ENTERING DEFAULT FLIGHT DATA

Use this optional section to configure and save preferred alternates for departure and destination aerodromes, preferred routes, waypoints and ETOPS airports. The data saved in this menu will be used in calculating routes, which can save time in filing flight plans.

 

  • Click on the Data drop-down menu (available under More in the main menu).

Preferred Alternates

  1. For each departure and destination aerodrome you use, enter the ICAO codes for the preferred alternates, separated by commas.
    You can add as many alternates as you want, and then select from the list when setting up the alternates during the route planning stages in Step 1.
  2. Click + or - to add or remove departure or destination options.
  3. Click Save when complete.

Company Preferred Routes

These are routes that are automatically used between two specified locations in a flight plan, either for the main route or as a route to an alternate.

  • Select from the list of preferred routes used by the aircraft operator.
  • Contact your support team to arrange bulk uploading of routes to this screen.
  • Click Use Route to use a company preferred route in a new flight plan.

To manually add a new company preferred route:

  1. Click New.
  2. Enter the required information.
    All entries must be completed. To complete the Route section, you can copy and paste the shortened route string from one of your flight plans to save time.
  3. Click Save.
    Routes can be subsequently edited or deleted using the buttons available.

You can also add a completed flight to the company preferred routes using the Copy to preferred routes option in the flight plan management menu.

Airport Categories

You have the option of adding a category letter to the ICAO airport codes used in your flight plans if this is preferred.

  1. Click Airport Categories to open a new screen.
  2. Click New and enter the ICAO code of the airport you wish to add on the left side of the screen.
    You can also type the airport name and then select the code from the drop-down list.
  3. Enter a single letter or digit in the airport category column.
  4. Click Save and the table is completed with the other airport information.
  5. The airport category can be edited later by clicking Edit.
    The other columns cannot be edited.

Contact your support team to arrange bulk uploading of airports to this screen, and also to arrange for your account's flight log template to be amended to include the category letter. Refer to this online article for further information.

User Defined Areas

Certain users (dispatchers and super or senior crew members) can set up customised geographical areas that can be used in flight plans, for example as regions to avoid or stay within.

  1. Click Add New to open the User Defined Areas dialog.
  2. Enter a unique alphanumeric label for the new area, which can be up to 50 characters in length and can contain spaces but no symbols.
  3. Enter an optional Description for the area (up to 4000 characters).
  4. In the Coordinates box, define the boundary of the area using three or more geographical locations, entered in the ICAO coordinate format for latitude and longitude (ddmmCdddmmC).
    OR
    Click on a point on the map and the coordinates will be entered automatically. Click a second point and then a third to define an area (shaded grey).
    Continue to click points until the desired area is defined. Points along the edge marked by white circles can also be clicked and dragged to adjust the area.
  5. Enter lower and upper height limits for the area in hundreds of feet ( Min FL and Max FL respectively).
  6. Click Save .

Areas created previously can be edited or deleted using the buttons in the User Defined Areas menu.

You can view the description and height boundaries of each user defined area by clicking the label on the map.

Refer to this online article for further information on creating user defined areas.

User Waypoints

  1. Use the mouse to select the area on the map where you want to set a waypoint.
  2. Click the map.
    A Waypoint dialog appears.
  3. Enter a name for the waypoint.
  4. Optionally, enter the ICAO code for the airport (if appropriate) and the elevation in feet.
  5. Select File as Text or File as lat/long. 
    This will either use the name of the waypoint or a filename based on the latitude and longitude.
  6. Click Save. 
  7. On the map, click the triangular marker  on the waypoint and drag to refine the positioning.

Existing waypoints can also be edited in this panel.

A comma-separated variable file containing the user waypoints can be exported:

  1. Click Export.
  2. Click the CSV button.
  3. Select a filename and location for the exported file.

Default Addressing

  • Enter extra AFTN addresses to which flight plans should be sent, in addition to the regional filing authority, and click Save.