turn all of the TOC and TAS computations into Excel formulas. I think I got it right, so I'm hoping you'll take a look at the attached spreadsheet. It is an abbreviated version of my original spreadsheet using the original winds aloft data, but assuming a landing at KBID and then a climb to 5500 on the way to KMVY. I also added a fuel section and add some other fields for additional information. You'll see that I color-coded in yellow the cells where you could actually input performance data (try changing the performance data and watch the TOC times and distances change). Also, the TOC lines in the actual flight plan are shaded in a light gray. It was fun putting this together. And, I think it works. I hope you'll check it out when you have a free minute and let me know what you think (mistakes, suggestions, etc.) Regards -- Dana

 

p.s. It's probably overkill, but we could probably figure out a top-of-descent (is that even the right term?) formula to calculate when to start descent to the destination. It would be the reverse of the TOC formula (kind of), but using maybe traffic pattern altitude instead of field elevation. Just a thought. Okay, thanks again for inspiring me to give this a shot.

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

So I did a little looking around today and finally got the calculations I wanted to work in the spreadsheet. That means all the math of WCA and HW/TW/X-Wind is taken care of for you! I've also adjusted TOC and added a TOD (500fpm climb and descent). Basically all you have to do is fill in the yellow boxes (and copy the lines down for the next series). For the distance you should put in the distance from the first airport to the first checkpoint and subtract the distance for TOC, similar for last checkpoint to APT2 and subtract the TOD distance. I'm still trying to figure out how to compute the adjustment to TAS for WCA>10 degrees so that's not yet included. I moved the times, corrected heading and checkpoints all to the left side so you can fold over the center section. Putting the times on the left was something I've been meaning to do but haven't planned my next X/C yet.

 

I didn't include the TAS computations because I know the TAS for the aircraft. Since IAS will change depending on altitude I would only use that when you don't know your TAS. Everything else looked good, although I spent more time figuring how to get Excel to calculate the WCA for me!

[Guest Dana Atwood]

Hi, shyflyguy. I just opened the spreadsheet and it's awesome. Thanks for figuring out the WCA calculations. I was going to ask you if you knew how to do the WCA math (why stoop to use a wiz-wheel when Excel can do it for you...kidding, kidding...I love my old E6B). Okay, I'll have more time to play with the spreadsheet later today. Can't wait to plug in the formulas to my modified spreadsheet. Thanks for doing this! Fun stuff. Best -- Dana

 

p.s. And, thanks for the advice on the TAS numbers. I'm going to skip them and go with the reference numbers I have on the AC. In fact, I don't remember fooling around with those numbers when I was doing my PPL training. Thanks again for figuring out the WCA/HW/TW/XW formulas!

[Guest Dana Atwood]

Hi, again, shyflyguy. Well, I finally had some time to play with the spreadsheets yesterday, in between swim lessons and birthay parites (didn't get to this sooner since I was caught up by the events in Boston last week, grew up around the city so I was glued to the coverage). Again, thanks for figuring out the WCA formulas. I have to say that it's really cool stuff. I teaked the format to suit my own preferences. The only thing I couldn't get to work was the enroute time calculations in the first two columns. Okay, here it is (see attached). Please let me know what you think. And, thanks again for your help with this. It has been a lot of fun. Regards -- Dana

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

Hi Dana-

I'm glad you're enjoying tinkering with this as much as I am. When I input information into all the Yellow boxes it all works fine. I forgot to warn you that time has to be HH:MM format (for actual dept time), and I'm hoping that is your problem. You think this is cool, wait until I have a chance to blend the spreadsheet I'd previously been working on with this one. You don't have to find forecast wind at every fix, you just give it 2 VOR's with winds aloft, and distance from each VOR to your fix, and it will do all the math for you! This is going to be one awesome flight planning tool once complete, there won't be any math left in flight planning! I'll be working on the spreadsheet some during the middle of this week and put up the next revision when I'm done. Thanks for splitting out the legs as different plans, that's a good idea I'm going to take advantage of (to allow for different altitudes, and winds aloft fixes). Let me know if you still can't get the plan to work as it is currently.

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

I had a monumental breakthrough today!

I finally figured out the trouble I was having when interpolating between winds that spanned the 359-000 degree threshold. Initially excel was calculating the difference between HDG 350 and HDG 020 as 330 deg. Obviously this is not appropriate, hence for my last X/C all my corrected headings were so far off it wasn't funny. I've now resolved that problem!

 

The next obstacle to tackle has become linking the altitude selection drop down box with the calculations for wind change over distance between 2 points (because altitude selected will change what wind you're using). Since that is mostly a function of me figuring out the proper function in excel and not coming up with my own formula I hope to have that done this week!

[Guest Lucas Kaelin]

So I couldn't leave well enough alone. I had to abandon my progress in order to go to work this afternoon, but my mind was still at home working on this spreadsheet. As a result I came home and immediately delved into it. It paid off! I found the proper function and the whole shebang is working as intended.

 

Check it out. Feel free to change anything in the yellow boxes (or any box in the column if the column header is yellow).

 

KEY

Boxes underneath WHITE headers are calculated for you

Boxes underneath YELLOW headers require input (individual yellow boxes too)

If the text is RED it's a math critical item which you shouldn't even be looking at in the wrong manner!

 

To use forecast winds:

• Choose 2 forecast wind points from NWS Forecast Winds Aloft which are near your route.
  
• Select 3 sequential altitudes (ex, 3000, 6000, and 9000), input the LOWEST altitude only on the single yellow box
  
• Fill in the forecast wind direction and speed at each altitude selected
  
• Repeat for the 2nd fix using the same altitudes
  
• Under Dist1 and Dist2, put the distance from your checkpoint to the forecast point (both distances must be entered)
  
• Everything is calculated for you!

 

In order for the sheet to work properly, all yellow boxes (and those under yellow headers) must have data. If you need to add a row in a leg for additional checkpoints you can just "Fill Down" the equations from the row above. For ease I've carried over the TOC and TOD calculations as well. For a real kick try changing the altitude in the drop down boxes and watch the whole leg change data!

 

Please let me know if you have troubles, or you don't think something is working correctly.

[Cody Outten]

Shyflyguy,

 

That was an intresting challenge. I enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one!!!