Flight Plannig 101

A place for rescues to chat about rescue work, animals, transports etc.
Post Reply
flyboy64E

Flight Plannig 101

Post by flyboy64E » Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:17 pm

Hi there I am a volunteer pilot for PnP. I’m not sure if this has been discussed before but for those rescuers who are not pilots please take a few moments to read this post.

I have been contacted many times about a transport but usually something comes up and it does not happen. Some of the issues are the length of the transport and determining exactly where the pickup and drop off will be.

I have two links below to help rescuers with panning long cross country transports. Keep in mind that most pilots are willing to fly up to about 250-300 miles total round trip to do a rescue. Also not that most small airplanes have about 4 to 5 hours of flying time on average. The first site will assist you in finding the airport identifier this is a 3 or 4 alphanumeric code which allows pilots to identify an airport and program GPS flight plans etc. The second link is a site that will plot a line between points entered. SkyVector will show you the navigation charts used by pilots to fly around. It may look confusing and intimidating at first but don’t worry.

1. Enter the name of your city where the transport is to begin on the first page to get possible airports near your city.
2. Take the airport identifier and enter that into the flight plan on the second page(Skyvector).
3. Repeat this for the destination of the transport.
4. The second page (Skyvector) will then draw a magenta line between the two points and will give you the distance and the time required to fly between the two points.
5. You can then play with the route and break it down into mangle bites that pilots will be willing to help you with. It uses rubber banding that allows you to drag the route to a particular airport.
6. You can then list a proposed route with airport names and identifiers in your request. Pilots near the route then can respond and make suggestions as to where they are willing to pick up and drop off. Most pilots are flexible with what airport they go to.
7. For example: If you wanted to get a pup form Dallas to Orlando
a. Enter Dallas into the first web site and it will give you about 8 results. Pick the one nearest to you.
b. Go to SkyVector and enter the say DAL in the flight plan box for Dallas Love Field: make sure on the top ribbon you have WORLD VFR selected
c. Then go back to the first page and enter Orlando
d.Go back to SkyVector and enter ORL in the flight plan box for Orlando Executive
e. If you zoom out enough you will see a magenta line between the two points and you will notice that it is 842nm (nautical miles) and at a speed of 115kts (nautical miles per hour) it will take 7: 19 minutes to complete the flight by a single plane. Note some planes are faster and will take less time for the flight.
f. You now can go along the route and break it down into smaller blocks that pilots will be willing to fly. These are not intended to be hard points but suggestions for the pilots to work with.

http://www.world-airport-codes.com/


http://skyvector.com/



I hope this helps rescuers in planning transports.

:plane:

annswag

Re: Flight Plannig 101

Post by annswag » Tue May 13, 2014 10:19 pm

I am brand new to this and your post was helpful. I am worried about coordinating between the flights. Do pilots keep the pet between the flights? I am very worried to have something bad happen and the dog I am trying to rescue end up stranded someplace very far away from our rescue. How do you make sure the pilots connect with each other and get the dog through the various legs to the destination?

mikegreen
Posts: 892
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:33 am
Zip Code: 80204
Foster?: Yes
Pilot?: Yes
Airport identifier: KBJC
Distance willing to fly one way: 75
Location: Denver

Re: Flight Plannig 101

Post by mikegreen » Mon May 19, 2014 12:10 pm

Generally the dog goes from one airplane and right into another. There really isnt any downtime where the dog is loose or hanging out.
---
Mike
part time forum, maps, and web server jockey with occasional flying

Paul Steklenski
Posts: 178
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:57 pm
Zip Code: 18930
Foster?: Yes
Pilot?: Yes
Airport identifier: KPTW
Distance willing to fly one way: 0
Location: KCKZ

Re: Flight Plannig 101

Post by Paul Steklenski » Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:02 am

Hi everyone,

Hopefully this helps explain a bit more, to add to the original post, one thing to keep in mind for the leg planning is the distance; many of us do not own our aircraft and have to rent them - the airports I rent from cost me anywhere from $100 to $140 per hour for the aircraft, plus tax; if we encounter strong headwinds or moderate turbulence, the cost goes up as it takes us longer to complete the flight mission; a planned leg of flight time of one hour can easily become and hour and 15 or an hour and 30 minutes because of weather.

This is primarily why you may see pilots offer up to a limit of only a few hundred miles, the cost for a few hours can be anywhere from $300 - $500 for us round trip for just one leg. We are charged based on the Hobbs meter in the aircraft, which records how long the engine has been running; if pilots end up flying to towered airports for pickup/dropoff with busier traffic, it can increase the cost even more, for the time spent sitting on the ground waiting to takeoff, taxi, or receive and IFR clearance.

We also have to perform thorough inspections of our aircraft prior to each flight, and every time the engine is shutdown; add in the drive to and from the airport and it adds up time wise; my last flight was only 3 hours of flight time, but I had to leave my house at 12pm and didn't get home until 8pm that night. Based on all of these factors I try to keep my limit to about 3 hours of total flight time, or roughly 300 miles round trip.
KCKZ
Bonanza V35B aka Flying Fur One
http://www.flyingfur.org

Post Reply