Flight Plannig 101
Posted: 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.
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.